THIT406 Ep 34 � ReACT Transcript
Trina Filan/Margaret Mullins
Thank you for joining us for this episode of Talking Health and the Four Oh six, where we are one community under the Big Sky. I'm Trina Filin, a public health evaluator, and I'm Margaret Mullins, a social determinants of health program manager. Today we have with us Natalie and Faye, who are youth associated with React. A program run by the Montana Tobacco Use Prevention program to address youth addiction to tobacco products. We also have Amanda Borer, an adult advisor of a ReACT chapter and a concerned and involved parent. Thank you all for being here today.
Margaret Mullins
For everyone listening out there, we know that ninety nine percent of E cigarettes sold in the US convenience stores contain nicotine, and that teens who use E cigarettes are four times more likely. To start smoking cigarettes in the future and twenty times more likely to vape marijuana. We also know that almost half of Montana High school students have tried E cigarettes and twenty four percent currently use them. And that Montana has the second highest prevalence of current E cigarette use among high school students, according to the most recent national data. We're really glad to have the opportunity to talk with some of these react participants and a leader directly about their experiences in this program. So welcome everyone.
Trina Filan
Each person with us today has a great and unique story to share, to help us understand their interactions with vaping, with tobacco products and with their React program. Let's start by each of you taking just a few minutes to tell us your story. So let's hear from Faith first.
Faye
Hi, I'm Faye. I'm from Deer Lodge. I'm gonna be a sophomore in high school. I originally got into react through a girl. I was friends with and she just. She was like, what are you doing this Wednesday? And I was like, well, I don't really have any plans. And she. Introduced me to react and we went to the youth group afterwards. And after that I kind of just got sucked in because everybody was so sweet and so welcoming. And I just got so involved in everything. And then before I knew it, I was the treasurer and I was attending all the events. And it was just a really good one. Eighty from where I was.
Trina Filan
Hmm. Excellent. Thank you. Faye, how about you, Natalie?
Natalie
Hello, my name is Natalie. I am from Deer Lodge and I will also be a sophomore in high school. And the way that I got into react was my older sister started the React Coalition in Deer Lodge and so I was always kind of like a part of it. But since I was younger, I couldn't exactly be a part of all of the events they were doing. So as I got older, I kind of got. Aged into the react, and so I was able to. To help other people and learn more and just kind of like skyrocket into react.
Trina Filan
Thank you, Natalie. And how about you, Amanda? You're both an adult advisor and an involved parent. Tell us a little bit about your involvement with React.
Amanda
So my oldest daughter, Aubrey is also Natalie 's big sister, and she was recruited. By a tobacco education specialist. Out of Anaconda and we lived in Deer Lodge, but she covered that territory as well, and she took our youth from several youth from Deer Lodge and some youth from Anaconda to what was called celebration on the Hill. And so that was our first introduction to react or to tobacco education at all. And. In preparation for that trip to celebration on the hill, there was a lot of conversations about how we have the potential to build a React coalition in in Powell County. And so Cindy did a great job of. Educating us, teaching us what it took to build a coalition, and I'm just giving us information to get jump started and and the reason why we were involved with Cindy in the first place was because my daughter Aubrey had an allergy to secondhand smoke. So when Aubrey was twelve, she started recruiting for a React coalition and. Am I was OK being there adult overseeing that with Cindy 's help, and by February, three months later that year, I was asked to apply to be a tobacco education specialist assistant to Cindy. So that's how our family got involved.
Trina Filan
Wow, that's that's quite a cool story. Could could you all tell us about react? What do you do in it? What is the celebration on the hill? What does a React chapter tend to do?
Natalie
So react is a way for kids to get into leaders. Trip and it's also a way for them to help their community and also build bridges with decision makers and so multiple different things that we do is we find ways to make community events and we find ways to connect with kids so that we can help teach them on the dangers of tobacco. And we also try. And you know, let them have fun at the same time. So we've done things like host game nights, where people come and play games. But we also tell them different facts about vaping and trying to, like, steer them away while they're still having fun. And celebration on the hill is where we can get an up close look at what our senators and representatives do at the capital of Montana.
Trina Filan
Thank you, Natalie. Faye, do you have anything to add to that?
