On December 10th, the Teen Advocacy Coalition (TAC) hosted A December to Remember Holiday Party.  There were a variety of festivities including games, coloring sheets, cookie decorating, gingerbread houses, wooden spoon craft, string art ornaments, and a photo booth. There was also an appearance from Santa! Dinner was provided including a nacho bar, dessert, and hot cocoa bar. Over 200 community members of all ages attended the Holiday Party, which far surpassed the expected 100 attendees. 

The event doubled as a Communities Talk: Town Hall Meeting to Prevent Underage Drinking and kicked off the holiday season in North Pacific County. Pacific County Healthy Youth Survey data was on hand and event volunteers at the various activities engaged in prevention discussions with attendees. 

TAC would like to thank all the volunteers and a special thank you to Santa and Willapa Harbor Drone. From all of us at TAC, warmest thoughts and best wishes for a wonderful holiday and happy new year! 

If you attended the Holiday Party, we would love to hear from you! Please click here to complete the feedback survey. Your input is valued and will help to improve our events in the future. 

Photos by Willapa Harbor Drone. Additional photos are available on Facebook. 

The Teen Advocacy Coalition and Willapa Harbor Health Foundation co-hosted the 1st Annual 5K Sources of Strength Color Run/Walk on Saturday, August 31st as part of the Come and Play on Labor Day festivities. The event was organized to promote healthy and happy living in local youth as well as provide a family-friendly activity for the community. The run/walk was free for youth 18 and under and had over 100 participants in its first year.

During the 5K run/walk, participants passed through several color stations, where they were dusted with dyed cornstarch. The various colors represent the eight strengths from the Sources of Strength wheel: family support, positive friends, spirituality, healthy activities, medical access, mentors, mental health, and generosity. The eight strengths are factors that research has shown are protective against suicide risk.
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After finishing the 5K, participants were welcomed with a complimentary pancake breakfast, snacks, and beverages by the Raymond PTO. The event was a huge success and we are excited to offer this again in 2020!

Video by Willapa Harbor Drone

Tobacco and e-vape prevention is very important, but it can be hard to help yourself quit on your own, or to help others if you don't know where to turn to for information. These community resource lists are meant to provide information on quit lines, school-based resources in North Pacific County, and online resources that are available for those who wish to quit, want to help others quit, or who want to become more informed on the dangers and laws regarding tobacco and e-vape usage.

With the help of South Bend and Raymond Peer Helpers, and some information from the Health Department, TAC put together a list of tips that one could use to help them quit using tobacco products.

Tips to Help You Quit
 
When you get the urge to smoke or chew tobacco:

• Discuss it with a friend or a trusted adult such as a teacher or a school counselor.
• Hang out with non-smoking friends.
• Breathe deep and stay calm.
• Drink plenty of water.
• Do something else, such as listen to music, read, play videogames, practice drawing or other art forms, or practice playing a musical instrument.
• You can also try: Getting rid of all ashtrays, lighters, and smoking materials
• Decide how to turn down a cigarette before it is offered to you. Practice refusal skills and know the facts, negative consequences, health risks, and financial burden of what you’re being asked to do.
• Exercising. Go for a walk or a bike ride, or get involved with sports such as running, swimming, basketball, volleyball, softball, or go skateboarding.

• Putting your saved money in a big jar.
• Telling yourself each morning that you don’t smoke.
• Reward yourself each week for being tobacco-free by doing a fun activity that you enjoy.
• Get involved in more social activities.
• Surround yourself with non-smoking friends.
• Talking to a smoking coach who can help you create an individual quit plan that is just right for you.

 
TAC also put together a list of resources that are available in Pacific County as well as in Washington State.

