Our SAFE Choices Mission:
Foster resiliency in youth through collaborative and diversified approaches that reduce risk of substance addiction and mental health challenges while educating, engaging, and equipping youth for SAFE Choices throughout all stages of their development.
SAFE Choices Programs Available
“Connections”
Program
School Community Partnerships
No Shame
Education Program
Our Program Goals:
- Design and implement innovative programs that build resilience and essential life skills through empowering and engaging education for disparate populations of underserved youth.
- Advance evidence-informed prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery strategies that enhance youth social and emotional learning and wellness in all stages of youth development.
- Foster life-fueling connection opportunities for youth that focus on stigma reduction and the promotion of healthy choices across the lifespan.
- Advocate for effective mental, emotional, and behavior interventions for the youth sector through targeted outreach and the formation of collaborative relationships.
Additional SAFE Choices Resources
In the News: Prevention and Recovery Topics For Youth
Choose knowledge with these publications, journals, and reports that pertain to youth substance prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery.
SAFE Choices Featured Topic
January 2024: Happy New Year!
SAFE Project is starting the new year off with “No Shame New Year“!
A new year is a time for fresh starts and renewed beginnings. It is a time filled with anticipation for all that is to come in the months and seasons ahead.
In 2024, SAFE Project is standing strong on the commitment of making tangible contributions in overcoming the addiction epidemic. In doing so, we are forming effective school-community collaborations with vested partners and taking actions to mitigate the loss of life due to substance overdose and mental health challenges.
According to the most recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 48.7 million Americans (17.3%) reported a substance use disorder in the past year, while at the same time, millions of individuals also indicated a mental illness (1 in 4 U.S. adults and 1 in 6 U.S. youth aged 6-17).
One of the leading reasons that individuals do not seek help for substance use disorder and/or mental health challenges is STIGMA.
In an effort to combat stigma, SAFE Project is introducing No Shame New Year and invites you to join our No Shame Movement. Resources and tools available include:
- The No Shame Pledge
- The No Shame Education Program, which builds upon the four principles listed on the No Shame Pledge and comes with a comprehensive facilitator’s guide
- Social media graphics for you to support the movement online
- And coming soon: the No Shame Education Program Student Activity Booklet!
This year, choose a resolution with a big impact. For 2024, choose to participate in No Shame New Year – commit to ending stigma around substance use and mental health disorders.
Spotlight: "We Are Not Alone" — School Presentation Tour
SAFE Project and RISE TOGETHER have partnered to bring an engaging and meaningful presentation on substance use, mental health, wellness, and real stories of both loss and recovery to local school communities.
Together, we are breaking the silence and fostering life fueling connections. We educate, engage, and empower the youth of today to use their stories and their voices as advocates in bringing about solutions to challenges associated to substance use and mental health.”
Additional Resources & Assistance
For more information about SAFE Choices, contact
Senior Director Ronna Yablonski at: choices@safeproject.us