Our SAFE Choices Mission:
Foster resiliency in youth development through collaborative and diversified approaches that reduce risk of substance addiction and mental health challenges while empowering SAFE Choices in all stages of youth development.
Our Vision:
ALL youth reach their fullest potential.
Our Goals:
Ensure young people have the information and tools necessary for making meaningful SAFE Choices. Our goals respect individual basic motivation and personal autonomy, as well as self-determination, and the fact that every person is one choice away from a different life.
- Goal #1: Design and implement innovative programs that build resilience and essential life skills through empowering and engaging education for disparate populations of underserved youth.
- Goal #2: Advance evidence-informed prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery strategies that enhance youth social and emotional learning and wellness in all stages of youth development.
- Goal #3: Foster life-fueling connection opportunities for youth that focus on stigma reduction and the promotion of healthy choices across the lifespan.
- Goal #4: Advocate for effective mental, emotional, and behavior interventions for the youth sector through targeted outreach and the formation of collaborative relationships.
SAFE Choices Programs Available
No Shame Education Program
“Connections” Program
Additional SAFE Choices Resources
Youth & Youth-Led Groups
Parents, Guardians, & Caretakers of Youth
Educators & Youth-Serving Organizations
Choose Knowledge: “Power to Empower”
SAFE Choices Featured Topic
July 2024: Marijuana – “Legal” or not is a HOT topic!
Navigating the changing marijuana landscape has proven to be a hot topic and a challenge for lawmakers, public health experts, communities, families, and youth. This is largely due to legalization, increased levels of THC (main psychoactive ingredient), edibles, and vaping forms.
The national debate over the legalization of marijuana has helped normalize marijuana using behaviors and has led to increased accessibly and decreased perception of harm. Increasingly, young people today do not consider marijuana use a risky behavior.
Data from the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration shows rates of first use among adolescents as being higher than the national average in all states that have legalized recreational marijuana. The new marijuana landscape doesn’t change the fact that all mind-altering substances, including marijuana, have adverse effects on the still-developing teen brain.
Marijuana is definitely a hot topic, as approximately 1 in 10 people who use marijuana will become addicted. When use starts before the age of 18, the rate of addiction rises to 1 in 6. Marijuana is one of the most commonly used substances with use on the rise in all age groups and sexes including adolescents and pregnant women. For more information on this heated topic, please check out our weekly “Choose Knowledge” segments throughout the month of July.
Additional Resources & Assistance
For more information about SAFE Choices, contact
Senior Director Ronna Yablonski at: choices@safeproject.us
Quickly find a treatment facility that matches your needs or the needs of a loved one in an easy, anonymous, and non-invasive way!
Our Technical Assistance consists of specialized services, information sharing, skill development, training, program assessment and implementation, as well as capacity building.