C HAPTER 2: S KILLS FOR A H EALTHY L IFE 10 L IFE S KILLS FOR A H EALTHY L IFE

A CCESSING YOUR HEALTH actions and behaviors affect your health You can determine what you need to do to be healthy

COMMUNICATING EFFECTIVLEY Teaches good communication skills that can help you in the real world. improve your relationships

PRACTICING WELLNESS practice healthy behaviors to get you a good long and healthy life.

COPING Helps you deal with difficult times emotions

B EING A WISE CONSUMER Helps you make good decisions when buying Health products Services It will show you how to decide what’s appropriate for your health

E VALUATING MEDIA MESSAGES Helps you make better decisions about your health

U SING COMMUNITY RESOURCES Will help you find services that can help you and describe how they can help you

M AKING GREAT DECISIONS Will help you with decision making.

U SING REFUSUAL SKILLS Will help you say “no” to something you don’t want to do

S ETTING GOALS Will provide tips on how to reach your goals

Making great Decisions von Salzen, Daniel Villalobos, Jesus

Importance of Making Good Decisions How many decisions have you made? And Consequences? You are responsible for them.

Making G.R.E.A.T. Decisions G ive Thought to the problem. R eview your choices. E valuate the consequences of each choice. A ssess and choose the best choice. T hink it over afterward.

Making Good Decisions Don’t rush Ask for advice Collaborate!!!

Why decisions are so hard Decisions are tough to make Rushing is not good for decisions. Its often difficult to make a decision with no mistakes Decisions cause STRESS

Making Mistakes We are HUMAN!!!!! Don’t give up Mistakes may be embarrassing Mistakes may be dangerous

STOP, THINK, and GO Use to correct mistakes Has 3 steps: Stop- Admit you did wrong Think- Who to talk to Go- Correct the situation

S ECTION 3:R ESISTING P RESSURE FROM O THERS By: Valerie Caro

W HO I NFLUENCES Y OU ? Your behaviors and decisions are often influenced by many people. Peer pressure - is a feeling that you should do something because that is what your friends want. These influences can be positive or negative.

I NFLUENCES Positive influences - it is a good thing to have positive role models because they help you improve yourself. Negative influences - being pressured to do something that you don’t want to do is not healthy. Negative pressure can be serious and life threatening.

S TATISTICS SHOW ON POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE INFLUENCES … Positive effects of peer pressure are doing well in school, eating healthy, exercising, joining after-school programs and much more. Negative effects of peer pressure include doing drugs, smoking, shoplifting, cutting class, having sex, drinking alcohol, physical violence, doing badly in school, and so on.

S TATISTICS SHOW ON PEER PRESSURE … The Adolescent Substance Abuse Knowledge Base reports that right around 30% of teens are offered drugs in middle school and high school. According to the National Household Survey on Drug Use and Health from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 74.3% of high school students have tried alcohol. 3.1 million teenagers smoke, according to the American Lung Association. The Kaiser Foundation reports that about 50% of teenagers feel pressured with regard to sex in relationships.

T YPES OF P RESSURE Direct pressure - the pressure that results from someone who tries to convince you to do something you normally wouldn’t do. Indirect pressure - the pressure that results from being swayed to do something because people you look up to are doing it.

S TATISTICS SHOW DIRECT AND INDIRECT PRESSURE … A variety of factors have been found to be associated with adolescent smoking and drinking. Peer influence is one of the factors most commonly linked to adolescent substance use. Peer influences to smoke or drink may be direct or indirect. Direct peer pressure may occur in the form of encouragement, dares, or actual offers of the substances. Indirect peer influences can occur when youth associate with peers who drink or smoke, increasing the availability of these substances, providing role models, establishing substance use as “normal to do”, and creating the perception that using these substances might increase social acceptance.

R EFUSAL S KILLS Refusal Skill - is a strategy to avoid doing something you don’t want to do. Practicing refusal skills can help you get through a “real-life” situation. Refusal skills will be useful your entire life, and you will probably make better decisions now that you make your own decisions freely and not pressured.

