Be Courageous Anonymous Podcast is a youth-led twist on our Breakwater Podcast. This podcast features guests from our local community who share their experiences growing up in-turn they have shaped who they are. It covers vulnerable topics that aim at shining a light on situations most of us experience but few of us share about.
Whether you’re a parent, a coach, a teacher, a youth leader, a student, or any other person in our community this is your opportunity to hear how you can make a positive impact in someone else’s life.
It takes courage…
To be a youth and ask an adult questions about alcohol and/or drugs. To be an adult who suspects a youth might be using substances and who wants to help them but doesn’t know what to say. To be a youth who goes to school everyday wondering whether they will fit in because of the choices they are making. Or to be someone who heads home after school wondering how they will find their family member because they know their parent is struggling with substances.
Breakwater created the “be Courageous” campaign to reduce the fear of asking the tough questions and stepping into a courageous conversation. So, if you are a parent, guardian or other caring adult who has or is in contact with youth between the ages of 10 and 18 years old or you, yourself, are between the ages of 10 and 18 years old it’s time to capitalize on the little moments where you have opportunities to chat. If you’re driving home from practice, sitting at the dinner table, coaching, in a classroom, going to a youth group, getting ready for school or going to bed, these are all opportunities to talk about the experiences youth are going through.
Be Courageous will offer you ways to hear from local adults and students about their experiences as it relates to interactions with substances. The youth in your life want you to ask questions; they need you to help them make decisions. Youth, people in your life, (coach, teacher, youth leader, friend) can be there for you to talk about the things you have questions about. Be Courageous; start the conversation.
Cost of Underage Substance Use?
Underage drinking is a significant public health problem in the U.S.
Around age 9, children begin thinking alcohol may not be just for adults. By the time they are seniors, almost 70 percent of high school students will have tried alcohol, half will have taken an illegal drug, and more than 20 percent will have used a prescription drug for a nonmedical purpose.
Underage drinking cost the U.S. $24 billion in 2010.
- Alcohol-Related Disease Impact Application. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. Accessed September 16, 2020.
- Sacks JJ, Gonzales KR, Bouchery EE, Tomedi LE, Brewer RD. 2010 national and state costs of excessive alcohol consumption.external iconAm J Prev Med 2015; 49(5):e73–e79.
- Naeger, S. Emergency department visits involving underage alcohol use: 2010 to 2013external icon. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Rockville, MD; 2017.