Faye
We do so much and we're so versatile. We have a lot of plans and our kids have so many ideas that it's honestly hard to keep up with them all. At this point, we have a pet pageant planned and that's relative because of. Kids who are passionate about and. Moves the second hand smoke from cigarettes and E cigarettes is harmful to them, so we're kind of raising awareness for that because a lot of the times the pets get overlooked. U M and. We have our Red Ribbon Week Film Festival coming up and we did the live after fives. We would go and do tattoo body art and inform parents and we go to the Anaconda market we sell. We have some more involved than others, but a lot of the kids participate in the things that are most important to them. We're very busy all the time, which is.
Trina Filan
Good. It sounds like you have a lot of fun mixed with very practical hands on advocacy, and so you're learning how to do. Engagement on changing minds and changing policy is that.
Amanda
Fair. Yeah. I think one of the beautiful things about react is that. There's a state react and a state react coordinator and a state react website, but it's a it's structure. I guess it's it's guidance and direction. However, they don't control what react coalitions do at the local level, and so they will help you with anything that you want to get help with. But they will umm. Do their best to provide direction and support and they create amazing documents for us and a lot of really cool stuff that I've noticed is that. If my coalition comes up with a process to create an executive board in the past we used to vote just like real elections. But we started to catch on to the youth, choosing someone who is their favorite in the group, but not someone who have the skills to do the executive. Question. We weren't doing a good job at that point in time of helping that youth operate in their skill set. And So what we did was we changed the way that we install youth into executive leadership position and decided to have them fill out an application and then have several adults review the applications and then install you. That way, and that was the uh freedom choice that our coalition was allowed to make. But then, because of that, the state asked for our application process and they included it in a React guidance document. In case other coalitions were struggling with the same thing. So it was equally true that other React coalition have offered materials and ideas that they came up with. And the state was able to incorporate that as well. And so I think it's really important that people know that a React coalition is what the youth make it. So if I'm an adult advisor. I can't. Make decisions on behalf of the Youth without the youth and their input, and so. We host an after school art class because I have a large amount of youth in my coalition that are artistic. It that wasn't the only reason why we also operate with a pattern. It's called the strategic prevention frame. Mark and Umm I learned that as a prevention specialist and kind of taught it to my youth. And so that's the process of doing an assessment of your area. So an assessment for us was that our youth are vaping at high rates, but another assessment told us that youth. We don't have access to art supplies in our community and so capacity is the second stage. And so then at that point you say, do we have funds, do we have a? Space. Do we have access to art supplies or how can we get them? And do we have people that can help with something like an after school art program? Once you figure out your capacity, you start to plan. In some cases that meant that our React Youth had to write a grant. And so in in our particular case, our coalition youth applied for the opioid data to Action Grant and they received it three years in a row. And so they used that grant to purchase golf clubs for their high school fabric to do quilts for veterans and to supply their art closet. So in that planning stage is when you set up your volunteers, we visited the Deer Lodge Art Club and got interested adults from the art club to chaperone and teach things that our art class and and we were able to secure funding and purchase supplies which the youth spent an afternoon just. Adding to the Amazon cart things that they would enjoy and experiment. Meeting with and then you implement your program. You keep records attendance, keep track of an inventory, and then you evaluate your program. That's the last step. And did you come to it? Did they learn anything? And so we figured out early on. That if you host a. Dangers of E cigarette class at the library and your target market is teenagers. Zero is how many show up to that event, but if you host a two hour free art class with lessons on watercolor, acrylic, or anime, charcoal and pencil youth come. With the clause that when you visit our art prevention class, we will hold a discussion on coping skills, how art and art supplies are a wiser use of your time for your mental health than it. Is to use. Cigarette refusal skills we discussed in our group what this looks like. So we've hosted those art classes for quite a while, but without the kid. Pointing out to me that they they like art. They don't have access to art, so we were able to combine something you wanted to do. We were able to identify that it was a need in our Community and then it opened up the door for us to educate. And so I will teach my teams how to do stuff on a Wednesday night. The meeting, but I expect those. Ninth and tenth graders to run the discussion in the art class, because if the adult is the one that's always talking, I don't think that the sixth, seventh, and eighth graders are as responsive to the adult as they are to the ninth or tenth grader that's running that coping skill discussion. And so that's kind of the process we follow in Powell County if that's helpful.
