According to my synthesis of attachment theory and developmental psychology as applied to youth, youth need healthy attachments with adults in their lives so that their other relationships can go well and resilience to addictions goes up. (Bring in the social determinants of health in order to shore up adult - child relationships, plus knowledge of how to support youth with emotional distresses ie. Tears are necessary, a natural healing mechanism... Mad moves to sad eventually) This website (www.stupid.ca) has the feel of the smart youth bullying the stupid youth into quitting smoking. Hurting someone more won't help them change. Having 'reasoning' discussions won't help youth get at the emtoions and sense of isolation that drive their addictions. I would refer folks to Gordon Neufeld's book and website at www.gordonneufeld.ca for more juicy details on youth without secure attachments to adults. I have worked intensively with youth and families and substance issues. An idea in rural BC for a website generated by youth to respond to substance abuse issues needed ongoing consultation with counsellors and the school counsellors. I argued for adult connection. Eventually we offered a hotmail address that youth could email rather anonymously and get a response from a counsellor. Presently I work at the BC Cancer agency and see that 27% of all cancers are connected to tobacco. Although I am all for self care and personal responsibility, I have increasingly been unleashing my inner activist and trying to support the SODH! Shannon Lavell RN BSN MA Counsellor, PFCS BCCA - Centre for the Southern Interoir 399 Royal Ave. Kelowna, BC Canada V1Y5L3 Ph: 1-888-563-7773 or 250-712-3971 Email: [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: Social Determinants of Health [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dennis Raphael Sent: Saturday, November 27, 2004 11:18 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [SDOH] "Empowering" youth to not smoke In Ontario the government has established a http://stupid.ca website to "empower" youth to not smoke. Details at http://www.cnw.ca/fr/releases/archive/November2004/26/c8177.html Somehow, my limited understanding of the lived experience of teenage smokers suggest that while this effort will probably be another illustration of flushing money down the toilet in terms of effectiveness, it may actually provoke more smoking through teenage resistance to adult authorities... "When will they ever learn?" Comments. dr ------------------- Problems/Questions? Send it to Listserv owner: [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe, send the following message in the text section -- NOT the subject header -- to [log in to unmask] SIGNOFF SDOH DO NOT SEND IT BY HITTING THE REPLY BUTTON. THIS SENDS THE MESSAGE TO THE ENTIRE LISTSERV AND STILL DOES NOT REMOVE YOU. To subscribe to the SDOH list, send the following message to [log in to unmask] in the text section, NOT in the subject header. SUBSCRIBE SDOH yourfirstname yourlastname To post a message to all 1000+ subscribers, send it to [log in to unmask] Include in the Subject, its content, and location and date, if relevant. For a list of SDOH members, send a request to [log in to unmask] To receive messages only once a day, send the following message to [log in to unmask] SET SDOH DIGEST To view the SDOH archives, go to: http://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/sdoh.html ------------------- Problems/Questions? Send it to Listserv owner: [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe, send the following message in the text section -- NOT the subject header -- to [log in to unmask] SIGNOFF SDOH DO NOT SEND IT BY HITTING THE REPLY BUTTON. THIS SENDS THE MESSAGE TO THE ENTIRE LISTSERV AND STILL DOES NOT REMOVE YOU. To subscribe to the SDOH list, send the following message to [log in to unmask] in the text section, NOT in the subject header. SUBSCRIBE SDOH yourfirstname yourlastname To post a message to all 1000+ subscribers, send it to [log in to unmask] Include in the Subject, its content, and location and date, if relevant. For a list of SDOH members, send a request to [log in to unmask] To receive messages only once a day, send the following message to [log in to unmask] SET SDOH DIGEST To view the SDOH archives, go to: http://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/sdoh.html