Parenting Well Podcast

#7 - Want to Quit Vaping? Learn How from The Truth Initiative

I'm Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and today’s WELL source is Megan Jacobs from The Truth Initiative: Inspiring Tobacco Free Lives. Megan is the managing director of product for the Innovations Center at Truth Initiative.  She brings a user-centered approach to product design that is key to the quit-smoking and vaping programs that are used by hundreds of thousands of people who want to break free from addiction.

In today’s show, Megan is going to talk about:

• Cessation programs for youth who want to quit smoking or vaping
• Support for the parents of youth who smoke or vape
• The difference between smoking and vaping, and the ways in which quit strategies differ
• The use of text messaging to reach youth who want to quit
• The power of engaging young people in creating quit messages
• Factors that make their cessation programs effective

RESOURCES

This is Quitting – first ever text-based quit program.

• Teens and young adults should text DITCHJUUL to 88709.
• Parents can text QUIT to (202) 899-7550 to sign up to receive text messages designed specifically for parents of vapers or visit BecomeAnEx at: https://www.becomeanex.org/helping-a-child-quit-vaping/
• Details: https://truthinitiative.org/thisisquitting
• Results: https://truthinitiative.org/press/press-release/new-study-reveals-breakthrough-texting-program-aids-young-vapers-quitting
• Launched in January, to date more than 57,000 young people have enrolled in the program.

Overview of the different challenges between quitting vaping and quitting smoking

• Cigarette-specific smoking programs don’t work because e-cigarette users don’t think of themselves as smokers.  They also have some different barriers to quitting:
  • Unlike with cigarettes – most are using these products everywhere. For example, they are discrete and can be used in schools or public places with little notice.
  • Users don’t experience the negative effects from cigarettes (like bad smells) that may prompt them to quit.
  • Nicotine replacement products (like patches or gum) that make quitting more comfortable and increase your odds of success are over the counter for adults, but teens require a prescription and possibly also parental involvement. This adds another hurdle for teens trying to quit.

Misconceptions of nicotine present in e-cigs among youth

• JUUL and other e-cigarette manufacturers keeping consumers in the dark has led to widespread misconceptions about e-cigarette products, especially among young people.
• A lot of young people have been fooled by JUUL. Nearly two-thirds — 63 percent — of JUUL users between 15 and 24 years old did not know that the product always contains nicotine, a Truth Initiative study published in Tobacco Control found.
  • Press Release: JUUL e-cigarettes gain popularity among youth, but awareness of nicotine presence remains low

Tested on Humans

• truth educational campaign vaping prevention campaign
• https://truthinitiative.org/press/press-release/truth-confronts-juul-and-other-e-cigarette-manufacturers-new-campaign-tested

 

#6 - A Positive Youth Development Approach to Vaping Prevention

I'm Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and today’s WELL source is Gabrielle French. Gabrielle is a sophomore at Stargate High School in Thornton. She has been working with Broomfield Communities that Care on preventing teen substance for almost two years and is passionate about advocating for Colorado teens.

In today’s show, Gabrielle will give us the facts about vaping and share a young person’s perspective on how we can make a difference for youth.

• A young person’s perspective of vaping and the harmful effects
• The healthy alternative to smoking debate
• How to talk to your kids about vaping
• Approaching a teen that is already vaping
• Protective factors
• How adults can show up for teens: Positive Youth Development
• Communities that Care
• Youth for Youth Facebook
• Youth for Youth Instagram
• Resource: Broomfield CO Facts & Ordinances
• Resource: Program: Coaching to Quit Vaping

#5 - Dr. Ilona Jaspers: Vaping and Associated Lung Disorders

I'm Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and today’s WELL source is Dr. Ilona Jaspers. Dr. Jaspers has more than 15 years of experience as a professor of pediatrics, microbiology and immunology, and environmental sciences and engineering at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She specializes in the effects of ambient air pollutants on respiratory immune disfunction.