Pacific County Tobacco/E-vape Resources
And Washington State Laws
 

• Washington State Tobacco Quit Lines
  • For those who do not have insurance or a plan that includes telephone counseling: 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669). Callers receive one call with a quit counselor to set up a quit plan or help you stay quit. Callers over 18 can also request self-help materials by mail.
  • Apple Health: Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669). Callers with Apple Health qualify for 8 counseling calls to the Quitline and up to 12 weeks of free nicotine patches/gum per year. A trained quit coach will help pick the best medications for a successful quit. Apple Health may vary depending on what plan you have.
  • Quit For Life: Private insurance. Check with your human resource office or health plan benefits guide to fine your Quit For Life phone number or call 1-866-784-8454 for a live transfer to your counseling program.
  • Medicare Part B: Covers 8 in-person visits in a 12 month period by a qualified doctor or other Medicare-recognized practitioner. If you have Medicare Advantage, call or visit your health plan website. If your prescription plan does not cover nicotine replacement, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW. You may be eligible for two weeks of free nicotine gum/patches.
  • Other Quit Lines
    • English: 1-800-QUIT-NOW or 1-800-784-8669
    • Spanish: 1-855-DEJELO-YA or 1-855-335-3569
    • TTY Line and Video Relay: 1-877-777-6534 (for hearing impaired)
    • Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin): 1-800-838-8917
    • Korean: 1-800-556-5564
    • Vietnamese: 1-800-778-8440
    • Veteran Quitline: 1-855-QUIT-VET or 1-855-784-8838 (Monday-Friday, 5:00am to 7:00pm. Available only to veterans who receive health care through the VA health care system. Visit  http://www.publichealth.va.gov/smoking  for more info.)
  • For more tobacco information, quit line information, and quitting resources in Washington State, visit  http://www.doh.wa.gov/YouandYourFamily/Tobacco/HowtoQuit

• Online Resources
  • EX Plan is a resource for those who are uninsured and is a free quit-smoking program.  http://www.becomeanex.org/  
  • Smokefree is an online resource containing quit plan tools, method exploration, professional resources, medication information, Smokefree text and app support, comprehensive information on the challenges of quitting, and many more helpful tools. Visit https://smokefree.gov/ to learn more.
  • CDC Tobacco Quit Info: This website contains a variety of links to other websites that give information on the negative effects of tobacco use as well as quit help resources and are meant to help someone quit smoking. Visit https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/quit_smoking/how_to_quit/resources/index.htm to learn more.

• The Washington Poison Center
  • E-Cigarette and Marijuana Kit
    • http://www.wapc.org/wp-content/uploads/DRAFT-Ecig-Kit-User-Guide-APRIL.pdf
    • The Washington State Poison Center has an E-Cigarette and Marijuana Display Kit that is available online for presenters to use to help inform others. It gives information on the usage statistics, different ways an individual could use e-cigarettes and marijuana, how each substance is seen and used by youth in the state, and the devices that could be used.
  • Toxic Trend Reports
    • The Washington Poison Center website contains reports on toxic trends in Washington State. Most reports focus on E-cigarette and marijuana usage. Reports from 2016, 2015, and previous years are also available.
    • The website contains a “Statistics” toxic trend page, which covers a variety of issues including abuse/withdrawal, contamination/tampering, food poisoning, medication errors, product misuse, self-harm, etc. The page also has a “Washington State Injury and Violence Prevention Guide” from 2013. Statistics reports are available from 2010-2016.
• Escape the Vape
  • www.escapethevape.org
  • Escape the Vape is a vape prevention campaign based in King County in Washington State. The website contains information on the process of vaping, how you can quit, other available resources, and information on the different chemicals that are found in vape “juice” which are helpfully explained by “The Chemical Crew.”
• Drug and Alcohol Classes and Other Support
  • Youth and community drug, alcohol, and tobacco classes/workshops are available. The ESD 113 contact for north Pacific County is Jessica Verboomen.  Email: jverboomen@esd113.org Phone: 360-942-2474 ext. 2141.
  • ESD 113 True North Student Assistance also provides assessments, outpatient and intensive outpatient drug and alcohol treatment services for youth in north Pacific County.
  • https://www.esd113.org/Page/2408
• School Counselors
  • School counselors are trusted adults who have many great resources that could be available to youth in north Pacific County. Counselors for tri-district schools are:
    • Raymond School District – Lyndsey Owen (lowen@raymondk12.org)
    • South Bend School District – Adrienne Lartz (alartz@southbendschools.org)
    • Willapa Valley School District – Jessica Todd (jessicat@willapavalley.org)
• Washington Smoking In Public Places Law (RCW 70.160)
  • Prohibits smoking in any indoor enclosed public space, such as workplaces, bars, restaurants, bowling alleys, casinos, etc.
  • Owners must post “No Smoking” signs and must make sure that no one smokes within 25 feet of any door, window, or exit.
  • Illegal to deface or remove “No-Smoking” signs.
  • For additional information on the Smoking in Public Places Law, visit www.doh.wa.gov/tobacco/secondhand/secondhand.htm or www.smokefreewashington.com
• Reporting a Violation
  • Washington State
    • Go to http://lcb.wa.gov/enforcement/report-violation  and file a report using the report form provided by the state. Information will be made available to the public unless reporters mark the “Do Not Release My Name” box. Can be used for any alcohol, tobacco, vape, or marijuana violations.

