Youth Leadership in Evidence-Based Prevention Plus Wellness Strategies
Youth leaders, as well as youth at high-risk for substance use, can significantly benefit from participating in implementing evidence-based and evidence-informed Prevention Plus Wellness (PPW) programs and media campaigns to their peers.
Implementing PPW strategies offers young people an opportunity to assume a responsible and active leadership role and developing skills and confidence in multiple prevention arenas, including:
- gaining an understanding of evidence-based prevention program theory and practice,
- tailoring prevention program/campaign images and content,
- planning a timeline and scheduling lessons/media posts,
- presenting lessons and releasing media posts, and
- monitoring and evaluating PPW program/campaign outcomes.
Training and mentoring youth as prevention program/campaign implementers opens them to experiencing additional benefits beyond simply receiving a prevention intervention themselves, including:
- becoming a positive role model,
- experiencing providing meaningful service to others,
- learning professional responsibilities, and
- gaining personal and leadership knowledge, skills, and self-confidence.
Complex and multi-session prevention programs are not feasible interventions for training in youth leadership and would likely not be successfully implemented.
Meanwhile, having youth create their own media campaign from scratch is likely too large and daunting a task to result in favorable learning and positive experiences.
Prevention Plus Wellness programs, however, are just one-session and use a script and PowerPoint slides that youth can easily practice and present to peers.
Program scripts permit youth leaders to provide PPW programs to their peers either in a group setting or individually.
PPW media campaigns are fully loaded, ready-to-implement strategies with both print and virtual materials and resources for youth to customize and implement within their schools and communities.
PPW programs and media campaigns come in versions targeting alcohol, e-cigarette, marijuana, and opioid and fentanyl use prevention, so that youth and mentors can select the substance use issue most affecting their region.
In addition, youth and adults love that PPW strategies target the promotion of healthy lifestyle behaviors and wellness-related future images, including regular physical activity, healthy breakfast and nutrition, sleep, and stress control for improving the mental and physical wellbeing of youth people.
Youth can be trained as PPW Program Implementers by completing the self-paced online training course either on their own or preferably with an adult mentor: https://preventionpluswellness.com/products/online-self-paced-ppw-program-implementer-training
Program manuals or a media campaign can then be purchased for youth to provide the program/campaign to their peers.
For more information: info@preventionpluswellness.com or call: (904) 472-5022.