Washington County families invited to August 20 event to learn how to prevent substance use, addiction in teens

If parents knew how to connect and communicate more effectively with their teenagers, they might be able to spare them from experimenting with substances and falling into addiction.

“When we talk about substance use, there are risk factors and protective factors,” said Pam Lanhart, executive director of Thrive Family Recovery Resources. “We hear about the overdose deaths but we don’t talk enough about protective factors and how we make sure they don’t start using in the first place.”

Lanhart knows all too well of the pain of addiction; her son Jake died from a fentanyl overdose at at 24. His death followed many year of battling substance abuse, with periods of recovery and then relapse.

In 2016, Lanhart founded Thrive Family Recovery Resources to teach families what no one taught her during the years that Jake was struggling. She wants to arm parents with a strategy to address their teenagers when they may begin experimenting with alcohol, opioids and other substances.

“I call it loving well. Parents hear that you have to do tough love with kids,” she said. “But this creates a cycle of conflict and trauma in the family. We teach families how to handle this with emotional maturity. We want to equip families and help them live differently.”

On August 20, people in the east metro community will have the opportunity attend an open house at Thrive Family Recovery Resources at their new resource hub in Eagan. (See details below.)

The open house will feature food, a ribbon cutting to celebrate their new building and a group training on the lifesaving use naloxone, which can reverse opioid overdoses.

Families will also have the chance to sign up for upcoming  workshops in Washington County later in the fall. Offered through Thrive Family Recovery Resources, the series is designed to strengthen families and create a positive, safe environment.

“What we are doing in Washington County and the East Metro is giving parents and kids actionable tools, skills and activities to help them come together,” Lanhart said. “That creates a family ecosystem that interrupts how families deal with generational trauma, anxiety, depression, things youth are facing.”

The free workshops will break participants into three different groups, each led by facilitators. One will be for parents, another for children aged 7 to 12 and a third for teenagers.

“We are teaching parents collaborative communication and  teaching kids at an age-appropriate level what collaborative communication looks like for them,” Lanhart explained.

“Then everyone is on the same page. Everyone learns how to be wise-minded, how to manage anger, how to affirm and validate their loved ones.”

For more about Thrive Family Recovery Resources—programs,  one-on-one family support, group meetings, and services—go to: https://www.thrivefrr.org

Thrive Family Recovery Resources Open House

August 20, 2025

At the new Family Resource Hub

440 Duckwood Drive, Suite 100

Eagan, MN

5 pm Doors Open, food is served 

6 pm Ribbon Cutting

7 pm Naloxone Training