STUDENT HOME PAGE
BRAINABOUTS PREVENTION MODEL
Prevention works to change behavior! Achieving consistent change takes a comprehensive, system-wide approach involving a steady stream of dynamic programming. The BrainAbouts model, based upon the NeuroWhereAbouts Guide by Dr. Crystal Collier, offers students, like you, prevention science tools and resources that can be applied immediately to protect your brain development and increase your well-being.
ACTIVATE THE CORE
The BrainAbouts Core is designed to empower students' voices and offer brain-based, scientific education regarding 18 different high-risk behaviors young people are faced with today. Let's face it, the majority of students do not engage in high-risk behavior, but they are silent. The noisy minority of young people who engage in substance use and other risky behavior are the ones who say, 'everyone does it'. To help youth make positive choices and prevent risky behaviors, this page includes tools to empower students to have a voice. In the BrainAbouts Core, you’ll find information on specific Topics, build Skills, and keep up with prevention events in the Calendar.
Student Prevention Checklist
Definitions & Discussion Questions
BrainAbouts Prevention Model
Definitions & Discussion Questions
start a brainabouts student engagement group
DEFINITIONS
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT: Active psychological investment in learning, creating awareness, and activism in order to effect positive change in the lives of young people.
ACTIVITIES
Activities
BrainAbouts Student Engagement Group
Start a student engagement group on your campus or in your community! This handout describes the mission, organization and blank activity schedule for a BrainAbouts Student Engagement Group.
Learn How to Be Peer Educators
Get ideas regarding how to become peer wellness educators from a program used by Harvard.
Host a Natural High Video Contest
A step-by-step guide to create your own student video contest.
Host an Information Booth for National Drug Facts Week
Register your National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week® event at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and get promotion materials and resources.
Links
Get activity ideas from SADD
Get activity and event ideas from Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) for your student engagement group to initiate like hosting a Sober Prom!
Build a Student Wellness Team
Tips for building a student wellness team including assessing your school's health index from Action for Healthy Kids.
Host a Wellness Day or Week
Host a wellness day or week and teach your fellow students a variety of wellness techniques.
Create Your Own Friday Night Live Program
Learn about the youth driven programs from the California Friday Night Live Partnership (CFNLP) re built on youth development principles and practices.
RESOURCES
Organizations
Action for Healthy Kids
Action for Healthy Kids is a nonprofit organization mobilizing family-school partnerships to prepare kids to be healthy in body and mind that provides programming, resources and grants.
Active Minds
Active Minds focuses on action and student advocacy in mental health.
RachelsChallenge.org
Rachel’s Challenge addresses the root causes of school violence, bullying, prejudice, and self-harm through social-emotional learning programs that build connection, hope and resilience.
YPR - Young People in Recovery
YPR’s mission is to provide the life skills and peer supports to help people recover from substance use disorder and reach their full potential. Website details how to start a chapter in your community.
Links
Get Student Activity Ideas from Balancing Our Mind
School-based activities are simple and impactful initiatives that promote mental health and wellness, raise awareness about the stigma associated with mental health, and engage the students and staff in the school community.
Stigma Reduction Activities from Headstrong
Headstrong's toolkit is intended to help engage schools to create and sustain school-based wellness committee to support anti-stigma and school-based activities.
Eating Disorders Awareness Campaign ideas
Toolkit from the Provincial Eating Disorders Awareness (PEDAW) campaign in British Columbia to raise awareness around prevention and early intervention of eating disorders
as well as media literacy, resiliency, building healthy body image and self-esteem.
Engage in ProSocial Activities
DEFINITIONS
PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR: Action taken to improve the welfare or reduce the needs of another person or animal. Prosocial behavior, such as helping or consoling, improves the health of the person who engages in such behavior. For example, prosocial behavior can decrease stress hormones for both the helper and the helpee.
Research indicates that young people who engage in consistent prosocial behavior are less likely to engage in high-risk behavior, like alcohol or drug use.
ACTIVITIES
Activities
BrainAbouts Student Engagement Group
Start a student engagement group on your campus or in your community! This handout describes the mission, organization and blank activity schedule for a BrainAbouts Student Engagement Group.