Trina Filan
That's really helpful. And it's also helpful to know that there are so many other places that also have a program that may run differently. So do you all ever get an opportunity to meet the the rest of the React folks from around the state to your student? Years ever get together, they and no.
Faey
So we were actually pretty good friends with Ashley like we would. We would see her when we went to Helena. She did the React State summary and that's how I originally first met her, and she was very involved with all of the youth and she would come to our events and we would see her there. And I think that's one of the main people that we get to meet lots of important people, decision makers, higher ups and react. We get to see a lot of people.
Trina Filan
Could you talk for just a minute just to explain who Ashley is?
Faye
So Ashley was the head up at the state react from Montana and she kind of ran all of the little coalitions and she ran the Liac state summit and would set things up on the website. We got to see her a lot. She helped us out with a lot of our events and the things that we had going on and she was just kind of like the face of react, you know, other than the youth, she was kind of behind the scenes, working at all helping the youth along their way.
Trina Filan
Thanks, Faye. Natalie, have you gotten to go to that state summit or any place where you've gotten to meet your your fellow students from around the state?
Natalie
Yes. At the React Summit, it invites all of the different react coalitions to come together, and one thing that Ashley Incorporated, which was really good, was we weren't on teams or sitting at tables based on the people we came with. She had name tags all over the place. So we were getting to sit next to people. You didn't know. Before and we got to meet them and create new friendships that way. And I have friends from React Summits that I still talk to and I was able to meet them through a React event and also with Ashley we she would always be like helpful to us and be giving us ideas and different. Things to do. And it got to the point where every time we were like driving through Helena or stopping by, we would go and get lunch.
Trina Filan
With her, that's cool to be able to meet an adult. Who you can rely on, who you know has your back and your best interests in mind for this project, Amanda.
Amanda
So some of the amazing things that Ashley did for us was we are holding. An annual statewide sticker competition around the month of March for an activity or a National Day of Action that is known as Takedown Tobacco Day and so several years ago, she reached out to a few different coalitions and. Asked the youth. For ideas, just like what I was telling you about when we identify that there's an art need, she was looking for. What is it that might get youth involved in this day of action and someone in our coalition mentioned water can stickers and how teenagers kind of seem to be really into those. And so just based off that comment, Ashley created a statewide sticker competition and it's ran for, I think, three years in a row. But she was very good at listening to the same things. What is it that the youth would participate in? And then at a state level, she would make that happen. One other last thought on something that she did that was amazing was. Our we had four our executive four core team attend community anti drug coalitions of America in Washington DC This last January and we had some T-shirts made so that we could look unified and identify ourselves as the group and when we were. Speaking to U M. Senator Daines and Tester, and we were talking to Zinke and Rosendal we just were in a white T-shirt that said react on it. And so we noticed that our T-shirts just didn't match up to these wonderful outfit. And so when we came home, our coalition just felt pretty strongly that. Having a quality professional shirt that identified us as a React coalition or she made that happen, she came, she came back and at this last summit she gave. About polos that were marked with react to all the different coalitions and made sure that they had a a classy professional shirt. Those polos were just a really a big deal to the youth from Ashley.
Trina Filan
Excellent. Thank you.
Margaret Mullis
I can't believe how much information I have learned from just listening in these last discussions, how much goes on in react and the interface with community and leadership. It's it's really impressed.
Maregaret Mullins
So.
Margaret Mullins
Both. Obviously what your coalition is doing, but what it sounds like other coalitions are doing around the state. So thanks everybody for kind of trying to give us some of that information I want to, I want to kind of pull back for a moment and just talk a little bit about vaping itself. I want to talk about why youth might be motivated to try vaping or tobacco products. We have a lot of people who may be listening in to this podcast. They now understand what react is and what coalitions are, but trying to understand, sort of what gets people there in the first place. So this is really a question for everybody. I'm wondering, do you think that students are attracted to vaping or cigarettes or chewing tobacco? What are your thoughts around that?
