JANUARY 17, 2004

National Health Promotion Expert to Speak at Mesa State College

Grand Junction, CO - Dr. Jeff Linkenbach, a national health promotion expert, will discuss an innovative social change approach to underage drinking on Monday, Jan. 24 at 10:15 a.m. in Mesa State College's Liff Auditorium.

Co-sponsored by Mesa County Build a Generation and Mesa State College, Linkenbach's presentation will highlight new approaches to underage drinking that utilize social science research, technology and marketing. His work focuses on changing society's perceptions on the amount of drug and alcohol abuse that occurs to that of actual use, which is often significantly less. By emphasizing positive behavior instead of the negative, his model encourages people to overcome the "everyone is doing it" mentality.

"Much of the way we have been doing health is backwards and it doesn't work. We have been trying to scare the health into kids and young adults rather than utilizing science-based approaches," said Margaret Pearson, Mesa County Build A Generation director. "Linkenbach brings a new approach to the age old problem of underage drinking with his focus on the science of the positive. His research and methods are very interesting and have proven to be quite effective."

Linkenbach is a consultant and faculty member at Montana State University's Department of Health and Human Development, as well as the director of the Montana Social Norms Project. His expert opinion and technical assistance are frequently sought after by communities, higher education institutions, public schools, private foundations and government agencies that are looking to implement science-based health promotion programs. Linkenbach is also the project director for MOST of Us, a research project that is committed to expanding the application and success of this methodology to benefit the health, safety and welfare of the public.

In addition to his presentation at Mesa State College, Linkenbach will visit Leadville and Salida on behalf of Build A Generation's community mentoring grant. For more information, call Pearson at 970.245.5555, ext. 24, or the Mesa State College Publicity Coordinator at 970.248.1371. Additional information on Linkenbach is also available at www.mostofus.org.

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