Introduction and Background

Welcome back to another episode of the Drug Prevention Power Hour. I’m your host Jake White and guess what? I’m hanging out with my bud Nathan Wray over in, we’re in Tennessee right now. 

We’re in Tennessee, yeah. Yeah. The great state of Tennessee. And the volunteers just won the College World Series last night. Ooh, they were hyped about it. Yeah, super hyped. Florida won against Edmonton for the Hockey Stanley Cup. I had no idea there was a Hockey Stanley Cup for college. I didn’t know are you talking NHL? I don’t follow NHL. Interesting. 

We just started last year because one of Emily’s student leaders at her college is from Seattle and Seattle just started out of nowhere. They’re like a new franchise. They started winning like crazy and went to the finals and then we got hooked. Like this sport is fun to watch. How cool is it to start something and then just start winning? Isn’t that the dream? Like I just start something and I just win. Yeah. Like that would be, that’d be great. It’s not the usual character development. No, no, it’s not. Yeah. I feel like this is a podcast right now. We’re just chatting. Yeah, I do too. It’s easier here than on Zoom. yeah. 

I love in -person. Yeah. It’s so much more, Intimate is that the right word? Yeah, you want to hold hands? I do. Okay This is weird if you’re watching on YouTube is like sorry where everyone’s cringing right now So when did our bromance begin? When did we meet each other? Is it two years ago? 

I think so about two years ago and I don’t even really remember how. I just remember, so we’re part of this speakers group called Youth Speaker University. how I think we came across each other. Yeah, that’s how it was. 

We both go to conferences and so I could not remember if it was at a conference or if it was through the group, but now I do remember it was through the group. Yeah. Yeah. And for everyone listening, Nathan is a prevention specialist. He works out of Tennessee mostly, but now is expanding. He’s traveling all over the country doing prevention messages, talking about adverse childhood experiences and doing a lot of cool trainings. So, yeah, we get to learn from each other and cheer lead for each other. Absolutely. To reach more people and help more people. Yeah. So you do your intro. I did yours, but fill in the blanks. What do you do? When people ask, what do you do? How do you say? Yeah. 

So I, I speak about preventing use, use. I am the drug endangered children coordinator for Rhone County, Tennessee. And so I spent a lot of time educating teachers about adverse childhood experiences about the vision of 100 % safe children in the United States. It’s a lofty goal, but there’s a lot of collaboration that goes into that. I’m also the dad of four amazing drug -free children. Yeah. And been married for 21 years to my wife, Kara, and she is the reason that I’m sober today. 

Cool. That’s awesome. does your passion for prevention stem because of your own personal story? 

Prevention as the Ultimate Treatment

Yeah, absolutely. I don’t ever want any kid to experience what I had to experience to, to learn from all of the mistakes that I made. so if I can prevent them from making those mistakes, then I feel like I’m like giving back and making up for all of that lost time and all of the hurt that I caused and all the pain that I caused. And so, I feel like I’m, doing that. yeah, that’s cool. 

I’m curious though, because that makes us, that makes sense. But also, you could have gone into treatment, you could have gone into long -term recovery and resources or a different health part. What is it about youth prevention? Why do you do that specifically? 

I think cutting it off at the pass and when we talk about prevention, there are so many resources for prevention that we really don’t talk enough about. prevention really is, the ultimate treatment. we, you know, it’s, it’s kind of like, and I say this all the time, but if your brakes start to make a noise on your car, you don’t wait six months to do something about it. You actually maintain your vehicle. 

