Before she earned the title of the nation’s youngest certified prevention specialist, one idea transformed this Marshall student’s path: addiction is a disease.
Brooklyn Johnson, 21-year-old medical student, said her prevention journey began in eighth grade with the hopes of gaining an understanding of substance abuse disorder.
“I had a lot of confusion around generational SUDs that were in my family,” Johnson said. “I didn’t have a lot of understanding of the diseases, so I wanted to learn more.”
From there, Johnson said her grasp of addiction’s complexities was the driving force behind her work in prevention.
“I was able to learn so much about how substance abuse disorder is a disease and an illness when it’s so often we don’t look at it this way,” Johnson said. “We look at it as a moral failing, and it’s literally an alteration of your brain chemistry.”
With this knowledge, Johnson began working with the Prevention Empowerment Partnership to create the resources she wished she had as a child, she said.
“Every time I had an idea, they were willing to look into it and make sure it was evidence-based,” she said. “They were willing to put in resources and train me just like any other employee.”
Through PEP, Johnson said she’s had the opportunity to write a children’s book centered around substance abuse safety in order to further her initiative of spreading prevention awareness.
“We’ve handed them out at all the local community centers and some local elementary schools in Huntington and Barboursville,” Johnson said.
“Dragon’s Learning Adventures: In the Prevention Solar System” can be accessed via PEP’s website with plans underway to make the book available for purchase on Amazon.
Johnson said her collaboration with PEP continued as she moved forward in the certification process of becoming a prevention specialist.
Currently, her pursuit of a career in pediatrics is what keeps her passion for developing prevention resources for kids alive, Johnson said. Just as importantly, she also strengthens her mission to challenge the stigmas tied to substance abuse disorder.
“Now that I’m a medical student, it’s been really exciting to see substance abuse disorder through a medical lens,” Johnson said. “I see that we need to be aware that this is a disease that could happen to anyone.”
Although Johnson is the youngest certified prevention specialist in the nation, she’s already sharing her knowledge and experience with those aspiring to work in the prevention space.
“There’s a mentorship program through PEP, and I was paired with a few high schoolers,” Johnson said. “I see myself in them, and it’s so beautiful to see them changing the narrative and developing the confidence to be part of the solution.”
Specifically, in the next few years, she expects prevention work to evolve with youth-driven efforts at the forefront.
“Every prevention coalition should be focusing on youth being educated in prevention and sharing that amongst their peers,” she said.
As for her role in those initiatives, Johnson hopes to inspire mass change in the world of prevention as well as creating additional youth training programs.
“The goal is that I am not the youngest one for long,” Johnson said. “Hopefully someone even younger comes along and is the catalyst for even more change.”
Kaitlyn Fleming can be contacted at [email protected].
