By Cynthia Grau/WJEZ News

This week is National Prevention Week, and IHR in Pontiac is taking steps to continue prevention efforts.

Prevention topics range from the prevention of underage drinking or tobacco use and alcohol misuse to suicide prevention and promotion of mental health and wellness.

Prevention specialist Tiffany Yoder explains why this week is observed.

“They nationally identify one week of the year to celebrate our prevention efforts, which is so important because we know prevention works. Prevention saves the state so much money every year. When we’re putting money into prevention, we’re not having to put all that money into treatment later.  Treatment can work, but it’s not always successful once people have made those choices and it’s obviously going to be very hard. We want to really focus our efforts on preventing kids from making the choices that are going to impact their lives,” Yoder said.

To learn more about IHR and its prevention programs, call 844-6109.