Natalie
So with the whole vaping, I think that is definitely the biggest thing that youth are a part of. And it's not just high schoolers anymore. Now we are seeing that like people all the way as young as fourth grade are starting vaping and vaping. I think the reason that it's so big is because it's easily accessible. But it's small, so you can hide it. And since it's like in kids flavors like gummy bears and like cinnamon toast Crunch, it's something that everybody wants to try. Like it, it tastes good. It's it looks cool. And then also the peer pressure. Like, if there's one person who has a vape and they're passing it to all their friends. You would be the weird one if you didn't take a hit off it as well. And so, since it's it's all over the place and all these different kids are doing it, people think that it's cool. They're like, oh, my goodness, that person is they just got the best score on the test, and now they're using a vape. And so vaping must be cool and must be helping them. And people are under the impression that vaping helps. With mental health like, oh, I'm stressed out, this vape is going to help me not be stressed out anymore, which actually isn't the case because vaping just makes you more stressed out. And. One thing that I've noticed is it always starts small and it gets bigger and so they're going to start by borrowing their friends vape on the weekend and then they're going to get their own vape and then it's going to get to the point where they can't really hide it anymore. And so that's when they might turn to something like chew or snuff or something that they can. All right. And and in the corner of their cheek and just have in their mouth. All day and no one will notice.
Margaret Mullins
Thanks, Natalie. Faye. You wanted to add to.
Faye
That so I think Zyn and vapes are the worst right now. I didn't realize how bad Zin was until I had. Some really deep conversations with some people that I know it's mostly. For like sports, kids and rancher kids, because while they're, you know, working all this machinery or doing their sports or working on like out in the fields they. They just hide this little scene in their cheek and it like they have this idea that it's like giving them energy and like making them like. Sort of just a little thing that give them a boost while they're doing their work and also vaping is huge right now, especially in our town. We have so many little kids that are just, they get hooked so easily. And I think the biggest thing is the flavors. That's definitely what got me. It's just so. It's like eating a gummy bear. Like it's just so it doesn't seem like a big deal until it is.
Margaret Mullins
Right. And certainly at those young ages, they don't really understand the health impacts at all. Can you say for people listening who might not know, can you just explain what Zin is?
Faye
So I am actually not as educated in Zyn as I am with vaping. All I know is that it's just like a little nicotine pouch that are flavored and you just like, stick it in your cheek like chew.
Amanda
Zyn is the. It's a little paper pouch that contains nicotine inside of it, and it is heavily flavored and they come in a little tiny Cam that looks like two. One of the misleading pieces of thin, especially in the beginning, was they advertised that it was tobacco free. It used to say that. On the packaging. That is. Tricky for young people because what they're referring to is it doesn't have tobacco leaf in the product. I think the misconception or the general public would assume that tobacco free also means nicotine free, but that is not the case, so it's easy to hide, to disguise, and it's full of flavor. And it has this head of nicotine in it. And of course we're we're talking about addiction here. We're not talking about stress relief. And so if you have someone who is struggling with the nicotine addiction, what they call stress relief is actually with. Tau and so like Faye pointed out it could start small and then it gets bigger. And then if you can't be in a place where. Maybe you are playing sports or you're doing work in the field with your grandpa. You can't just pull out a vape and so they are referring to something else that they can have in their cheek and provide nicotine on a regular basis. It's.
Margaret Mullins
Really something. How many different products and the ways they figure out of getting those into the public? And to your point, when I was looking up some information about vaping and and flavors, which I didn't know that E cigarettes come in about fifteen thousand five hundred different flavors, which just knocked me knocked me over and ninety six percent of you, these cigarette users started with a flavored product. I can see why it's enticing. Why it's difficult and and even more so why the education around what all of you do is is just really, really critical. Do you think these flavors are an intentional way of getting youth right to try these products? And I'm wondering how that makes you feel.
Natalie
I think that, uh, the big tobacco companies and what they're doing is horrible. It's obviously them just trying to make money and it's obviously working because they are getting bigger and they're finding more ways to get kids hooked because. The younger somebody starts, the longer they're going to be a customer. And the worst thing is that they don't even know like the long term effects of vaping yet, because it hasn't even been a long, long enough for there to be any studies on it. So the kids that are vaping currently, they're like Lab Rats, and they're just trying something new. And we don't know what is going to happen to them. When they're older. And also there is like vaping. They're just trying to get into your life because once you start it's it's almost impossible to stop, especially when it gets like really like deep like when you become like an all the time user. And the vaping companies have been like trying new tactics. They've been making vapes that look like USB 's. They've been making vapes in the water bottles, so you can press a button and it would look like you're drinking off your water bottle, but it was actually a vape. They even put one on hoodie strings so that it could look like you were chewing on your hoodie string. It was a vape. Just recently they released a vape that has a screen on it. So you could play a games. On it. So if you had it in your pocket, you could just play.