The Power of Collaboration and Community Action

And you probably have a pretty good regiment of when you need to change your brake pads, right? So before they even start to make the noise, you know when brake pad change time is coming up. So you’re preventing any additional damage from happening. If we can take that same mindset to children, instead of them ever experiencing trauma, we provide interventions from those things ever happening, right? So if a mother is a single mother, right? And she loses her job, the community has resources, but a lot of times the mother won’t know about those resources. So the community together collaboratively comes in and gives the mom a hand up, right? And that prevents so many traumatic events for the child, right? Loss of job, maybe switching schools, maybe being bullied because now my clothes look different. And because now I got bullied, now I’m going to start vaping because my friends told me vaping makes me feel better. So though all those things right but if we can prevent. With community action yeah that’s that’s what and I think about when I was a kid all of the times that I moved right time and time and time again. If schools would have had a liaison. That I went to that said hey this is Nathan ray this is who he is this is what he’s about. These are the classes you’re gonna go to. These are the kids that you’re gonna hang out with. They’re gonna kind of integrate you into the school. If that one, if one school would have had that, I wonder what would have changed for me. 

But instead it felt like a threatening situation, a scary situation. And, you know, probably a big part of your past is hopping and being new all the time. That’s really cool. I love what you said is that like prevention is the best treatment. There’s one of the guys I worked with, if you listen to the Breakwater Coalition episode, it’s the one we started a youth coalition with them from scratch. And he’s learning everything because he’s a new prevention person. And so he’s like, Jake, someone asked me this question and I didn’t know how to answer it. And, you know, they were presenting to

the Rotary, the youth were there and they’re, you know, sharing all the great stuff they’re doing. And one of the questions was, Hey, this sounds awesome. Can you tell me who used to use drugs and now they don’t because of your program? And it’s a great question. Everyone wants this transformational movie story, but that’s recovery and treatment. That’s a different field. so, you know, since he was new, he didn’t know what to say. 

So I’m wondering if anybody’s listening to this, if you get that question. And I’m curious your answer. Mine was just explaining what is the difference between prevention and like primary prevention and secondary, which is the recovery and treatment part. hopefully you can catch them early. Sometimes you get to hear those stories. Most of the time you don’t because the best use of your dollar is taking drug -free kids and keeping it that way because it is so low cost and it’s more feasible. Yeah.

Impactful Prevention Programs

Yes, get that question sometimes we get to go to like our state capital and we’ll talk with legislatures and they’ll ask that question, right? They wanna know the numbers. They wanna know the details because they wanna see what kind of impact you’re making and then if they go to bat for something like that, will it make a difference in the state? And so we do get those questions. And I do get to answer kind of in the same way. There’s a difference, know, primary prevention. But I am really lucky in a way because we get to teach a program called the in -depth program in Rhone County and it’s basically for students who have been caught vaping in school and so they have come to this this in depth program and it’s supposed to be four weeks and what we’re own county had to do the school system had to do they had to break it down to four hours on a Saturday. They could not do they said if you’re going to do it, it has to be in one day four hours and so we ran with it and and it works but the cool thing that happens is students come back to us and say hey because of that class. 

I quit vaping. Yes, because I got that education in that class. I didn’t know about the chemicals. I didn’t know about the long term effects, but because I learned in that class, I quit vaping. The other part of that class is parents have to come for the first hour. So if your student gets caught or guardians, if your student gets caught, you come and sit with them in the first hour and you as the guardian gets that education as well. That’s perfect. It’s it’s amazing. And and we thought they’re going to hate it, right? They’re going to push back on it. And they didn’t. They were like, this is great because now I can talk to them about a subject I didn’t know how to talk to them about. it’s a really, we get to answer that question in two ways. And it’s really cool. So in depth is not treatment. 

It’s an educational program. It’s like a restorative justice. That’s it’s a diversion program. It is it does not force students to quit. It’s not a treatment program. It is simply just to educate them on the dangers of nicotine. OK, that’s that’s all that it is. And can anyone find it, by the way? Like you can go online and get it. American Lung Association. That’s who it’s through. You can just Google American Lung Association in -depth program. Okay. and you can find it and the training for it to be a facilitator. The training is free. 

That’s amazing. Okay. I bet you, if you’re listening, do that right now. Yeah. Right. That’s the big question is, I mean, a lot of the school counselors and school administrators, their problem is like, maybe they want to invest in prevention. If they’re very forward thinking, they’re like, yes, we want to invest in these kids, keep them healthy as long as possible. But they’re also dealing with a really immediate problem, which is I have all these students in my office because they were using a vaping product and I don’t know what to do with them. Right. So to be able to have a program like that and do they partner with like an organization so that y ‘all are doing the Saturday program so the school doesn’t have to spend their resources like you do it or who implements and facilitates it?