Learn How to Be Peer Educators
Get ideas regarding how to become peer wellness educators from a program used by Harvard.
Host a Natural High Video Contest
A step-by-step guide to create your own student video contest.
Host an Information Booth for National Drug Facts Week
Register your National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week® event at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and get promotion materials and resources.
Links
Get activity ideas from SADD
Get activity and event ideas from Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) for your student engagement group to initiate like hosting a Sober Prom!
Build a Student Wellness Team
Tips for building a student wellness team including assessing your school's health index from Action for Healthy Kids.
Host a Wellness Day or Week
Host a wellness day or week and teach your fellow students a variety of wellness techniques.
Create Your Own Friday Night Live Program
Learn about the youth driven programs from the California Friday Night Live Partnership (CFNLP) re built on youth development principles and practices.
RESOURCES
Organizations
Action for Healthy Kids
Action for Healthy Kids is a nonprofit organization mobilizing family-school partnerships to prepare kids to be healthy in body and mind that provides programming, resources and grants.
Active Minds
Active Minds focuses on action and student advocacy in mental health.
RachelsChallenge.org
Rachel’s Challenge addresses the root causes of school violence, bullying, prejudice, and self-harm through social-emotional learning programs that build connection, hope and resilience.
YPR - Young People in Recovery
YPR’s mission is to provide the life skills and peer supports to help people recover from substance use disorder and reach their full potential. Website details how to start a chapter in your community.
Links
Get Student Activity Ideas from Balancing Our Mind
School-based activities are simple and impactful initiatives that promote mental health and wellness, raise awareness about the stigma associated with mental health, and engage the students and staff in the school community.
Stigma Reduction Activities from Headstrong
Headstrong's toolkit is intended to help engage schools to create and sustain school-based wellness committee to support anti-stigma and school-based activities.
Eating Disorders Awareness Campaign ideas
Toolkit from the Provincial Eating Disorders Awareness (PEDAW) campaign in British Columbia to raise awareness around prevention and early intervention of eating disorders
as well as media literacy, resiliency, building healthy body image and self-esteem.
influence awareness about Alcohol & Drugs
DEFINITIONS
YOUR VOICE ABOUT ALCOHOL: Although the majority of students do not drink alcohol, the minority who do may glamorize and promote underage drinking. Start a movement to give voices to the majority by creating a student-led alcohol awareness campaign.
ACTIVITIES
Activities
Start an Elementary or Middle School Outreach Program
Use the videos, brain game word searches, and word scrambles from Ask, Learn, Listen.org for student-led outreach to younger grades. Students teaching students the effects of alcohol on the brain.
Organize a Student Advertising Team
Organize a team to develop a comprehensive communications campaign, by students for students, to decrease dangerous overconsumption of alcohol and prevent underage drinking. Petition BrainAbouts for a grant to enter a competition.
Host a Theater Event
Host or create an inspiring live theatre educational experience and interactive workshops about underage alcohol use.
Become a SADD Student Leader
Join or start a chapter of Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), the premier youth health and safety organization.
Host a SADD Prom
Host SADD a prosocial prom for high school students in grades 9-12 with music, games, giveaways, outfits contests, and more.
Links
Ask, Learn, Listen.org YouTube Channel
Ask, Learn, Listen.org YouTube Channel Videos on Alcohol and the Brain.
The Smashed Project
Smashed is a life-changing educational experience tackling underage drinking with positive thinking. When the world inevitably throws out choices. Be ready to make an informed one.
Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD)
Join the SADD initiative to prevent underage alcohol use.
B.R.A.D. 21.or Wallet Cards
Distribute B.R.A.D.21 Wallet Cards to teach young people what to do if they see someone who has blood alcohol poisoining.
Pass It On
Foundation for Life's public service campaign for a Better Life including videos, radio shows, podcasts, newspaper articles, and billboards about values.
RESOURCES
Resources
The Silent Majority
Statistical averages of students who engage in high-risk behavior for each level of use.
Myths & Facts About Alcohol
Myths and facts about underage alcohol use.
B.R.A.D. 21.org Alcohol Information
Gather information about alcohol poisoning to help prevent deaths like Brad's.