Natalie
Games on it on your vape? Well, that's something. Do you have anything you want to add?
Margaret Mullins
That.
Faye
About this whole crisis, it it mainly just breaks my heart like I feel really sad about it all. My heart really goes out to all the kids who. Are they're so young and they're literally, like, so addicted to their vapes and they just every ten minutes they freak out like, Oh my gosh, I need to go hit my neck. And The thing is, if you sit down and have a conversation, these kids do not care that it's hurting them. Most of them know we have speakers. Come into the school and educate our. Youth that vaping is bad. Cigarettes are bad. Smoking is bad. Don't do it. They just do not care. You can tell these kids every single day not to vape. You can tell them, hey, there's formaldehyde in there. Hey, there's nickel and lead in there, but they don't care. They value themselves. So little. That. They don't care about the long term effects, they're just worried about the now. They just want to taste the sweet blue Raspberry flavor and forget about their problems right now because you know, they have this idea that it's making their stress go away. But like Amanda said, it's really just making the withdrawal. Go away and they just they don't care. And I just that breaks my heart because they don't. They don't see the big issue that it really is.
Margaret Mullins
Thanks for that, Faye. That's a really a really good perspective and there is sort of an invincibility to youth, right, that it's hard for them to see the long term.
Trina Filan
Effects. Are there any arguments or facts? That you think are more useful when you're talking to your peers. Is it easier to convince kids to not start in the first place than to quit?
Natalie
The goal of React is prevention, which is preventing them from ever starting. We don't really deal much with intervention, which is helping somebody after they've already started. Yeah, our prevention tactics might work on somebody who's already started, like they know that it's bad for them. They know that. It's gonna cause cancer. They they know all these things already. So you might have to try a different tactic. Like how much money it's costing them or that it's affecting their pets because a lot of people care about their animals because at the point it's got to be bigger than themselves because they don't care about themselves.
Faye
We do have cessation techniques like our group does do cessation activities. We've done some things around that. I really think that it's way easier to prevent these kids from starting than it is to ever. Stop them from quitting because a lot of the kids who haven't started already have the mindset. Like, I'm not doing this because it's bad and I think that if we just can drill it into their minds to not ever start that they're way better off doing their sports and getting better grades. Without ever starting, then that needs to be our best interest. Because the kids who have already started, I would say it's way harder to get them to quit because they're so hooked on it already and they just don't want to see the long term because they don't. They just don't care what it's doing to them. And I think that with their mindset. Being so carefree and nonchalant, it's so hard to get them to quit once they've started.
Trina Filan
Thank you. Amanda, do you have something to add?
Amanda
I like what Faye said. It is true that we primarily focused on prevention. However, we are very familiar with the my life, my quip program, and what they have to offer, and we were educated that my life might quit, can be anonymous, and that parents are not notified and you know, sometimes parents might have issue with that. But for the greater good, if a youth really is interested in quitting and they don't want someone to know that they started, is that better for an example? We have hosted a several different Minecraft tournament. Minecraft is something that's kind of popular in this sixth, seventh and eighth grade, so we host an event and we do a bracket system and we have a donated prize, and we'll have these six seventh and eighth graders show up to compete. And so we gather the group together and they're all excited because where are they at in the bracket? System and did they make it to the second round and then we have our teenagers do this presentation and the main goal of that presentation is to tell them, hey. Probably going to see this happening in the bathroom and you might see this happening on the playground and you have to stay strong and and not try it ever and. But at the end of our presentation, we saying, hey, we're not here to judge if if you've already started and this is something that you're just now getting educated on or you didn't realize that it could be as dangerous as it was. There's my life, my quit. And so we do always try hard to include the cessation piece because we don't want the youth. To feel like they're doomed, or that they can't get out of it, or that there isn't another option. We don't want them to feel judged either kind of figure. If someone is vaping and they show up to react meetings or react event that they can feel accepted and welcomed and not judged, and we can possibly provide them with the. Better information and you know every time somebody is presented with new information, they have the freedom to make a more informed decision.