Yeah. So this was a huge partnership. We had to go back and asked the school to change their school tobacco policy first. It was a very simple policy before we had the new one. And it was basically just like, you got caught with tobacco or a vaping product is tobacco, but it was said if you’re caught with tobacco or a vaping product, you could receive alternative school for one to three days. Some principals would say one, some would say three, some would say two. There was no consistency in it. And then you do your one to three days and it’s no big deal. Right. Yeah. So we had to change that policy. And so we again, this was all collaboration. The Rome County Health Department, Rome County Hospital, our juvenile judge, our juvenile probation, our Rome County School Resource Officer the Rome County Anti -Drug Coalition. All of these organizations came and sat at the table. We had youth pastors at the table. Everyone came to the table and said, this has to change. We presented the new policy to the school and the school said, yep, we love it, run with it. And so they provided the location. So the alternative school is the location for the four hour class. 

Because unfortunately, most of the students that are getting caught are familiar with that location. They know where it’s at. And so they’ll go there on a Saturday and they spend four days on a Saturday there. And I will tell you that we just got our numbers back. So from 2022 to 2023, 

We saw a decrease from that school year to this school year. And so this school year, we had over 60 % less vaping citations in middle school. 20 % over 20 % less vaping citations in high school. 

That’s incredible. Dude. Yeah. Give me some. It’s awesome. Yeah. It’s awesome. That’s cool. And that’s so that’s the comprehensive approach, because you had so many partners involved, and now you’re not just doing primary prevention, but secondary where if students are, hey, you got caught, right? And hopefully you’re not addicted yet. Hopefully not. But either way, let’s take this first step, get you some education instead of just a punishment, and help build you back up again you know, hopefully go in a different direction. And it sounds like it’s working. That’s incredible. It’s working. Yeah. 

And it’s, but it’s a whole process. It’s not just in depth, right? Cause in depth is, is its own entity. It’s Stanford vape program all throughout the year, right? Elementary, middle school, high school. It’s all different ages that we’re doing vaping prevention with. It’s doing. Well, and you’re going in the schools to talk with them about it as well. 

Yes. We do assemblies like every month we’re trying to do an assembly. We have 17 schools in our community. So we’re doing a lot, elementary assemblies, middle school assemblies, high school assemblies. And so it’s those things, it’s classroom education, we have school clubs that we do. And then we started this thing two years ago and it’s called I hate to even give it out, but we have to share it, right? Because sharing is caring. Yeah. It’s called Take Your Shot at Being Nicotine Free. And we have a local business partner, and they give us a $100 gift card. We go to the local basketball games, and we have students sign up for a halftime challenge. And it’s a layup, a free throw, a three -pointer, and a half court shot. So if they hit all those in 45 seconds, they win $100. But during all of that, while everything’s being set up during the half court shot and directly after the message is, did you know that there’s this many chemicals in a vape? Did you know that vaping affects teen mental health? Did you know that if you don’t know how to talk to your kids about vaping, you should go see the Rowan County Anti -Drug Coalition table right after this. And when we’re wrapped up, we go over to the table and parents like just flock over to the table. What do we do? And we have little informational, like here’s the top three things on how you can talk to your kids 

Whoa, okay, so how can someone do that? That sounds incredible. They get in touch with their athletic department to do the halftime show. And they could copy that and do that? 

Yeah, like we just called our principal. We have really, here’s what we realized. We’re very lucky in Roan County because our relationship with our schools is so great. Okay. We talk to people when we go to Katka, we talk to people who are like, how do we get in the schools? How do we, you know, and we’re like, yeah, we realized that was a problem. We just. Right. 

