Overview of SMART Moves: Substance Use 

SMART Moves is a suite of targeted programs and supplemental topic-specific modules that can be used to help youth develop healthy decision-making attitudes and skills. Each program and module reflects contemporary youth development best practices in a flexible format that allows Clubs and Youth Centers to customize learning for the needs and interests of their youth and communities. The SMART Moves suite consists of: SMART Moves: Emotional Wellness, SMART Moves: Core and a series of topic-specific SMART Moves modules. 

The goal of this SMART Moves: Substance Use module is to influence attitudes and teach essential skills to enable youth to make healthy decisions about substance use. As a result of participating in this module, youth will be able to:

• Describe the health risks associated with substance misuse 
• Describe how substance misuse can impact their goals
• Describe how media and peers influence a young person’s views on substance use
• Apply decision-making and refusal skills to substance misuse 

This SMART Moves module is intended to be used only after youth have completed the SMART Moves: Core targeted program. In SMART Moves: Core, youth are introduced to foundational healthy decision-making skills, such as goal-setting, effective communication, a decision-making process, refusal skills and critical thinking about media messages. It is essential that youth are introduced to those foundational skills first so they can practice them in the context of this module’s sessions on substance use. 

Youth Development Professionals’ Role in Healthy Decision-Making 

Positive youth development is an intentional approach that engages youth within their communities, schools, organizations, peer groups, and families in a manner that is productive and constructive. It recognizes, uses and enhances young people’s strengths, and promotes positive outcomes by providing opportunities, fostering positive relationships and furnishing the support needed to build on their leadership strengths.

Youth development practices that support teaching and learning are core to the quality of Health and Wellness programs. Effective Health and Wellness programs, when facilitated with high-quality youth development practices, will help youth develop the attitudes, behaviors, and skills needed to become effective and engaged learners who are on track to graduate with a plan for the future.

Youth development professionals can help all youth build resiliency skills when they:

• Establish and maintain Group Agreements at the start of any routine programmatic experience to establish a safe environment for sharing and learning
• Provide frequent opportunities for youth to reflect on their experiences
• Respond to young people’s behaviors in ways that encourage them to communicate their feelings and self-regulate
• Provide the opportunity and space for youth to check in emotionally during the Club day, and possess the ability to recognize trends in emotions and modify programming as necessary
• Programmatic and environmental adaptations to support the identities of all youth, including youth with disabilities, and youth who identify as LGBTQ
• Allow youth opportunities to independently recognize and solve problems and decisions about health
• Integrate trauma-informed approaches throughout the Club day, and especially within health programs and activities

Youth development professionals can help all youth become more effective healthy decision-makers when they:

• Model healthy decision-making among youth, including healthy eating, physical activity, healthy communication with others and emotional well-being
• Avoid the use of shaming and values-based language related to health such as “good and bad” or “right and wrong”
• Model appropriate self-disclosure about healthy behavior by refraining from sharing personal health information
• Establish themselves as health resources by addressing all questions about health-related issues with medically accurate answers or linking youth to resources
• Facilitate structured and unstructured opportunities for youth to talk with each other about health issues, peer pressure to engage in unhealthy behaviors, and resistance strategies
• Leverage opportunities to connect decision-making about health to a young person’s vision for their future self
• Create opportunities for youth to be advocates for healthy behavior among their peers at the Club and within the community
• Use opportunities to recognize youth who are making healthy choices individually and as groups

Maintaining a Safe Environment for Program Facilitation 

Although the SMART Moves suite does not introduce or cover sensitive topics like abuse or child safety, asking youth to discuss their emotions has the potential to elicit youth responses that require staff follow-up. Due to the nature of this material, BGCA strongly recommends the use of the following best practice implementation guidelines.

Prioritize Physical and Emotional Safety: Before facilitating any of the SMART Moves sessions or related modules, it will be essential to review your Club or Youth Center’s safety policies, and be prepared to respond and report, should youth disclose past or current abuse, or urgent mental health issues. For immediate safety and life-threatening mental health concerns, call 911. For concerns of past abuse or ongoing abuse, neglect or endangerment, follow your state’s mandated reporting requirements. In addition, make sure to report safety-related incidents according to your organizational policies, and use the BGCA’s Safety Helpline for additional support at 866-607-SAFE.

For more information that can support you in creating physically and emotionally safe program environments, visit the Safety page on BGCA.net for the latest resources on:

• Safety Policies and Actions
• Mandated Reporting
• Disclosures of Abuse

If you have questions about using these resources in your Club or Youth Center, or general safety questions, please reach out to the safety team at childsafety@bgca.org.

As you prepare to facilitate the SMART Moves Modules, you’ll see facilitator notes titled “Important Note About Emotional Safety” that serve as a reminder to listen closely to youth responses and follow-up with reporting or additional support as needed.
 

Seek Training to Support Implementation: Since this subject matter is related to identifying emotions and building effective coping strategies when youth feel a strong emotion, it may be beneficial to consider the ways in which trauma might impact young people’s understanding of emotion, and their emotional reactions to various situations. To develop an increased understanding of the varying backgrounds of youth, consider training in the following topics prior to facilitating the emotional wellness targeted program: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Trauma-Informed Care (TIC). For more information and free online TIC Trainings and Resources, visit the National Child Traumatic Stress Network at nctsn.org/resources/training. For more information on ACEs visit: CDC.gov.

