As drug use continues to damage communities across the U.S. a local organization, Youth With Vision, has changed the focus on how to deal with the problem.
Twenty five years ago Vicky Ward founded YWV with the mission of creating drug-free communities for future generations by putting education into action.
She is the director of the prevention team for Tri-County Mental Health Services, whose members are 45 students in grades eight through 12 from 10 high schools and three middle schools in Platte, Ray and Clay counties.
Members are elected based on their leadership skills and accomplishments and come from a variety of social classes and ethnicities. Members work with many community partners to ensure their programs are available to all parts of the counties’ youth. Members also meet with state legislators once a year to advocate for Youth With Vision.
In the four months since COVID-19 forced the shutdown in March, stress, boredom and depression have led to more people seeking to self-medicate.
“YWV members’ main goal has always been to create drug-free communities and reduce substance use in their peers,” said Sherri Miller, youth prevention specialist at Tri-County and retired teacher and administrator. “YWV members became increasingly concerned (prior to COVID) with peers turning to alcohol and other drugs to self-medicate in hopes drugs could reduce or erase the mental anxiety, stress, depression and feelings of hopelessness they are experiencing.”
YWV seniors made the decision to develop the Quarantine Chronicles, a 10-part video series, after COVID-19 closed schools and required isolation and stay-at-home orders. Members, along with their peers, were experiencing feelings of depression and increased anxiety. Youth With Vision members understand the strong connection between depression and anxiety and increased substance use. With that in mind, senior members wanted to develop something that could provide support and coping strategies to upper elementary and middle-school students.
The Quarantine Chronicles videos are three to five minutes and give a short introduction of the strategy and then model it. The videos are geared for students in grades three through eight, but some are appropriate for older ages also.
The videos have been sent to all middle schools, elementary schools, and district administrators in Platte, Clay and Ray counties. The videos can be found on the Youth With Vision KC YouTube channel and a trailer for the Quarantine Chronicles can be found on the Youth With Vision website, youthwithvisionkc.org with a link to the videos on YouTube.
The group provides factual information to their peers in a variety of ways, including public service announcements, school campaigns, the high school and middle school Northland Leadership summits, classroom presentations and lesson plans, and projects like the Quarantine Chronicles.
They also provide resources to schools, students, parents, and community members that are easily accessible to students and widely disseminated through the schools and communities.
Members must sign a Code of Conduct at the beginning of each year stating they will not use alcohol or other drugs.
“Many young people have false and/or inaccurate information about substance use and the effects on the adolescent brain,” Miller said. “The research is clear that scare tactics don’t work with youth, but education does. Although parents are still the number-one influence for youth regarding their decision to use drugs, education and resources are still an effective prevention method. Policy change also is a critical component to successfully reduce youth substance use.”
Much of the work YWV does is through messaging in the form of radio, Spotify, and YouTube PSA’s. Miller said they also provide schools with campaigns that can be immediately implemented (vaping, coping skills, safe driving).
Another role for YWV is advocacy and policy change. They were instrumental in helping to pass Tobacco 21 ordinances in several cities and towns which increased the sale age for tobacco (prior to the federal law put in place in October, 2019), social host laws and keg registration laws. They are currently working to develop a plan for towns and cities to ban e-cigarette flavorings.
Members of YWV help their vulnerable peers with many coping skills, including breathing techniques, yoga, meditation, tuning in to their five senses, interactive storytelling, sleep and drawing.
As a coordinator for YWV Miller is proud of the accomplishments of the members, which include development of PSA’s, and community and school projects, the development of the first Middle School Northland Leadership Summit in 2019, hosting over 360 middle school students.
YWV members have also been asked to present at adult prevention conferences, have received Outstanding Prevention Awards of the Year for the state and community, and were recognized by President George W. Bush for their work in prevention and were invited to the White House and Oval Office.
“We also have many alumni that have gone to college and started prevention programs and implemented campaigns and clubs on their campuses, and have been selected to serve on campus-wide leadership initiatives, etc.,” Miller said. “A former alumni, while in high school, developed a video for a campaign that was recognized by our partnership with AT&T and has been distributed to schools and organizations in both Missouri and Kansas.”
The rewarding moments for Miller of working with the group’s members continue to increase.
“The rewards are the relationships with the students and how passionate they are about making a positive difference in their schools and communities,” Miller said.