Playbl Newsletter

🖐️ Welcome to this month’s Playbl Newsletter, where we provide research-based content to educators and clinicians to support their behavioral health work with youth. This month’s edition will focus on how to help students prepare for the social pressures of summer break—particularly around substance use—by encouraging open conversations, building refusal skills, and reinforcing the importance of making safe, healthy choices.

Hard to believe, we’re approaching the end of the school year. It’s an exciting time for everyone,  especially students looking forward to a summer break! As they dream of warm weather and freedom, it’s also a good time to gently prepare them for some of the unique challenges summer can bring. With more unstructured time, potentially less adult supervision, and different social scenes, students might encounter increased pressure or curiosity regarding substances. For older students, the transition from middle to high school or to college can be a vulnerable period. We know that these summer months can unfortunately be a period where some young people experiment for the first time, so a little proactive guidance from a trusted voice can go a long long way. 

In these final days and weeks of school, even a brief and open conversation can make a real impact. You could chat about making smart choices that keep them safe and healthy, remind them of all the cool, positive ways to have fun and handle stress, and maybe even subtly reinforce how to navigate peer pressure or say “no” confidently. 

Here’s an activity¹ you can do that provides youth the opportunity to learn about and practice using refusal skills when faced with peer pressure to vape. 

1. To begin, start a brief discussion about peer pressure. 
   • What are some things that friends may encourage us to do that we don’t want to? 
   • What are some different ways that people can pressure us? Some examples can include: 
     • Rejection—turning a person away, threatening to end a friendship
     • Put downs—calling a person names to make them feel bad •
     • Reasoning—giving reasons why it’s okay to try
     • Unspoken pressure—dirty looks, being left out, being offered to try 
   • Can you think of some ways that you or a friend could handle peer pressure?
2. Next, split the students into small groups of 3-4 students and have them select one peer pressure scenario card and one refusal skill card. Click here to access Scenario Cards. 
3. Give the groups 10 minutes to prepare a skit that demonstrates the scenario and refusal skill. If they are uncomfortable presenting a skit they can read the cards aloud and talk about them. 

Remember to encourage them to look out for one another and remind them that there are always trusted adults they can talk to (even if school’s out!) that can empower them to make their summer memorable for all the right reasons. Let’s help them head into their break feeling informed and confident!

References: 

¹ https://www.phsd.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Activity_Refusal_skills_for_vaping_AODA_EN.pdf

About Playbl

Playbl is a mission-driven organization focused on improving adolescent behavioral health. As a partner to the play2PREVENT Lab, we leverage the power of evidence-based programs to improve health outcomes for youth aged 10-20. Program topics include smoking & vaping, opioid misuse, mental health, and sexual health.  Click here to learn more about our programs, including our new ReFRESH program, and find out how to bring them to your organization.