Make Referrals, When Needed: The programs in the SMART Moves suite, especially SMART Moves: Emotional Wellness, are skill-building programs, not a therapy or counseling tool and should not be used in this way. Understanding your role and professional ability as a youth development staff is critical.

Some sessions may cause youth to become emotional, share personal stories about past trauma, or even open up about their mental health. It is important to keep in mind that you are not expected to take on the role of a therapist or counselor, nor would it be ethical for you to do so. You should, however, be able to recognize when youth are disclosing abuse or another traumatic event, and to report and refer as appropriate. You are not alone in supporting Club youth. There are many caring adults and professionals available and able to provide support when necessary. If you have a social worker or therapist on staff, ask them to be available to step in if needed during or after the program. If you do not have a social worker or therapist on staff, consider familiarizing yourself with the local agencies in your area to make referrals when needed.
 

Use the following resources when making a referral:

• BGCA Incident Response Guide: To download guide, visit BGCA.net and search for "Incident Response Guide."
• Visit 211.org for more information on local resources.
• For non-life-threatening mental health concerns, consider utilizing the free Crisis Text Line by texting CLUB to 741741 to communicate with a trained crisis counselor 24/7. This resource should be used in collaboration with parent support.

Please refer to your state laws and organizational policies on how to discuss your mandated reporting obligations with young people. We encourage you to continue to build trusting and supportive relationships using high-quality youth development practices outlined in the Blueprint: Visit BGCA.net and search for "Program Basics BLUEprint."

Create a Safe Space: Create a welcoming and comfortable environment by:

• Providing a variety of comfortable seating options, soft lighting, calming music and optional fidgets/manipulatives. Examples of manipulatives include: puzzles, pipe cleaners, putty, paper and crayons.
• Establishing Group Agreements and norms prior to beginning the program.
• Utilizing emotional check-ins as a way for youth to pause and reflect on how they are feeling.
• Being an active listener throughout the program and following up with any youth afterwards who appear to need additional support by stepping aside to discuss how they are feeling and determining how you can help.

Before each session try saying something like, “This is a safe space where you are safe to feel and talk about your emotions and ask for help. All feelings are normal and healthy and there is no wrong way to feel. You are always welcome to pass if you are not comfortable sharing in front of the group. I am here to help if you want to talk about anything during or after program. Does anyone have any questions before we start?”

Grow In and Model Your Own Social-Emotional Development: Take time to reflect on your own social-emotional skills and identify your strengths and areas for growth by using the Personal Assessment and Reflection – SEL Competencies for School Leaders, Staff and Adults developed by CASEL. Create a plan for addressing your areas for growth and commit to working on it. Youth will look to you as a role model for how to talk about and process emotions, as well as how to cope with stressful situations. Be a leader in not only teaching the emotional wellness targeted program but modeling it in your everyday interactions

Family and Caregiver Resource 

The supplementary Family and Caregiver Resource in this module invites families to talk about substance use and share their attitudes and values about medicine. This module includes a sample Family and Caregiver Substance Use Discussion Guide for families and youth to use together to continue learning about substance use. Each Family and Caregiver Resource supports a particular session of the SMART Moves: Substance Use module. 

Additional Supporting Resource

Opioid and Substance Use Prevention Guide 
This is a comprehensive resource guide to help Club and Youth Center leaders and staff initiate conversations about the continuum of substance use, while equipping them with the knowledge to address addiction. This guide includes an introduction to the opioid crisis, along with an assessment and planning tools for designing a prevention initiative. It also includes a menu of prevention strategies – for staff, youth, families, and school and community partners. You may choose to include these strategies in your plan, along with resources to help implement them. 

Commonly Asked Questions for Group Discussion 

The section is adapted from the Values Question Protocol in the FLASH curriculum from the Seattle and King County public health department. Below are some commonly asked questions from youth about substance misuse, along with facts to help you answer questions while you’re facilitating this SMART Moves module. When answering questions, remember to reply in ways that use the GUIDE approach: 

• GU – Give recognition and thank them for asking 
• I – Identify the facts
• D – Describe how a behavior might impact a young person’s future goals 
• E – Explore referrals to trusted adults to provide guidance 

QUESTION: Why are some drugs legal if they are bad for you? 

RESPONSE: Thanks for asking that! All legal drugs are not bad, but some drugs – like nicotine – are bad for everyone all the time. There is no safe level of nicotine, and it has no positive outcomes. Other drugs like Tylenol can sometimes be good for you. If someone takes the appropriate dose of Tylenol when they need it for a medical reason, like a fever, it can be helpful. But if someone takes too much, it can be harmful. Some drugs are legal because they can help you get better, however, if you misuse them, they become harmful. 

Ask these questions to follow up with youth: 

• How might using drugs impact your future goals? 
• Who is another trusted adult you could go to if you have questions about this?

QUESTION: Why do some people get addicted to drugs while others don’t? 

RESPONSE: Thanks for coming to me and asking me this question! Addiction happens when someone misuses drugs and the drugs begin to alter their body, mind and affect how they relate to people. Everyone is at risk for drug addiction if they misuse drugs. However, there are things that make some people more at risk than others, such as using drugs at an early age when the brain is still developing, or having family or friends who misuse alcohol or drugs. Even if someone has risk factors, they may never use drugs or develop a drug addiction. It’s important to talk with a trusted adult about addictions or drugs and share things you’ve learned in this program. 

Ask these questions to follow up with youth: 

• How might being addicted to drugs prevent you from achieving your goals? 
• Who is another trusted adult you could go to with questions about this topic?