Margaret Mullins
I like the open door policy. There's not sort of this understanding that, you know, you have to not be vaping or having not vaped at their sort of anyone can come into that program and and become a part of it and and decide how it's, you know, going to affect their lives moving forward and what they're going to do. You mentioned my life. My quit. I just want people who are listening to know that the Montana Tobacco use Prevention program also has a website. It's know the facts Montana dot com. And it includes some information on youth E cigarette use in Montana, the health risks tobacco industry targeting tactics, signs that a youth might be vaping, tips on how to talk to youth about vaping and some resources for quitting.
Trina Filan
Natalie and Faye. What reaction do you get? From your peers at school. About your involvement with React, tell us about tell us about your interactions with your peers. A lot of.
Faye
People don't actually know because they don't care enough to find out a lot of the times. It's just people who see you a lot or know you better than others that know your involvement and react. And from there it can kind of spread. It isn't really a big deal to us that people know, obviously because we're going around and. Getting even more involved than we were and doing all these events in a big group and. We all have matching shirts. Some people are very lewd. Some people can be very salty about it and try and make you feel bad for what you're doing and. Honestly, just you have to be comfortable in your ideas and at the point where we are now most of the time it's pretty laid back. You know our group is pretty. It's a pretty safe environment. Our group is very connected to each other and I feel like that's what's keeping us going.
Trina Filan
Thanks, Faye. Natalie, do you have anything you want to add to that?
Natalie
I feel like Faye kind of hit the nail on the head. Right there that, I mean we have had in the past some people who like don't get it or think that we are weird or think that we're trying too hard. But for the most part, people don't exactly like spend all their time trying to make us feel left out, I guess.
Trina Filan
Do you have? Anybody who reacts positively and really wants to come hang with you for the most part, a lot of the adults in our community really appreciate the work that we.
Natalie
You and I have stronger bonds with some of my teachers and my principal because of things that we've done.
Margaret Mullins
My next question really is for you, Amanda, as a React Coordinator, you've given us some really good information about the benefit of having. Youth join the programs and sort of how they're organized locally and across the state, the coalition. And. I'm interested how, as a parent, you know parents can talk to their kids about vaping. What some advice you might have for other parents listening.
Amanda
I really feel like avoiding the conversation is probably one of the biggest issues. I do understand that there is a lot of adults that are dealing with their own substance use and they also have their own life problems. Parents are maybe not avoiding it on purpose. I just feel like that they haven't made talking to their kids. Vaping, a top priority. That conversation just has to be. Add I think another challenge is looking at your rate like it just so happened that we have multiple youth in our coalition that have heavy smoking or vaping parents and so that becomes interesting and we've actually lost some youth because the parents didn't approve. Of the youth being involved, we're really big in our coalition on repeating the phrase that we of course never hate the smoker. We just hate the product and so. Uhm, we do have a couple of youth in our coalition who have been able to stay and maintain and have the support of their parents, even though they use the substance. But it's not always the case. There are a lot of factors in there that a lot of people don't realize, and so the parent can't justify not letting their youth use as a substance if they're the ones. Introducing it into the. Household umm. So we ran into that quite a bit, but I think that just hosting the conversation is probably the number one barrier.
Margaret Mullins
If a parent knows that a student is vaping, do you think are some of the best ways that parents can support kids who might want to stop vaping? There is react, of course, to get involved with other youth. Do you have any other thoughts about ways parents can support kids, particularly if they have been doing it for a while, unbeknownst? To the parents. And so they they they do have an addiction.
Amanda
I think getting involved with the website with my life, my quit and truth initiative getting the. Information is a starting point, but my number one thought on that topic is that getting your family practitioner involved, that I I have found in the past four out of five of the physicians that I had a chance to visit with on the topic of. Sports physicals. Four out of five, we're not asking the students if they were using a substance, and so it just so happens in my high school we have a drug testing policy, and if you test positive, then you've referred to get help. Some of the students are faced with suspension, but a referral to treatment is. Is a really big deal and it's a loop that is kind of missing a link there, and so it isn't always just catching it that's important. It's the follow up. Care. Every year there's a sports physical, a free concussion test, and you have to do that if you want to play sports. And so why wouldn't we be screening and offering brief intervention to treatment for these youth? And so as far as a parent trying to help their student, I think a lot of times it can always be the well, the mom is always giving out the rules. Your mom is always like, not only do I have to take out the trash, but now I have to deal with this vape issue. But when you bring in a physician or another trusted adult and the kid is hearing that from another angle or you know getting. An an uncle, or somebody that the youth respects involved, I think is really important, but our physicians have a lot to offer and so if we can keep them in the loop and keep them aware of our program, I think that that is a positive step for a parent who is not sure how to help their kid quit.
