Join the digital well-being challenge to make a
difference in your school community!
The Digital Well-Being Challenge invites students, ages 13 and up, and the schools that serve them to address critical topics in digital citizenship and well-being, including healthy social media use, digital citizenship education, and responsible technology policies. The challenge is a collaborative effort between the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology (OET) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA).
The challenge will bring together selected school, or district-based, teams to co-design and implement, alongside students, a solution addressing a problem related to digital citizenship and well-being facing their school community.
Applications close on Thursday, January 9, 2025. Visit the challenge information page to learn more and apply!
Seeking volunteers for the 2025 Prevention Awards of Excellence review team
Each year, the Prevention Awards of Excellence recognize outstanding prevention professionals, community members, youth, and coalitions for their exemplary contributions to substance use disorder prevention and mental health promotion across Washington state.
The awards are made possible by a volunteer review team, which provides feedback on the past year's nomination materials and process and reviews the current year's nominations.
What is involved?
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January-February: Volunteers review the previous year’s overview and nomination packet documents and make suggestions on materials and process improvements, including how to encourage more participation.
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April-June: This is the award nomination period. There are no duties or meetings during this time.
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July: During the last two weeks of the month, volunteers review and rate nominations. Each nomination review takes 30-45 minutes. Total review time is dependent upon the number of nominations received.
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October-December: After the awards ceremony at the 2025 Prevention Summit, review team members may be asked to review the 2025 process and make suggestions for improvement.
Want to be on the team?
Martha Williams is looking for five to six prevention professionals of varying experience levels to join this year's review team. Please email Martha Williams to join the team or learn more!
DBHR staff and grantees must receive supervisor/prevention manager approval and include this in their email to Martha.
Positive Indian Parenting train-the-trainer
opportunities
Positive Indian Parenting (PIP) is an eight-week curriculum, developed by the National Indian Child Welfare Association, which provides practical and culturally specific training for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) parents. The training helps parents explore the values and attitudes expressed in traditional AI/AN child-rearing practices and apply them to modern parenting.
Train-the-trainer trainings are designed to prepare facilitators to educate and support native parents using the PIP curriculum. Participants will receive instructional materials for eight sessions. Continuing Education Unit (CEU) credits are available.
Upcoming trainings:
- March 3-6, 2025, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Virtual)
- May 20-22, 2025, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (Puyallup, WA)
Organizations interested in providing PIP to their community are encouraged to register. Registration preference will be given to tribes, native serving organizations, and recognized American Indian organizations in Washington state. Learn more and register.
If you have questions, or require an alternate format for this information, need language interpretation services, or need another accommodation or modification to participate in this event, please email Shannel Squally-Janzen.
We are nearing the next cycle of Communities Talk!
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will be sponsoring stipends for the next round of Communities Talk to Prevent Alcohol and Other Drug Misuse, an initiative that focuses on substance misuse that negatively affects communities and our youth. Since 2006, the initiative has provided prevention resources and stipends to thousands of community-based organizations, colleges, and universities. Stipends are available every year!
If you participated last year, a unique invitation to participate will be emailed to you. If you did not participate last year, you will need to request an invitation. A registration link will be emailed to you. Step by step instructions are available on the Communities Talk website.
Please email Martha Williams with any questions.
Opportunity for teens to help others through the You Can campaign
Life moves fast. And sometimes, it’s easy to forget the importance of taking time to take care of yourself. This is why the You Can campaign is asking Washington teens, ages 12-18, to share their favorite way to practice self-care and inspire others to find their own.
What You Can needs
- A vertical video that’s 20-45 seconds long and shows a self-care activity that brings you joy or helps you de-stress.
- Examples include, but are not limited to: Arts and crafts, sports and exercise, indoor and outdoor activities, and individual and group activities.
- A file format that is one of the following: MP4, MOV, or WMV.
- To see examples of what videos could look like, visit @YouCanWa on Instagram and TikTok.
- A short description of your video, like “Making clay earrings” or “Cuddling with my cat”.
- Your first name, city or town, email address, Instagram or TikTok username, and confirmation that you are 12-18 years old.
Send in a video and get paid for creating content that could be featured in the campaign! Plus, have your name entered for a chance to win one of five $100 Amazon gift cards. Get your friends to participate and earn even more! All submissions must be sent by Wednesday, February 12, 2025. Visit the project page to learn more!
You Can is a prevention campaign by the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) to educate 12–17-year-olds about the risks and consequences of cannabis use.
Tobacco use policy survey for behavioral health
facilities
Rede Group, a contractor for DOH, is surveying behavioral health programs and facilities in Washington to understand the landscape of the policies and practices related to nicotine dependence treatment, recovery, and tobacco use policies in the behavioral health system.
We would greatly appreciate your participation in this effort. There are two ways to participate, you can do one or both:
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Complete the online survey about the comprehensiveness of tobacco policies at your program/facility. This should take roughly 15 minutes to complete. Afterward, you will receive a single email regarding your facility’s level of comprehensiveness and an offer for free technical assistance if you want to increase this level.
- One assessment per facility. If you have more than one location, please pass this along to your colleagues at your other sites to complete the survey.
- You will receive (if you want) a $25 Visa gift card for your time.
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Meet with Rede Group for an hour to chat one-on-one about your knowledge, experience, and perspectives on tobacco-free behavioral health in Washington. Please email Audra Baca for scheduling support.
- You will be compensated for your time with a $100 Visa gift card.
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