From June 5-8, 2018 Prevention Specialists, educators, treatment providers, coalition members and more from all across Pennsylvania gathered in State College, PA for the 2018 Commonwealth Prevention Alliance Annual Conference.  The event was filled with people exchanging ideas, making new connections and gaining knowledge to take back to their communities.  Over 300 individuals participated and attended sessions with topics such as “Addiction as a Disease,” “Teens and Technology” and techniques to work with the PAYS data and Social Development Strategy.  Keynote speakers presented ideas on how to include self-care in your work, and stressed the importance of prevention efforts with their personal stories.  At the end of the week, the organizers at CPA declared it a success once again.  That sentiment was proven true later in the summer when the CPA Board of Directors met to review the conference evaluations.

Attendees gave high marks overall when queried about their conference experience, with 97% of respondents saying that the conference was worth the time commitment, and that they intend to apply what they learned to their work.  Additionally, near perfect scores were given to satisfaction with conference facilities, range of topics and the quality of presenters.

The Board of Directors have already started planning for the 2019 conference, and spent a great deal of time carefully reviewing the comments on the conference evaluations to determine what to keep the same and where improvements can be made.  Future conference registrants can be assured that the Commonwealth Prevention Alliance Annual Conference is designed with the goal of bringing pertinent, useful and engaging information to the prevention field. We look forward to seeing you next year!

Save the date: The next CPA Conference will be held June 11-14, 2019 in State College, PA at the Penn Stater Conference Center