Margaret Mullins
It kind of falls into that category too, of bringing it in from other angles, offering art programs, but also putting in information, having them do a sports physical and then adding some added tips about what to do and not do and how to get support. So thanks for that. That's really helpful. At for adults that are listening and are interested in react can, how can they perhaps get involved or even start a react program in their area?
Amanda
I think visiting the website is the first step. Just looking at what our our state website has to offer. And then finding a a network. So if you assess the situation and you want to have this coalition, your second step is capacity. Do we have the interested adult to be able to pull this off? Do we have a place to have meetings do? We do. We have someone in the group that can work with the youth to write an mtap mini grant. The MINI grants are really helpful to people who would like to start a coalition and they have the initial group of people, but they don't have the fund. That fund can help, maybe with a rental space or it can help throw a kickoff event. But another resource is. Always the tobacco education specialist, almost every county in our state is covered by a tobacco education specialist. With the exception of maybe, I think, one to. Next, so if we have fifty six counties, then at least around fifty of those counties are for sure covered, which means there's a local tobacco education specialist nearby that can provide you with resources and contacts, and you know, they might not have the capacity themselves as a tobacco education specialist to really build a coalition. But when you have a separate. Coach or a four H leader or an FAA crew that is interested in adopting a tobacco education message, the tobacco education specialist is always willing to work and educate a group of people. So that's another resource that they could have and reaching out to other coalitions, circling back to one of the questions that you asked that we maybe didn't answer was if we interact with other React coalition, Natalie could share her experience with traveling to Dylan and talking to them about how to apply. For a mini grant.
Natalie
So we went to help them apply for mini grant because they had never done it before and they had their own goals that they had already set in stone and they already know, knew what they wanted to do. And they were just having a hard time getting the funds for it. And so I was there to walk them through the process. Like, OK, who is presenting this grant? So what values does that person hold? So I used the example that in our own town, when we were writing a grant for the women 'S Club. Well, the women 'S Club supports women in leadership and supports doing things that are productive to the community. And so when we applied for the grant, we proposed that I would be hosting a retreat for other kids to learn about. Tobacco prevention and so. That would be a woman in a leadership role and it would be something that was helping the Community and so figure out who is giving away this grant so that you can help play to what they want to be done in the community with the money.
Margaret Mullins
Absolutely. That's that's super creative and smart idea to look kind of closely to see who has the funding and how you can coordinate with them. So here's a question. It's really for all of you, but I'm going to start with Natalie and Faye. You know, I know each school handles these things differently, but what do each of you think is the best way for administrators and teachers to deal with students who get caught vaping or using tobacco?
Faye
There are some schools that expel and suspend all of their students. And I really don't think that's the right approach, because if you're suspended, you're just going to go home and play Fortnite and vape all week. And if you get expelled, you're probably not going to have any other things to fill your life with. So a lot of the times, these kids turn. The worst substances our coalition has talked about getting the school to refer. Positive tests to us so they can get educated by our coalition and they can get into what we're doing and maybe learn about what's in the product they're using, how it's going to affect them and maybe give them alternative resources, alternative things to spend their time on. And different like a helpful community to help them along the way. I think a lot of schools fail at giving their youth positive reinforcements, like helping them do better things instead of just. Punishing them for doing the bad thing? I feel like that's how we snuff out a lot of the good lights and children that could be turned to something better is. We don't help them to something better, we just. You know, like we really, we really hurt these kids by not giving them. Something positive and instead really just put them in a worse scenario instead of giving them a better one to give them the opportunity to fix their situation.
Margaret Mullis
Those are really good insights.