Research
Responsibility.org
The Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility (Responsibility.org) leads the fight to eliminate drunk driving and underage drinking and promotes responsible decision-making regarding beverage alcohol.
Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD)
Get facts, information about initiatives, and leadership challenges to prevent underage drinking at SADD.
Printable 21st Birthday Card from Brad21.org
Printable birthday card to encourage young people to wait until age 21 and then to drink responsibly.
influence awareness about Mental Health Issues
DEFINITIONS
YOUR VOICE ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH: With youth depression and anxiety rising, it is more critical than ever for young people to de-stigmatize mental health issues and learn effective coping mechanisms to keep their brain healthy.
ACTIVITIES
Videos
Activities
Start a Hope Group
Hopeful Minds, developed by the International Foundation for Research and Education on Depression, is based on research that suggests hope is a teachable skill. Sign up for a free Hopeful Minds curriculum kit to start a Hope Group at your school or in your community.
Create a Teen Empowerment Club
Learn about Teen Emplowerment Clubs at Ericka's Lighthouse.org.
Create a Billboard and Pass it On
Create an inspirational billbard and pass it along to someone who needs it.
Links
Teen Mental Health.org
Teen Mental Health.org's material topics include the brain, behavior, sleep, stress, suicide, cannabis, mental disorders, stigma, self-injury, and self-harm.
First Person Mental Health Experiences
Telling your story can help reduce mental health stigma. Watch first person accounts of mental health experiences.
This is My Brave
This Is My Brave brings stories of mental illness and addiction out of the shadows and into the spotlight.
RESOURCES
Videos
Organizations
Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA)
DBSA chapters accross the country offer education, online and in-person support groups, and tools to cope.
Child Mind Institute
The Child Mind Institute is an independent, national nonprofit dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders. Website offers education and scholarship applications for rising scientists.
National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI)
NAMI provides advocacy, education, support and public awareness so that all individuals and families affected by mental illness can build better lives.
The Jed Foundation
The Jed Foundation (JED) empowers teens and young adults with the skills and support to grow into healthy, thriving adults.
Readings & Research
Meet the Mood Crew Workbook
DBSA's Mood Crew workbook has informational sheets, activities and games for each mood character to help children understand their feelings and learn skills to help their emotional well-being throughout their lives.
DBSA Wellness Trackers
Use DBSA's Wellness Trackers and Journals to track moods, symptoms, medications, and substances.
Set To Go
Information, tools and guidance to help navigate the transition out of high school and onto the next step including finding the right college fit and developing important emotional and life skills.
Mental Health Fact Sheets
Download fact sheets on a wide range of mental health issues from Orygen Youth Health.
become a brainabouts high school intern
DEFINITIONS
BRAINABOUTS HIGH SCHOOL INTERNSHIP PROGRAM: The BrainAbouts High School Internship is a volunteer program that allows students the opportunity to create BrainAbouts programming that will have an impact on their community as well as other high school students around the nation.
DESCRIPTION
Activities
BrainAbouts Internship Description
Learn about the BrainAbouts High School Internship options and roles.
Links
Four Reason High School Students Should Do an Internship
Read this article by College Raptor about why high school internships are important.
IDEAS
Activities
Student Created Podcasts
Fifty ideas for student created podcasts.
National Prevention Week Activity Ideas
There are endless ways to bring National Prevention Week (NPW) to your community. The follow
Hold a Pledge Signing Event for Bullying Prevention
Want to do more? Hold a pledge signing event at your school or organization. It’s easy, it’s a great way to get involved and it makes a difference.
Start a Peer Advocacy Program
Learn how to start a peer advocacy program in your school.
Links
Event Planner
Five steps to holding your own bulying prevention event.
What is Peer Advocacy?
Peer advocacy is a program centered around inclusion and designed to educate students on speaking out on behalf of students with intellectual, developmental, or other disabilities.
Prevention Project Ideas
Top 10 Prevention Project Ideas for Students
Johnny's Ambassadors #StopDabbingWalk
Looking for a great way to get involved helping us spread the word about the mental harms to youth who use marijuana? Organize a team to walk and help educate the public about the risks of today's high-THC marijuana.