Medical Care Development, Inc.
175 Lancaster St, Ste 220A, Portland ME 04101
Phone: (207) 773-7737 Fax (207) 899-4756
Table Talks: Parents Connecting for Alcohol-Free Youth
Host Information
Why are these Table Talks important?
Underage drinking is a serious problem in Maine, and research shows that parents can be a powerful influence in keeping youth from drinking. In fact, teens are far less likely to drink alcohol if they believe their parents would disapprove. Theyíre also less likely to drink if they believe their parents would find out about it. Yet alcohol can be a tricky subject, and all too often, parents are unsure about how to talk about it with other parents.
Why were these Table Talks created?
The Table Talks were created to provide parents with a comfortable opportunity to communicate openly with each other about underage drinking and how to prevent it. Each discussion is meant to be small with a relaxed atmosphere, held in the parent hostís home or a similarly comfortable community location (for example, a local coffee shop, a meeting room in the public library, or a community center).
What are the goals of the Table Talks?
Our hope is that participating parents will:
- Connect with other parents who care about underage drinking prevention
- Learn new information about underage drinking and how to prevent it
- Share challenges and ideas for preventing underage drinking
- Get practical tips to use at home and share with other parents
Who can volunteer to host a Table Talk?
Any local parent who is concerned about underage drinking can be a potential host.
What does a parent host do?
The parent host is the person who offers their home, or another community space, as the location for the discussion and invites other parents. Each host will be matched with a trained facilitator who will lead the meeting presentation and discussion. The parent host is responsible for sending out invitations and remindersóbasically, making sure that people will come. Invited guests should be local parents who the host knows well, or is acquainted with in some way. During the discussion, the parent host can sit back and join in the discussion as a participant, while the outside facilitator does the work of leading the discussion. After the discussion, the parent host may want to write thank you notes to participants.
Notes:
- Due to the subject matter, it is not appropriate to serve alcohol at these events.
- We recommend that youth not be present at these discussions in order to ensure an atmosphere where parents can talk openly about parenting. We understand that hosting an event at home while keeping the children out of the room may pose a challenge. Hosts and facilitators are encouraged to work together to come up with creative solutionsófor example, you might decide to recruit a parent or community volunteer to engage youth in a fun activity elsewhere.
Are there any special benefits to being a host?
We recognize that offering up your home for a meeting place is a very generous act. As a thank you for hosting, you would receive the following incentives:
- $25 gift certificate to buy food and beverages for the discussion.
- We will be raffling away gift certificates to a local business. Any host whose discussion has more than 5 parent attendees will be entered into the raffle.
- Parent hosts will also be entered into the raffle once for each participant at their discussion who signs up to host a discussion themselves.
For more information or to volunteer to host a discussion, please contact Suzanne DiBella-Olson, Research and Project Assistant, MESAP at Medical Care Development
175 Lancaster Street, Suite 220A
Portland, ME 04101
| 