In today’s show, Dr. Jaspers shares:

• A general understanding of vaping
• Amount of nicotine and other contaminants in e-cigarettes
• Clinical manifestations of vaping
• Vaping plant-based products vs. oils
• Vaping associated lung injuries & common symptoms
• Individual differences in the harmful effects of vaping
• Regulations on vaping
• Impacts of secondhand e-cigarette exposure
• Prevention strategies for parents
• Resource: Cessation Resources
• Resource: American Academy for Pediatrics Prevention Toolkit
• Resource: Vaping likely has dangers that could take years for scientists to even know about
• Resource: Podcast: Inside the Mysterious Lung Illness Linked to Vaping

#4 - Dr. Robert Valuck: Opioids, Benzodiazepines, and Harm Reduction Strategies

I'm Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and today’s WELL source is Dr. Rob Valuck. Dr. Valuck is a Professor in the Departments of Clinical Pharmacy, Epidemiology, and Family Medicine at the University of Colorado Schools of Pharmacy, Public Health, and Medicine. He is also the Director of the Center for Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research (CePOR) at the School of Pharmacy.  Finally, Dr. Valuck is the coordinator of the Center Director of the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention, created by Governor Hickenlooper in 2013 to address the prescription drug abuse problem with a collaborative, statewide, interagency approach.

In today’s podcast, Dr. Valuck shares:

• The history of prescribing opioids
• The potential harm of over prescribing opioids
• Safe use of opioids for pain reduction
• Use and misuse of Benzodiazepines
• Details about the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention
• Harm reduction strategies
• Take back system for returning unused meds
• Recognizing use of prescription drugs in the home
• Predictors of use disorders: ACES: Adverse Childhood Experiences
• Resource: Speak Now: A program for communicating with your child about drug use
• Resource: Take Meds Seriously
• Resource: Bring Naloxone Home

#3 - Trina Faatz: The CRAFT Program - An Intervention Model Approach to Reducing Substance Use

I'm Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and today’s WELL source is Trina Faatz. Trina is an advocate for child welfare and family wholeness. She is certified as a Peer Recovery Coach to work with parents and teens struggling with the challenges of substance use.  Now, as the facilitator of the Boulder County Substance Advisory Group, and leader of young people in recovery panels, she brings a personal and humane approach to intervention and hope. 

In today’s show, Trina will talk about the challenges young people face and how a cutting-edge program called CRAFT is helping parents navigate substance use in today’s world. Specifically, we will discuss:

• The challenges young people face when it comes to substance use
• How social media can have positive and negative impacts on substance use
• Fentanyl
• Substance use and brain development
• Recognizing substance use in your child
• Skill building: understanding triggers, communicating, establishing rewards/consequences, and strengthening the parent-child relationship
• A parent’s role in increasing or decreasing a child’s substance use
• Resource: Chart: Understanding Substance Use Experimentation
• Resource: Natural Highs: Healthy Alternatives to Drugs & Alcohol
• Resource: The CRAFT Program: Community Reinforcement and Family Training
• Resource: The Effekt Training: To increase parents’ attitudes, norm-setting and monitoring about alcohol
• Resource: Reach Out for Change – CRAFT Classes

#2 - Avani Dilger: Substance Use, Addiction & Healthy Alternatives to Drugs & Alcohol

I'm Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and today’s WELL source is Avani Dilger, MEd, MA, LPC, CACIII.  Avani is the founder and executive director of Natural Highs: Healthy Alternatives to Drug & Alcohol Use. She is also a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Certified Addiction Counselor, a Somatic Psychotherapist, and a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT). She specializes in substance abuse treatment with adults, teens-at-risk, and their families.

In today’s show, Avani shares her expertise around substance use, addiction, brain science and healthy alternatives for youth. Specifically, we will discuss:

• Alternative forms of treatment for substance use and addiction
• Why some people become addicted to substances and others do not
• Brain science
• Trauma and its relationship with addiction
• Treatments for symptoms of trauma that can lead to addiction
• The Icelandic Model
• Maintaining a relationship with your kids

#1 - Dr: Travis Rieder: Pain, Opioid Addiction & Recovery

I'm Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and today’s WELL guest is Dr. Rieder. He is a philosopher by training, bioethicist by profession, communicator by passion, and author of the book, “In Pain: A Bioethicist’s Personal Struggle with Opioids.” In Pain describes Dr. Rieder's sudden and intimate run-in with the health care system that left him dependent on oxycodone. In this podcast, we discuss:

• The nuances of pain
• Prescribing opioids for trauma, post-surgical pain, and long-term pain
• Opioid tolerance, dependence and addiction
• Naloxone
• Drug use and the developing brain
• How parents can advocate for their child if opioids are prescribed
• Parenting and building protective factors
• The moral obligation of the health care system to both manage pain and reduce harm.