S TATISTICS SHOW REFUSAL SKILLS … Most school-based approaches to substance use prevention include objectives that address peer influences. For example, peer pressure resistance training is one of the main activities of the popular DARE substance abuse prevention program. Relatedly, an objective of Project Smart, one of the few well-evaluated substance abuse prevention programs that has been shown to be effective, is to prevent the establishment of perceived social norms that smoking and drinking are prevalent and acceptable behaviors among youth.

Refusal skillSample response 1. Blame someone else.“My dad would kill me if I didn’t help him.” 2. Give a reason.“No, my dad said he’d pay me $20 if I helped out.” 3. Ignore the request or the pressure. Pretend that you don’t hear them asking you. Refuse to talk about it. 4. Leave the situation.“I’ve got to get going. I’m running late.” 5. Say, “no thanks.”“No, thanks. I’m not interested.” 6. Say no, and mean it.“NO, I don’t want to!” 7. Keep saying no.“How many times do I have to say no? Stop bugging me!”

Refusal skillSample response 8. Make a joke out of it.“You probably couldn’t keep up with me on a bike ride anyway.” 9. Make an excuse.“No, I’m not feeling well.” 10. Suggest something else to do.“Let’s go on a bike ride on Sunday instead.” 11. Change the subject.“I heard Nick and Mary are dating.” 12. Team up with someone.“Hey David, didn’t dad say we had to do the garage or we’d be grounded?” Ask people to help you in the refusal. Many voices are better than one!

S AYING NO WITH RESPECT When practicing refusal skills, there are two basic points that are important to remember: Always respect others: people feel pressured to do things because they don’t want to seem disrespectful. Don’t put anyone down: you don’t have to insult someone when you are refusing to give in to their pressure.

P ERSISTENT PRESSURE There will be situations where some people might not stop bothering you. If you have said “no” many times and they still insist, the best thing to do is to leave the situation or ask for help. If the person bothering you is your friend, you have to ask yourself if this person is a good person for you to be around and if he/she respects you. Practicing refusal skills will help you cope with difficult situations, and the more you practice, the more confident you will be.

S TATISTICS SHOW THE RIGHT TO RESIST PRESSURE … According to The Cool Spot, resisting pressure can be hard for some people Why? They… are afraid of being rejected by others want to be liked and don’t want to lose a friend don’t want to be made fun of don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings aren’t sure of what they really want don’t know how to get out of the situation Sometimes resisting isn’t easy, but you can do it with practice (hint, hint: Refusal Skills). Keep trying, even if you don’t get it right at first.

C HAPTER : S ECTION 4 Setting Healthy Goals

K INDS OF G OALS Goals are targets or achievements that you work up to. Short Term Goals are goals that can be easily completed Long Term Goals are goals are take months to even years to complete.

S TEPS T OWARD Y OUR G OAL 1. Identify Your Goal Understand what you want to accomplish 2. Make a Plan How are you going to accomplish your goal 3. Set your plan in Motion 4. Decide if the plan works If it does not work, find out why and make changes

W HEN A CHIEVING Y OUR G OAL When putting your plan in motion there are certain things that need to get done Rewards: Along the way reward yourself to keep you motivated Remind you why?

W HEN A CHIEVING Y OUR G OAL Outside Factors: There is a lot of influence that can change you or add roadblocks on your goal You need positive support and influence when reaching a goal for both short and long-term

W HEN A CHIEVING Y OUR G OAL Track Your Progress: Keep track of progress so you can see how much you improve This can be used to motivate you Helps you get organized

T IPS ON G OALS Be specific and realistic on setting goals To make a habit, you need to keep doing it and it will come over time. Remind yourself on your goals Ex. Agenda, phone, repeating it to yourself There will be obstacles throughout the way Don’t give up

REFERENCES l-networking-sites-more-harm-than-good/ DA7F-46B1-BE6F-129EB82552D4/Lesson_14.pdf rris%20Pilot%20RHC% pdf

R EFRENCES elp/goals_tips.html ng_&_Motivation_Workshop_Booklet.pdf D= flash-cards/