Summary - Empowering Teens to Live Nicotine-Free: Practical Strategies for Youth-Serving Professionals

This interactive 2-hour training is tailored to be of particular interest to people who work with youth, including school personnel & faculty, healthcare providers, coaches, counselors, and other trusted adults in young people’s lives.

Participants will explore adolescent brain development and learn how nicotine use can affect health and learning during this critical stage of growth. The training will review current national and Maine-specific data on youth nicotine use, including emerging trends related to e-cigarettes and oral nicotine pouches.

We will share an overview of screening and assessment tools that can be used with youth to gauge their current usage of nicotine/tobacco products. The presenter will share compassionate conversational techniques, interactive worksheets, and useful tools to help young people embark on the journey to a nicotine-free lifestyle.

Participants will have opportunities to ask questions, brainstorm together in group activities, and share valuable insights & knowledge about their experience working with youth populations.

Objectives:

Describe key aspects of adolescent brain development and the effects of nicotine exposure on the developing brain.
Interpret current national and Maine-specific trends in youth nicotine use, with a focus on patterns related to e-cigarettes and oral nicotine products.
Identify appropriate screening and assessment tools for evaluating nicotine and tobacco use among adolescents.
Apply compassionate, youth-centered conversational techniques, interactive worksheets, and useful tools to help young people embark on the journey to a nicotine-free lifestyle.