Introduction to Healthy Futures: An Alternative to Suspension Curriculum
Over the past year, we know that many youth are being caught at school vaping, and we have heard from many educators throughout the country that they are trying to work with these students to provide some education and secondary prevention.
Many schools have requested such a curriculum to be implemented in lieu of suspension, and to help prevent further use of tobacco/nicotine products. Thus, in response to numerous requests, we have created an Alternative to Suspension (ATS) curriculum called Healthy Futures.
While there is a plethora of ATS curriculums in the education field, the two biggest distinctions seem to be one-on-one interventions and a group intervention. While length of times of interventions vary from one hour to full Saturdays and everything in between, we have chosen to provide both a one-on-one and group intervention in a one-hour and a two-hour plan. While one-on-one intervention is preferable, not all schools have the means to initiate this approach, so consider then the group intervention.
Those whose programs have longer demands can decide how to best spend the remaining time with those students who have been caught using tobacco products. Certainly, you are welcome to add additional materials from the Tobacco Prevention Toolkit. Consider using other materials from our vaping module found here, or our suggested curriculums, found here.
The ATS adapts materials from the Stanford Tobacco Prevention Toolkit (TPT) that is already being used by many schools throughout the US. While the TPT covers a range of topics, the ATS program tries to briefly touch on all the salient issues while devoting more extensive time to pod-based e-cigarette products such as JUUL.
We want to make note of who should be facilitating this ATS, whether conducted 1:1 or in a group setting, and whether using the 1- or 2-hour version. This is critical. All the work that we have put into the slides, the questions we ask, the activities, and so on are only as good and effective as the facilitator. Having the right person leading this ATS is critical. Here are some important considerations when choosing the facilitator, and training needs:
1) It is critical that whoever is chosen to provide this ATS actually wants to do this intervention. All facilitators must have buy-in to the program, and training. We cannot think of any worse fate for a student to be attending something that they DEFINITELY DO NOT want to be attending in the first place, and then have to spend time with someone who also DOES NOT want to be there. They will know this within 5 minutes. Please only assign this work to people who want to do this and have some skill sets to be able to be successful.
2) Recruit a Counselor/Educator/Volunteer who has a passion for tobacco education and prevention. We feel that the facilitator of this ATS program needs to have buy-in to the program as they will be expected to show a PowerPoint and facilitate activities and discussions, whether it be one-on-one or as a group.
3) If you’re not up to speed on JUUL and other pod-based systems, besides reviewing this material here, spend some time on the Stanford Tobacco Prevention Toolkit’s Pod-Based Systems Unit going over the basics. Crash courses are also available to increase your understanding, found here.
4) We feel that how the facilitator runs the intervention is equally as important as what you are doing. Expressing lots of empathy and understanding is critical and, most importantly, this is NOT a place to be preachy or judgmental. Facilitators are there to offer information and to ascertain if there is some interest to change in the student’s habits, what they may be willing to do, and refer them for further support.
Facilitators of the ATS only need to click on which program they are using and all materials are listed and ready to use via one download. Pre- and post-testing materials are available. This information is confidential, as students will give themselves a random seven-digit code to utilize. Schools can prepare their own use of this data and Stanford will use this confidential information in their data collections.
We have also included an Open Letter for Parents/Guardians template to give parents/guardians whose child has been caught using vapes/e-cigarettes on campus.
We hope you find these materials useful.
