Talking to Teens About Drugs: Real-World Tools for Tough Conversations
“I don’t know how to talk to young people about drugs.”
“Teens just tune us out anyway.”
“It’s my responsibility to protect teens from drugs, whether they like it or not.”
Many adults share these frustrations when trying to connect with young people about drugs. Even with the best intentions, it’s easy to fall back on outdated approaches like ‘just say no’ or scare tactics such as showing black lungs for smoking risks. However, research shows that these methods don’t work.
Across the country, schools are seeing more students experiment with nicotine, cannabis, alcohol, and other drugs. Using substances at a young age can affect brain development, relationships, school performance, and mental health, and increase the chances of problems later in life.
The good news is that having support from just one caring, trusted adult is one of the most powerful elements for preventing and reducing adolescent substance use. School environments provide unique opportunities to provide that support, but few resources exist to train adults in how to build trust around this sensitive topic.
Introducing a Free Online Course, “Becoming a Trusted Adult: Foundations for Effective Drug Education”
To fill this resource gap, the Stanford Center for Health Education (SCHE) and the Halpern-Felsher REACH Lab, with funding support from YouTube Health, created the online course “Becoming a Trusted Adult: Foundations for Effective Drug Education.” This free, video-based training offers evidence-based techniques and approaches that can help establish trust and make a lasting impact on young people’s lives.
Now available: Becoming a Trusted Adult: Foundations of Effective Drug Education
Dr. Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, professor of pediatrics and founder/executive director of the Stanford REACH Lab, noted, “My REACH Lab gives presentations to thousands of educators each year, and we always get requests for more videos and information to help them best prevent and reduce teen substance use. These videos are exactly what educators and other adults need, and I am so excited to offer this free resource.”
Course Overview
The course takes about one hour to complete and is broken into 10 short videos (each only two to eight minutes long) with supplemental resources. It’s designed for anyone who works with or cares for teens, including educators, counselors, school staff, healthcare providers, and parents. The materials cover the basics about today’s most common substances, how they affect the teenage brain, and practical ways to start meaningful conversations that motivate and equip youth to make healthy choices.
The content focuses on middle- and high-school-age teens and was created together with young adults as well as professionals with expertise in drug education, addiction, adolescent medicine, adolescent developmental psychology, counseling, motivational interviewing, and middle- and high-school education.
“We need to help educators and other adults understand teens’ perspectives to better educate them,” shared Karla Rodriguez, program specialist for tobacco prevention with the San Mateo County Office of Education. “We love the idea of a quick video series that shares ‘this is what you need to know regarding x,y,z’ and gives ideas on how to implement it, the ability to give school staff concrete actions.”
Learning Goals
The course aims to help adults:
- Spot the warning signs of substance use in young people
- Engage in open, non-judgemental conversations about drugs, without using blame or shame language or scare tactics
- Use proven strategies, including harm reduction and motivational interviewing, to guide young people toward healthier choices.
“We designed this course to move away from the drug education approaches of the past, toward a more nuanced, reality-based approach that is rooted in science, compassion, and respect,” explained Semay Johnston, learning experience director for SCHE. “Honest, two-way conversations about what young people care about and their specific situations are key to providing effective support and working toward our ultimate goal of reducing teen substance use.”
Accessing the Course and Measuring Impact
You can watch all the videos for free on SCHE’s YouTube channel and share them with colleagues, parents, or anyone who works with teens.
With support from the Stanford Office of Community Engagement and the Stanford Accelerator for Learning, SCHE and the REACH Lab are working with the San Mateo County Office of Education to evaluate the course. This collaboration will help the teams understand how online education should be tailored and promoted to schools, and to assess how the training affects the preparedness of staff to support at-risk students.
Stay Connected
Visit the SCHE website for ongoing updates about this work, and the REACH Lab website for more substance use education and resources.
The Stanford Center for Health Education and its Digital Medic initiative work to improve the health of global communities by advancing the field of health education, building capacity for the health workforce, and expanding information equity worldwide.
The Halpern-Felsher REACH Lab is part of the Division of Adolescent Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics at Stanford University. REACH stands for “Research and Education to Empower Adolescents and Young Adults to Choose Health”. The Stanford REACH Lab's mission is to empower and promote adolescent and young adult health through collaborative research, education, and policy. The lab's work particularly focuses on understanding and reducing adolescent and young adult substance use (including electronic cigarettes, cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana), risky sexual behavior, and risky driving.
