Prevention Plus Wellness (PPW) programs and campaigns are ideal for providing youth leadership and engagement opportunities in two essential ways.
Descriptions of these two opportunities are presented below.
Implementing PPW to Peers
First, youth can receive online or in-person training designed to teach them how to provide a one-session, scripted evidence-based PPW program to same or younger age peers.
For example, some organizations have youth work in teams or pairs to present a PPW lesson to peers in existing classrooms or groups.
The beauty of this strategy is that PPW programs can be selected by youth and their mentors depending upon the needs of the local youth, school, or community.
Specifically, PPW programs provide options to address alcohol (SPORT), marijuana, e-cigarette (Vaping) and opioid use prevention while promoting healthy lifestyles.
In addition to presenting a PPW lesson, youth can experience leadership and engagement opportunities by helping schedule PPW program presentations, tailoring program PowerPoint images to best fit the youth audience, or assisting individual youth in completing their goal plans during the lesson.
Providing a PPW Media Campaign to the School or Community
Second, youth can receive leadership and engagement experiences by tailoring and providing a PPW Media Campaign to one’s school or community.
Like PPW programs, PPW Media Campaigns allow youth and mentors to select a campaign topic addressing the greatest need of youth or the community, including alcohol, cannabis, e-cigarette or opioid use prevention, while also promoting physical activity, healthy eating, sleep and stress control among their peers.
With PPW Media Campaigns, youth can assist by identifying locations and setting up campaign posters and banners, tailoring social media images and content, scheduling and posting social media announcements, distributing campaign flyers and brochures, assisting youth in completing health behavior screening surveys and goal plans, and collecting surveys evaluating campaign effects.
Conclusion
Prevention Plus Wellness programs, training, and media campaigns are great resources for providing youth with leadership and engagement experiences.
PPW programs and campaigns provide youth with hands-on experiences in implementing an evidence-based substance use prevention program or campaign, and also learning skills in motiving their peers to engage in healthy lifestyles improving their goal setting, self-identities and mental and physical wellbeing.