​Michele M. Buzzelli, MPH is North Pacific County’s new Teen Advocacy Coalition (TAC) Coordinator. She holds a Bachelor’s in Business Management from Ithaca College, and a Master’s in Public Health and Certificate in Health Equity from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. Specializing in adolescent and young adult community health, Michele is thrilled to join the TAC team!

An avid adventurer, Michele spent January – April 2016 solo traveling Australia and New Zealand. She is a certified 200-hour Purna Yoga instructor through the Byron Yoga Centre in Byron Bay, NSW, Australia. She teaches Friday evening classes at the Just Be Center for Yoga and Wellness in South Bend (in the DSHS building). Michele’s interests also include meditation, being involved with the arts, reading, and spending time with her dog.

Originally from Pennsylvania, Michele has spent the majority of her life on the east coast. She is excited to call Pacific County her new home. 

Hi my name is Allie Thompson, I’m nineteen years old and from Franklin Kentucky, I work with TAC through Americorp as of now. I graduated high school in 2015 and went on to do a year of university at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond Kentucky. Between graduating and starting college I came to Washington to work at a Girl scout camp in Allyn. This past summer I went to Maryland to do the same thing. Girl scouts have played a huge part in my life and the direction I’d like to continue on in the future. I’m a life time member of Girl scouts of Kentuckiana and served on the junior counsel, I also did counselor training for three years and during that time I learned a lot about service and how to better serve any community that I’d find myself in. In the future, after four years doing Americorps, I’d like to join Peace Corps for the full five years and then move onto to continuous service for the rest of my working life.

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Well, all, it's with mixed emotions that I write this, my last TAC AmeriCorps report. My service term is up on July 15th, and I will soon be headed back to Wisconsin and graduate school. Here's what I've been up to lately:

Back on June 15th, I had the opportunity to attend a training called High in Plain Sight. Sponsored by ESD 113/True North, Officer Jermaine Galloway talked about current trends in drug and alcohol logos, clothing, hats, etc., drug concealment methods and containers, drug paraphernalia (especially around marijuana concentrates and dabbing), synthetic and OTC drugs, and how technology is being used by youth around drugs. It was an incredibly informative training! I attended the training in Hoquiam, but the same training was offered in Naselle the next day as well. If you want more information about Jermaine Galloway and/or what he talks about, check out his website here: ​http://www.tallcopsaysstop.com/ 

A requirement of the AmeriCorps team, I have been putting together a "Sustainability Binder" for the next TAC/WCN AmeriCorps member who will start in September. It's been a lot of fun becuase I've been mentally revisiting all the work I've had the opportunity to do for TAC over the last ten and a half months- it's been a blast! Included in the binder will be: important contacts, descriptions of all my projects for TAC and WCN, login and other logistics-type information, and hopefully any other information someone will need to step into this role and hit the ground running. 

​All the best, and with much love, 

Alyssa Grams

Here's what I worked on in May...

The 2016 TAC After Prom Party was a blast! Students played ping-pong and glow-in-the-dark capture the flag and participated in a pancake decorating contest, photo booth, and lip sync battle to earn raffle tickets for amazing prizes like Beats headphones, a Chromebook, Bluetooth speakers, gas cards, and so much more. We had breakfast food, including pancakes, fruit, cinnamon rolls, a hot cocoa bar, and the most bacon I've seen in my entire life! The goal of the After Prom Party is to provide a positive alternative to partying, which often includes drug and alcohol use for teens. While our attendance was lower than we were hoping this year, we know that it's important to continue providing fun, positive alternatives for our teens. Two After Prom Party attendees self-reported that, had they not been with us, they would have been using alcohol and/or drugs. If we prevented even one teen from making choices that had the potential for lasting negative consequences, I believe we succeeded. Thank you to South Bend schools for their hospitality and all our volunteers for making the After Prom Party happen! 

Peer Helper Surveys are critical to our Peer Helper program. Each spring, we administer surveys to high school students from South Bend, Willapa Valley, and Raymond. We ask students what issues they see their peers dealing with (anything from family stress to self-harm to sexual identity, etc.) and what issues they think are most relevant for folks their age. We then ask them to identify peers that they feel they can turn to for help or support. Students who are mentioned the most are then asked to attend the Peer Helper Retreat in the fall. Here at TAC, we are very excited because we eked out some additional funding and will be able to send more students from each school to the retreat in 2016. We will now be inviting some Junior High students ("Junior Peer Helpers") to the retreat. This is in response to input from our current Peer Helpers who suggest that most issues we talk about really start in Junior High and we need to be addressing them there as well as with their High School peers. We will be holding our first planning meeting for the 2016 Peer Helper Retreat soon. 

