Public Health · Prevention Education

Evidence-based prevention education for workplaces, schools, and communities.

I'm Brittani Farn, a public health professional focused on preventative education. My work sits where research meets practice — updating workplace substance use training with current national data, analyzing community focus groups, and helping school programs talk with students about social media and digital addiction.

View my work
Workplaces

Drug-free workplace (DOT) training, updated with current alcohol and drug data

Schools

Mental health and digital-wellness messaging for students and educators

Communities

Focus-group research on knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about gambling

Featured work

Applied practice, partnership, and professional learning projects from 2026.

Applied Practice Experience · PreventEd

Drug-Free Workplace (DOT) Training Presentation

2026 · Research and slide development for PreventEd's workplace substance use training

Substance use carries a large and often invisible cost for employers — in accidents, absenteeism, workers' compensation claims, and lives. For PreventEd's drug-free workplace training, I researched current data on alcohol and drug use among working adults and the specific challenges it creates for employers, then created new slides that were folded into the organization's existing presentation.

The new material covers the scope of workplace substance use; the professions with the highest rates of use, from restaurant and hospitality work to healthcare, law, construction, management, and law enforcement; nine individual risk factors; and 2024–2025 national prevalence data on drinking, binge drinking, and heavy alcohol use by sex and race. Every new data point is cited, drawing on sources including NIAAA, the U.S. Department of Labor, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Mayo Clinic.

178,000
alcohol-related deaths each year in the U.S. (NIAAA, 2025) — why workplace prevention matters
6
high-risk professions profiled with profession-specific use data
9
individual risk factors for substance use, sourced from Mayo Clinic
View the slides Download PDF
Qualitative research

2026 · PreventEd
Role: Qualitative coder

Gambling & Betting Focus Groups

Recent focus groups explored people's knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about gambling and betting. Working with a PreventEd staff member as a two-person team, I began analyzing seven of the transcripts — two from youth groups and five from adult groups — in ATLAS.ti, after training in the software.

Working from a shared coding guide, we read each participant remark, proposed codes, and agreed on them together through a consensus coding process — exploring what participants know and believe about gambling harms and prevention strategies.

School-based prevention

2026 · CHADS Coalition for Mental Health
Role: Content reviewer

Social Media & Digital Addiction in School Presentations

CHADS delivers mental health and suicide prevention programming in schools, where social media use is a major topic. Drawing on my research into digital addiction, I reviewed several of CHADS's school presentations and prepared ideas and suggestions, then walked through the presentations with the Signs of Suicide program manager and four of the team members who deliver them.

As an outside reviewer, I suggested what might work better and flagged the positive or negative messages some of the graphics might send to students. In-school observation of the presentations is planned for fall 2026.

Professional learning

2026 · For educators

Digital Citizenship Professional Learning Experience for Educators

A preventative-education professional development experience for educators, focused on digital citizenship — part of my broader work on preventing digital addiction in children and adolescents.

Educators come away with a strategy for implementing lesson plans designed to equip their learners with the tools and confidence to be safe, responsible, and respectful while using digital platforms.

Materials

Work samples and documentation available to view or download.

Drug Free Workplace — DOT Training Slides
Presentation slides · PreventEd
2026
View PDF
Digital Citizenship Professional Learning Experience for Educators
Professional learning · Educators
2026
On request
Certificate: Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences
PreventEd · Missouri Credentialing Board–approved hours
2026
PDF
Project Documentation Letter
Stacie Zellin, PreventEd
2026
PDF

About

I'm a public health professional focused on preventative education — helping people understand, and avoid, the harms of alcohol and other drugs, gambling, and problematic technology use.

My applied practice experience with PreventEd, a St. Louis organization leading the conversation on alcohol and other drugs, has ranged from updating workplace training with current national data to coding community focus groups on gambling. With CHADS Coalition for Mental Health, I've brought my research on social media and digital addiction to the presentations its team delivers in schools.

  • Health education & presentation design
  • Prevention research synthesis
  • Qualitative analysis (ATLAS.ti)
  • Consensus coding
  • Epidemiological data (NIAAA, BLS)
  • Professional learning for educators
  • Community partnership

Research focus: preventing digital addiction early

Children and adolescents are growing up with constant access to the internet and digital devices. My research looks at why prevention needs to begin in childhood — and how schools, educators, and families can act on that evidence. These sources anchor the work.

Digital addiction is the identification of a behavioral disorder caused by the excessive and uncontrolled use of the internet and digital devices, which can lead to physical, mental, and social problems.
Theopilus et al. (2024), p. 2
Gen Z became the first generation in history to go through puberty with a portal in their pockets that called them away from the people nearby and into an alternative universe that was exciting, addictive, unstable, and unsuitable for children and adolescents.
Haidt (2024), p. 27
Childhood and adolescence are critical periods in brain development and digital addiction may cause functional and irreversible damage to the brain, and therefore it is significant to implement early prevention in children to prevent digital addiction.
Ding & Li (2023), p. 3

References

Ding, K., & Li, H. (2023). Digital addiction intervention for children and adolescents: A scoping review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(6), 4777. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20064777

Haidt, J. (2024). The anxious generation. Penguin Press.

Theopilus, Y., Al Mahmud, A., Davis, H., & Octavia, J. R. (2024). Preventive interventions for internet addiction in young children: Systematic review. JMIR Mental Health, 11, e56896. https://doi.org/10.2196/56896

Training & references

Professional development

Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences

PreventEd · 1.5 hours · September 1, 2026
Hours approved by the Missouri Credentialing Board
Certificate (PDF)

ATLAS.ti qualitative data analysis

PreventEd · 2026
Trained alongside PreventEd staff for focus-group coding
What partners say
“It was especially important that all new data and information was cited with recent, evidence-based or best-practice sources, which Ms. Farn accomplished. … Ms. Farn has provided substantial support to PreventEd, and we are deeply appreciative of her time, effort, professionalism, and willingness to learn.”
Stacie ZellinCommunity Strategist, PreventEd · Read the full letter
“My team members had lots of questions for her calling on her expertise in the area of social media and digital addiction. … It was great to work with Brittani and I look forward to a possible continued partnership.”
Mindy GrossmannSigns of Suicide Program Manager, CHADS Coalition for Mental Health