Drinking when pregnant is a cultural norm. In fact, one in seven pregnant people reports consuming alcohol during pregnancy (which is pretty high). A significant number of pregnant women haven’t been told by their physicians that it’s not safe to drink while pregnant, and some even tell them it’s safe. But no amount or type of alcohol is safe to consume during pregnancy.

Prevent fetal alcohol syndrome disorder (FASD) along with so many of the lifelong effects including substance use, poor mental health outcomes, and incarceration can be associated with alcohol during pregnancy.

On today's conversation, Duane and Jackie Franks talk about the importance of prevention and raising awareness about this issue. We have to create more awareness to help prevent a lot of future problems, conditions, and experiences with law enforcement or incarceration. And if we think upstream, the prevention of prenatal exposure to alcohol is the most important thing.

Jackie is the executive director of the Indiana Alliance on Prenatal Substance Exposure. They recently launched BRAIN, a first-of-its-kind, online FASD screening tool that assesses cognitive and behavioral features associated with FASD.

In this episode, you will hear:

How FASD is diagnosed as ADHD
How to know FASD is present
Social determinants of health and prevention
Statistics on alcohol consumption during pregnancy
The link between FASD and addiction
About the BRAIN screening tool

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Supporting Resources:

Indiana Alliance on Prenatal Substance Exposure

https://inalliancepse.org/

BRAIN screening tool

https://inalliancepse.org/brain-online/

NovusMindfulLife.com

Episode Credits

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