Prevention
The prevention team at Mirror, Inc is uniquely positioned to facilitate community-based solutions to the challenges facing youth today. To get the most out of your prevention efforts, it is important to reduce risk factors and boost protective factors in families, schools, individuals, and communities. With over 20 years of experience in successful youth development and community mobilization, our prevention team is ready to inspire grassroots people, coalitions, schools and other partners in building healthier futures for young people. People are the greatest resource of any community and Mirror, Inc can help you mobilize local people for healthy outcomes.
“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they're falling in.”
-Desmond Tutu
Community Mobilization and Coalition Development
Our experienced team can provide technical assistance and walk you through mobilizing your community for positive change. Whether it is a staff training event, or just having a fresh set of eyes and ears to help work through challenges, our team will work with you to move your community initiatives to the next level with every session customized to your specific needs.
Some popular topics include:
Community-Focused Training - Our experienced team can create personalized trainings specific to your community.
Developing Community Buy-in and Support - Reducing risk and building in protective factors for youth, creating a community action plan, utilizing a data drive approach, building community readiness, engaging community partners, and making SAMHSA’s Strategic Prevention Framework work for you.
Funding Opportunities - How to prepare for a Drug Free Communities Grant and other funding possibilities.
The Power of Youth in Community - Defining the role of youth voice in your community, involving youth in the Seven Strategies for Community Level Change, getting creative - utilizing youth strengths in prevention, utilizing the positive social norms approach.
Through this work, Mirror, Inc staff have received recognition from the Drug Free Communities National Evaluation team for successfully mobilizing communities and coalitions toward population-level change.
“We are making a difference through a collaborative effort of many agencies and people working for the common good of building a healthier place for our kids. “
Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce
With over 20 years of experience in youth development, Mirror, Inc’s innovative STAND model mobilizes young leaders to take action in their communities by promoting positive mental health, reducing youth substance use, and increasing community involvement.
Visit our STAND page to learn more.
Programs
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Life of an Athlete (LOA) is a program that leads to positive changes in a school’s culture and healthy lifestyle choices in the student body. Program activities include student leadership, engaging coaches, pre-season meetings, changes in codes of conduct, stakeholder unity, community engagement, and supporting the school leadership. All are designed to support student behavior changes which lead to accountability, character development, a health and substance-free lifestyle, and effective communication between schools, youth, and parents.
Goals of Life of an Athlete
Reduce rates of substance use among student-athletes and activity participants.
Increase positive lifestyle choices made by student-athletes and activity participants, including healthy eating, hydration, and sleep.
Encouraging coaches/sponsors to be engaged with their students and actively teaching and modeling positive values and character development.
Reviewing, implementing, and enforcing the school’s Code of Conduct.
Student peer leader mentorship.
Life of an Athlete is evolutionary and ongoing. Each school can make the program fit its own needs and culture. Mirror, Inc staff have experience partnering with school administration, coalitions, parents, coaches, and community partners to adapt the program to fit the individual needs of the community.
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Teen Intervene is an evidence-based program for teenagers ages 12-19 years old who are suspected of mild or moderate substance use. It includes a screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (if needed). Teen Intervene covers all substances with a focus on alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco use. Three individual sessions are delivered to help youth reach their full potential and avoid pitfalls that substance use can bring. Our team has successfully implemented Teen Intervene within the school setting, even including it as part of their Drug Policy protocol. Also offered in Spanish.
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Designed to promote cessation and reduce tobacco use among adolescent smokers, this group intervention consists of 10 weekly sessions plus 4 booster sessions that help teens quit smoking, reduce the number of cigarettes smoked if unable to quit, increase healthy lifestyle behaviors, and improve life skills. The studies showed higher smoking quit rates. Tragically, about 95% of today’s tobacco users started using before the age of 21. E-cigarettes have escalated this problem, with over 5,700 kids starting to vape every day, according to the CDC. Not On Tobacco (N.O.T.) seeks to address this growing problem by giving all teens the resources they need to break nicotine dependence and find healthier outlets. Also offered in Spanish.
N.O.T. is taught by a trained and certified adult in ten, 50-minute sessions. It is most effective in a small format (6-10 participants) that emphasizes teamwork. The easy-to-use method helps teens quit by addressing total health in order to develop and maintain positive behaviors. Participants will talk about the importance of physical activity, nutrition, enhancing their sense of self-control, and improving life skills such as stress management, decision making, coping and interpersonal skills. Additionally, they will learn to identify their reasons for smoking or vaping, healthy alternatives to tobacco use, and finding people who will support them in their efforts to quit.
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The Parent Project provides help for parents raising difficult children. Little miracles. It’s what we do! The Parent Project’s ‘Changing Destructive Adolescent Behavior’ is an award-winning intervention model addressing the most destructive of adolescent behavior. We know of no other program that addresses it all: truancy, drugs, runaways, media, early teen sex, violence, gangs…Parent Project promises concrete answers for every parent question asked.
Program Goals:
Reduce family conflict
Reduce juvenile crime
Reduce recidivism
Improve school attendance and performance
Also offered in Spanish.
Trainings
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Vaping
The vaping epidemic has created a world of new challenges for parents, teachers, and anyone else that works with youth. But what does vaping look like in schools, communities, and among teens? Utilizing quantitive data, research, and qualitative data from youth themselves, Mirror, Inc staff will educate on what the youth vaping epidemic looks like here and now. Providing tools, information on latest devices and trends, and the dangers of vaping, Mirror, Inc staff are ready to educate students, teachers, parents, and other community members to help reduce vaping in your community.
Marijuana
With marijuana legalization occurring in states all over the country, perception of risk and youth use are trending upward in Kansas communities. Mirror, Inc staff can provide the latest on the effects of youth marijuana research, what youth are experiencing in their schools, and debunking some of the myths and fallacies of marijuana messaging and marketing. This timely presentation can be tailored to youth, adults, teachers, coalitions, community members and more.
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Strategic Prevention Framework
Mirror, Inc staff are well versed at carrying out prevention activities through the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF). An evidence-based process from SAMHSA, the five steps and two guiding principles of the SPF offer prevention partners a comprehensive approach to understanding and addressing substance misuse and related health and behavioral health problems facing states and communities.
Seven Strategies
The Seven Strategies for Community Changes from the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America provides a roadmap toward creating environmental. Mirror, Inc’s experience with implementing strategies in communities will benefit coalitions, community groups, and youth teams in facilitating real, lasting change.
Risk and Protective Factors
Mirror, Inc can assist communities in targeting their prevention efforts to reduce risk factors and strengthen protective factors in the four domains of community, family, school and peer/individual. This will build healthier futures for young people and buffer them from a. whole host of problem behaviors. (Hawkins & Catalano 2005).
