From Deborah Dunn, on behalf of the Board of Trustees"Please join us in expressing good wishes to Jocelyn Cooper as she begins her next chapter. We are grateful for her contributions since she started in 2014 as a Prevention Educator working directly with our beloved Geetha Arulmohan. In July 2017, Jocelyn became the Council's Executive Director. T...

Greetings to our Mercer Council Family, Extended Family, Community Partners, and Mercer County Community - A warm and heartfelt thank you for your continued loyalty and support of our agency and work throughout the year.  Wishing you and yours all the peace and joy in this holiday season and the New Year!  

In the field of Prevention, we are especially concerned about the developing adolescent brain. We want to protect it as much as possible while also encouraging our students to seek positive experiences that create lasting positive infrastructural change. The introduction and passing of the Cannabis legislation did complicate the discourse on how we...

Vicarious trauma or secondary trauma is defined as a condition experienced by people who have been working with people living with trauma in which they themselves begin to demonstrate physical and emotional responses to the other person's trauma exposure. Hearing sad things may impact us. However, some individuals in response to the sadness they he...

 As you all are well aware, December 31st is the day Barbara Sprechman will be retiring from Mercer Council. Of the 29 years Barbara has worked in Prevention, she has been with the Mercer Council for the past 11 years. During this time, she has greatly enjoyed working alongside her colleagues and community members excelling as Mercer County Pr...

Giving Tuesday is an opportunity for people around the world to come together to thank, help, give, show kindness, and share what they have with those in need. Make a contribution today so together we can make a healthy, safe, and responsible community become a reality! Donate Mercer Council is a private, non-profit agency dedicated to th...

We want to thank Brian Bittings, OORP Patient Navigator, for the 4 years he has spent leading our OORP team.  Brian decided to move on from the Mercer Council mid-October. We wish him all the best in the next chapter of his journey. We want to congratulate David DeCamp, who has fully transitioned from the role of Assistant Patient Navigator/Re...

On Friday November 5th, 2021 Mercer Council was honored to participate in the inaugural "Open Access To Recovery" (OATR) outreach event. This event was organized by Recovery Advocates of America and the Mercer County Operation Helping Hand Program (OHH) under the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office. OHH offers those arrested for n...

Thursday is the Great American Smoke Out. This is an opportunity to challenge yourself to live a day without nicotine. This event was established by the American Cancer Association in order to encourage people on their journey to quit. Stemming from a local community event in 1970, it has grown to become the national event it is today. The American...

No one ever imagines their child will just vanish one day. However, commercial sexual exploitation of minors is one of the various sad realities of why children leave home. November is National Runaway Prevention Month. In shining a light on the intersection of substance use and sex trafficking of minors, MCADA wants to highlight that the leading f...

We are excited to announce that we are on GreatNonprofits.org—a review site like Yelp, but for nonprofits! Do you have a story or experience with Mercer Council that you would like to share with others? If so, please leave us a review—we'd love to hear from you! Mercer Council On Alcoholism And Drug Addiction Reviews and Ratings | Lawrence Township...

Frankenstein shares a story from his youth to help children and teens protect their brain, and munster up the courage to say no to underage drinking! 

In 2020, there were 3,046 suspected drug-related deaths in New Jersey (source:  NJ Department of Law and Public Safety).  Many of these deaths involved opioids including heroin, fentanyl as well as prescription painkillers.  According to a report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a majori...

On February 22, 2021, Governor Phil Murphy signed three bills into law that addressed the legalization of cannabis (the legal word for marijuana). With this, the legalization of cannabis pushed forward a discourse for all New Jersey citizens to take part in. With questions and concerns so large about the impact on youth, the justice system, and the...

I've had a long and fulfilling career in prevention over the past 29 years.  Starting out as a part time prevention educator teaching a primary prevention program known as BABES for young children using puppets and storytelling when my own children were very young.  Prevention Science was still a fairly "young" fi...

A blog post was written in October 2020 to recognize October as National Eat Better, Eat Together Month. The purpose of National Eat Better, Eat Together Month is to promote healthy eating habits among individuals of all ages. Research shows there are many benefits of families frequently eating dinner together including improved social skills in ch...

September is Suicide Prevention Month. While ASYSST is assisting students throughout the year, suicide is one of the many areas we focus on. This year's theme is HELP, take one post one. There is a help sign posted outside of one of our offices, students can take a Post-It Note with a positive affirmation that speaks to or means something to him/he...

Choosing what to eat for dinner is a simple decision we can make without much thought. Difficult decisions such as where to go for college require careful and more serious thinking. In this session of Talking Points for Teens, the focus will be on making those tough decisions. We will examine the pros and cons for the different outcomes of each tou...

OORP's Dream Team of Certified Peer Recovery Specialists, spread hope and healing as they reflect on the gift of recovery and what being in recovery means to them!   For some Recovery Month inspiration, check out what they have to say!  💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜 Marc North, Stacey Ross, James Boozan, Brian Bittings, Jon Macciocca, Dave...

The sound of the Shofar (ram's horn) is the signal that the Days of Awe, the ten-day period from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur has begun. This is a period of serious introspection and soul-searching. It is a time to heal hurts, offer apologies, mend misunderstandings, and right wrongs. These 10 days are considered the most sacred on the Jewish calend...