Dave Closson

Dave Closson did not come to prevention work through a conference brochure or a career fair. He came to it the hard way, one hard-earned lesson at a time, and that is exactly why the people he serves trust him with theirs.

As a kid, Dave was the quiet one. Not shy in the charming way, but genuinely reserved, the kind of young man who had to fight for every social interaction that seemed to come naturally to everyone else. So he did what Dave still does today: he leaned into the discomfort on purpose. He took people-facing jobs that terrified him. He started reading everything he could find on personal growth, becoming what he calls 'unintentionally intentional' about becoming someone better. And eventually, that quiet kid from Illinois raised his right hand and joined the Army.

The military saw something in him. Dave became a sergeant in the Illinois Army National Guard and was handpicked for the sniper team, a selection reserved for soldiers with unusual discipline and composure. When his country called, he deployed to Iraq with his infantry battalion and recon team as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, serving as an Infantry Team Leader. He came home with the Combat Infantryman's Badge and two Army Commendation Medals, one of them for valor. He also came home carrying things no one could see: a traumatic brain injury, PTSD, moral injury, and a drinking habit that had started as a way to quiet the noise and fit in.

When Dave came home from Iraq, he picked up right where he left off, returning to Eastern Illinois University as a junior and finishing his bachelor's degree. All the while, he was struggling in silence, using substances to cope with the weight of combat he had never properly set down. Working the midnight shift as a correctional officer at a rural county jail, he made the choice to pursue his master's degree at Eastern Illinois University, and was soon hired as a university police officer there as well. On the outside, he was the picture of a service member turned public servant. On the inside, he was still struggling. Then, while walking foot patrol one day, he came across the prevention team on campus. Between his own silent fight and everything he was seeing through a cop's eyes about the toll of alcohol and drugs, something clicked. Dave dedicated his life to prevention. He does not pretend that chapter away. He talks about it openly, because he knows there are people in every audience living inside that same chapter right now.

But Dave does not go down without a fight. His transformation came slowly, the honest way, when he recognized he had simply drifted away from who he was at his core and decided to do the work to bring that person back. Recovery was not a single moment for him. It was a decision made over and over, and it reshaped the trajectory of his entire life. It is also where his prevention career truly began, because once you have lived the difference between coping and healing, you can never again pretend that prevention is just about saying no.

Dave turned that lived experience into a career of building things the field needed. He became the Assistant Director of the Illinois Higher Education Center for Alcohol, Other Drug, and Violence Prevention, then a Training and Technical Assistance Specialist with SAMHSA's Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies, and eventually the founding Director of the Mid-America Prevention Technology Transfer Center, where he built training and partnership infrastructure across a four-state region that prevention professionals still rely on today. Along the way, he earned a Master's degree in Technology, Training and Development and a Bachelor's degree in Biology, both from Eastern Illinois University, and authored Motivational Interviewing for Campus Police and Collaborative Leadership in Substance Misuse Prevention: A Facilitative Approach, along with Joy Journal: A 90-Day Path to Everyday Joy and Mindful Growth, and contributions to three more books on prevention leadership.

Today, Dave is the founder and principal of DJC Solutions, LLC, a certified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business, and the creator of the Coalition Operating System (COS Model), a framework that helps coalition leaders move from burnout to sustainable, mission-driven operations. He founded the Prevention Leaders Network and the Prevention Leaders Masterclass, and since 2019 he has hosted the Prevention Leaders Podcast, with more than 80 conversations with leaders across the field. His work has carried him to the international stage, speaking at ISSUP in Thessaloniki, Greece and at the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, Austria, and he serves as a global architect for World Resiliency Week alongside the Dalgarno Institute in Australia and as a member of the World Federation Against Drugs Global Taskforce. Nationally, he is one of the few Veterans of Foreign Wars #StillServing Heroes.

Yet ask Dave what matters most, and the answer is not the titles. It is the room. Whether he is facilitating a statewide strategy session, coaching a leadership cohort, or training prevention professionals who are stretched thin and running on mission alone, he brings the same blend of tactical know-how, heart-centered leadership, and systems thinking. He is not there to talk at you. He is there to build with you, because he believes the work of prevention is too important to go it alone.

At home, Dave is a dad, journaling life lessons for his daughter and living out the belief that anchors everything he does: Prevention is Better Together.