...and, apart from attending a bunch of meetings (and the week I spent back in Wisconsin visiting family), that's about it. May sure did fly by!

Better late than never, right? Here's what happened in April: 

The week of April 11th-15th was Sources of Strength Week at Raymond High School. SOS is an upstream model for youth suicide prevention that strengthens multiple sources of support (protective factors) around young individuals so that when times get hard they have strengths to rely on. The eight main categories of strengths include: Mental Health, Spirituality, Medical Access, Generosity, Family Support, Healthy Activities, Positive Friends, and Mentors. Our Peer Helpers sponsored lunch time activities for their peers all week, encouraging students to share what strengths they feel strongest in and what healthy supports they have when they face challenge. They also created "Thank You" postcards for teachers and staff and encouraged their peers to thank family, friends, and mentors in their own lives. TAC also sponsored a student assembly on Tuesday and brought in Taproot Theater out of Seattle who performed "Relationship Status: A Cyberbullying Prevention Play". Overall, the week had great student participation and engagement. It was exciting week full of positive energy! 

On April 19th and 20th, I had the pleasure of attending the Science of Hope Conference sponsored by HealthyGen. It's a conference based around the ACEs  (Adverse Childhood Experiences) Study and NEAR (Neuroscience, Epigenetics, ACEs, and Resilience) Science, with scientists and community leaders speaking on topics from health equity to healing trauma through narrative, to motivational interviewing, to measuring hope, etc. etc. I learned so much from keynote speakers and the workshops I attended about how ACEs impact everyone on neurobiologcial, psychological, social, and cultural levels and what everyone can do to promote health and hope. During her concluding remarks, Melanie Gillespie, Executive Director of HealthyGen, called on us all to go back to our organizations and communities and "kick ass and share hope". I certainly feel inspired to do just that. 

Much of my time in April was spent preparing for the TAC After Prom Party on May 7th. But you'll have to stay tuned to read about that in my May AmeriCorps report....

In early March, I attended a two day training on Project Northland Curriculum, which is an alcohol and drug use prevention curriculum for 6th-8th grade students. It is an evidence-based program based on the idea that the influence of peers, family members, school, the media, and the community plays a critical role in promoting or discouraging alcohol and drug use among teens. The Project Northland curriculum focuses on engaging not only youth but also schools, families, and the larger community in one comprehensive prevention effort. Studies have shown that students who participated in Project Northland showed a 27% lower use of both cigarettes and alcohol by the end of eighth grade compared to control groups. 

The 6th grade curriculum is called Slick Tracy and includes Peer Leaders in the classroom, family involvement with the Slick Tracy Home Team Program, and the Slick Tracy Poster Fair. Peer Leaders are students chosen by their classmates and play an important role in facilitating the curriculum, leading small group activities and introducing new materials to the class. The Home Team portion of Slick Tracy consists of four activity booklets, including comic strips featuring "Slick Tracy" and his sidekick "Breathtest Nobeera" (see above), that students complete with a parent or other trusted adult. The culminating event in the Slick Tracy curriculum is the poster fair, which gives students the opportunity to present their own alcohol-related research projects to their families and community. 

The Pacific County Health Department started teaching the Slick Tracy curriculum in Willapa Valley, South Bend, and Raymond 6th grade classrooms in March and I have been helping facilitate. The students have a lot of fun in the lessons (and so do I), but I think  the most important aspect of the curriculum is the at-home component. Slick Tracy really gives parents some guidance and support around talking with their student about alcohol and drugs, which we know is a key factor in preventing our teens from using. I look forward to continuing to partner with the Health Department to work with the 6th grade students. 

March 8th was the culmination of a lot of the work I had been doing for TAC: our Town Hall event!

This year’s theme was Shine Online, featuring a community fair and dinner followed by a presentation by social media expert Josh Ochs. I was very excited to have over twenty community organizations at our community fair. It was a great opportunity not only for the community to learn about available resources, but also to increase connection and collaboration among those organizations. Plus it was awesome to see all of the good work happening in Pacific County!