Natalie
I don't think it really like gets through to them like the weight of what they're doing. And I mean, I'm not really sure if there's a good way to try and show them what they're actually doing and how it's affecting their life. Maybe if there was some sort of way to show them what their future might look like if they stay on this path.
Margaret Mullins
Yeah, have them look forward.
Amanda
We did have an experience with Natalie this last school year where some youth were turned in for vaping and they were suspended from school. I was thankful that the school did something that was very, very important. It did open the door for me to have a conversation with the principal about suspension. And if suspension is. The best avenue or if I'm assigning a class or an educational course or I really, really like the approach that some schools are taking where the youth is involved in the punishment piece. A wonderful example that was shared with me and I can't remember who it was, but imagine a youth who was. Caught fit chewing on a bus. And they get brought in. Principal can ask the student what? Do you think? Would be the solution to this situation. Of course we don't want you chewing. It's not good for you. What they did in that case was have the student clean the bus. They have to go clean the bus from top to bottom. They have to clean their own fit to out of the bus. But that student. Did such a good job cleaning the bus that eventually they were hired to clean buses by the school system. And I mean, that might be a rare situation, but I think those opportunities are always around the corner and that. Having an active role with the parent and the school system and the student, the truth of the matter is, if they don't see what that future might hold for them, then you're missing just a part of how, how that restorative justice approach could be helpful. Our junior high has been really good about if they catch a student with a product have me because I also service the tobacco education specialist for our county, come in and schedule two, two hour sessions with the youth to use the Stanford University Tobacco Prevention Toolkit. And go through a course with them and I felt like those groups of youth, if you get two or three at a time and you spend four hours with them, it's not all about punishment. It's more about education. And I end up friends with the students that take my class, and we've even had some of those students show up to react. Meeting in the future, I think there's room for our school systems to look into how to handle these scenarios.
Margaret Mullins
Yeah, I hear all of you saying that trying to create some sort of avenue for positivity and awareness, all of those things are preferable. So that was really helpful information. Just wondering.
Trina Filan
Yes. Faye, is there anything that you think people should know that you didn't get to?
Faye
Talk about, I think, adults. Quickly, they should really know that it is happening everywhere and that they should not be blind. They should open their eyes and see that it could be happening to their kids. It could be happening to their kids friends. It could be happening to their nieces and nephews, their grandchildren. And I hope that they can. Through this and I know that there is steps that need to be taken and things that need to be done and maybe they can be a part of helping this generation fix its issue and for the kids. I really hope that they can just know that they do have value and they're better than the things that they do and this issue, it's all over. They aren't alone in it. A lot of people who are doing it want to quit and a lot of people who have done it have quit and. There as a teen who was a chronic vapor that quit, I can say that it is possible and I just. I really want the kids to know that they are not alone and they do have value and I think that. That's just the main issue is they don't want to see that what they're doing is hurting them. They don't care enough. And there are ways to get through it, and I just hope that they can realize that and hopefully turn things around for themselves.
Trina Filan
Thanks, Faye. How about you, Natalie? Any last thoughts from you?
Natalie
I think that it's important to add that even if you do start, but even if you feel like you've been sucked into something that it's, you're not a lost cause, you can still quit. There are still people that care about you and people that want to help you, and that if you just look around the corner, there might be. A bright tunnel on the other side that you haven't been seeing in this dark tunnel. In and that, it might seem like nobody cares about you. You might feel alone. You might have these stress, this anxiety that you're trying to self heal by using some sort of vape. But just know that there are people that are out there that are wanting to help you. And that there is help for you.
Trina Filan
Thanks, Natalie. And how about you, Amanda? Any last thoughts?
Amanda
I have one last thought and that is that I have a youth in my coalition and that youth involvement in our coalition inspired her parent to quit. And so you can set that bar. They can set that example, and their parents can follow that and be inspired by what their youth is working on. And so they can be helpful in apparent quitting.
Margaret Mullins
Too, that is a great message. Thanks to all of you. Amanda. Natalie. Say on behalf of Trina and myself and the crew behind the scenes who are willing to share their stories and perspectives about a terrific pro. Program if you would like more information on what we discussed today, visit our website at talkinghealthinthe406.mt.gov, where there will be some links and resource materials that we think could be useful and if you haven't already, Please remember to rate, review and subscribe to our podcast. And until next time. Be healthy and be well. Thanks all.