Link Together wants to share with you one of the creative ways we reach our students with a prevention message. Below is an excerpt from one of our social norms marketing campaign pieces posted in our local high schools during February.
Social Norms marketing campaigns are currently taking place at Wheeling and Buffalo Grove High School and will be starting in the fall at Hersey High School. These campaigns educate our teens about not using alcohol and drugs and focus on the fact that most teens in Wheeling Township do not use these substances.
How can you help make a difference and assist this positive campaign? Talk to your teen about not using drugs or alcohol. Together, we can make a difference!
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Let Your Heart Make the Decisions!
By: Anna Bablitch, Registered Nurse
Find out what's happening in Buffalo Grovewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
You may think alcohol will help you spark a conversation with the crush from the other side of the algebra classroom, but that is not necessarily the case. Alcohol can affect the brain and can stop you from being yourself. The frontal lobe, the part of the brain controls how you make choices and determines your personality, is not fully developed until you are in your twenties. Therefore, the decisions you make under the influence are a skewed version of what you really want and who you really are and you may act impulsively. Don’t you want your crush to meet the real you?
The frontal lobe also controls emotions, leading to heightened and more passionate feelings. This is a reason many relationship arguments spiral out of control while you are intoxicated. Alcohol also impacts the part of your brain called the cerebellum. This part of your brain controls movement and balance causing slower reaction times when under the influence, which is why drinking and driving is especially dangerous. So let your heart make your decisions and show your friends, and your crush, your true colors!
Remember, 75% of Wheeling Township students would prefer to date a non-drinker*
*(2013 Wheeling Township IYS Survey N=2,929)
Link Together – Supporting Drug and Alcohol Free Youth