The keynote speaker of the evening, Josh Ochs, is author of the bestselling book “Light, Bright And Polite” and he travels the country training 30,000 teens each year how to be safe and smart online. At Town Hall, Josh spoke with North Pacific County parents and community members for two hours, addressing questions around what makes apps unsafe for teens to use and how teachers, parents, and community members can help our teens to use social media positively and productively. If you are interested in learning more, you can find Josh’s Parent App Guide and additional information online at www.safesmartsocial.com.

I just want to say thank-you again to everyone who volunteered and attended for helping make TAC Town Hall 2016 a success!

On March 11th, again in partnership with the Pacific County Health Department, the Peer Helpers, Peer Helper Advisors, and I were able to attend a Sources of Strength training. Sources of Strength is a best practice youth suicide prevention project designed to harnesses the power of peer social networks to change unhealthy norms and culture, ultimately preventing suicide, bullying, and substance abuse. The mission of Sources of Strength is to prevent suicide by increasing help seeking behaviors and promoting connections between peers and caring adults. Sources of Strength utilizes an upstream model for youth suicide prevention that strengthens multiple sources of support (protective factors) around young individuals so that when times get hard they have strengths to rely on. The eight main categories of strengths include: Mental Health, Spirituality, Medical Access, Generosity, Family Support, Healthy Activities, Positive Friends, and Mentors. Our Peer Helpers will be working to bring the information they learned at the Sources of Strength training to their peers in the upcoming months. Check out the epic video below introducing our Sources of Strength team to the community:

The week of March 21st, I had the opportunity to help at the 2016 Willapa Harbor Business Week, which is a program for juniors from Raymond, South Bend, and Willapa Valley to teach skills needed to succeed in business.

Students are grouped into "companies" who are guided by a volunteer from the local business community as they learn how to run a business, explore career options, make ethical and financial decisions, and compete for investors. The culmination of business week happens on Friday when student companies have stockholder presentations to a panel of community members during which they explain their business decisions over a simulated two fiscal years. Also on Friday is the trade show, during which students attempt to get community member "investors" to give them money for the new product their company developed. 

I had a ton of fun at business week- seeing students learn by experience and really step up for the stockholder presentations and the trade show. I had the additional opportunity to talk with all the students about leadership for about an hour on Monday. (See slides below)

My Raymond and South Bend students have been busy in March, too! Both groups are planning Self-Esteem Awareness weeks for their schools during the week of April 11th-15th. Additionally, South Bend Peer Helpers have planned a TAC Teen Night at South Bend High School on this Friday, April 8th. Teen Night is a safe place for teens to hang out, eat food, and play video games or sports, watch a movie, etc. and it is open to all North Pacific County high school students. 

Tuesday, March 8th was a night of connection and education in North Pacific County at the Teen Advocacy Coalition’s annual Town Hall event. This year’s theme was Shine Online, featuring a community fair and dinner followed by a presentation by social media expert Josh Ochs. With over twenty community organizations present, the community fair was a great opportunity to learn about all of the great work happening in Pacific County. “I was very excited to have so many local agencies and organizations represented,” said Alyssa Grams, AmeriCorps member serving with the Teen Advocacy Coalition (TAC), “It’s a great opportunity not only for the community to learn about available resources, but also to increase connection and collaboration among those organizations. It’s awesome to see all of the good work happening in Pacific County!”

The keynote speaker of the evening, Josh Ochs, is author of the bestselling book “Light, Bright And Polite” and he travels the country training 30,000 teens each year how to be safe and smart online. Josh educates parents around the latest apps teens are using, including which ones are positive and safe and which one are unsafe for teens, as well as how to have conversations with their kids about social media use. His Popular App Guide for Parents and Teachers features a ranking system from the green or “safe” zone, which includes apps like Facebook and Instagram, to red or “unsafe” zone, which includes anonymous apps like AfterSchool, Ask.fm, and Kik. “We’ve been seeing a lot of issues in the schools lately around cyberbullying, sexting, and other misuse of social media,” said Grams, “ Because part of our mission here at TAC is to support teen mental health, we thought it was important to bring in an expert.” Josh spoke with North Pacific County parents and community members for two hours, addressing questions around what makes apps unsafe for teens to use and how teachers, parents, and community members can help our teens to use social media positively and productively. If you are interested in learning more, you can find Josh’s Parent App Guide and additional information online at www.safesmartsocial.com.

“Town Hall is a great opportunity to bring together community members from all sectors to talk about how we can support teens in North Pacific County. Thank you to all who helped make the evening a success!” said Grams.