We just go knock on and we’re like, Hey, we’re going to do this. And they’re like, yeah, go for it. Have fun. That’s a blessing. So yeah, yeah, it really is. And so for some, for some, may be talking to an athletic director. may be going to the school board, right? There may be some processes you have to go through. but if you have a good relationship with the schools, yeah, call your principal. know, it takes us three minutes at a halftime. That’s all that it is. 

That’s so good. And so while they’re, while someone’s facilitating the activity where they’re shooting baskets and taking their chances. You got the sponsor that gave you that gift card. Is it whoever’s announcing the game is going over a script of did you know, or maybe he hands the mic to someone else. No, it’s the announcer goes over the script and at the end of the script, he says, if you are a student or a parent that wants to quit vaping, you can text Ditch Vape to 887-09. Or if you smoke, can call 1-800-QUIT-NOW. 

Building Positive Childhood Experiences

That’s so then you’re done. Boom, there it is. You reached a couple hundred people in a really engaging way. They got the information. Students had some fun. Yep. And you create core memories when they sync that half -court shot. my goodness. That’s so cool. And you know, we talk a lot about average childhood experiences, right? What combats those? Positive. Yeah. 

You take a kid who’s had maybe a bad month, a bad year, a bad couple of years, and he sinks a half court shot at halftime and he wins 100 bucks, he’s got a positive childhood experience for the rest of his life. Yeah. And that’s what we’re doing. know, prevention is creating positive childhood experiences. 

Yeah. If I had to define it, that’s what we’re doing. Yeah. Everything we talk about is in that umbrella of like, we’re building, yeah, building positive childhood experiences through all the skills that you give them, all the opportunities, the alternatives, the education. That’s it. Yeah. That’s it. Yeah. That’s cool. Yeah. So tell me more about your adventures in speaking at different conferences and stuff like that. What are you doing now? 

Because it sounds like the coalition stuff is incredible. Yeah, it’s wonderful. So how are you taking that out into other communities and helping them with stuff? Yeah, so I’m just really thankful that the coalition allows me to break away whenever I need to. If I book a conference, they’re like, yeah, go, you know, do it. But I’m just looking for different conferences. I have really started with Tennessee, right? So every coalition in Tennessee is connected and that’s what makes Tennessee so different, I think, from other states is that it was never about which coalition was better. It was about coalitions working together. And we all know each other. And you’ve been here for a couple of days and you probably see the adults that don’t even live in the same counties goofing off with each other and laughing and saying, I know that kid that you brought and you know this kid that I brought because we all work together. Yeah. And so it really started with coalitions in Tennessee. And I would call them and say, hey, I feel like I have a pretty good message. Can I come in and speak to your students at your middle school? Because I wore my middle schools out like they’re like, yeah, haven’t you been to my school 700 times. you’re like, They’re to say the same stuff, but in different way. Yeah. a different, yeah. That’s cool. Right. So, so I started reaching out to other schools in Tennessee and coalition in Tennessee. And so just started kind of getting repetitions in and kind of learning the craft and learning how to really engage an audience and speak on that level. And then I started reaching out to conferences and saying, Hey, I think I have a message here that would would benefit, you know, coalitions from your state. yeah. And now I’ve, I’ve really kind of, you know, the message evolves over time. And, and with with your help, shout out to Jake White. 

It went from this really random title and I don’t, I don’t even remember the title. Do you remember the title? I don’t remember the title. Emotional regulation. It was emotional regulation. Something, something, something. And when I think about that, I’m like, I had that up in gymnasiums with students walking in, probably thinking like, what is this? He’s going to read from us. He’s going to write. Yeah. This is going to be the worst thing. I feel like my dad reading me to sleep at night. Right. So. You came to TTI mid -year in February and gave me some coaching, which I’m so thankful for, because I went home that very same weekend and like wiped everything off the table and started over. Most of the way. I still tell my story, but my new title is, is laugh your class off life’s greatest coping skill. and I use a lot of humor, in my story and then we talk about the laugh process. and so laugh is an acronym. it’s love yourself unconditionally aim for connection. understand your gifts and your talents, give unconditionally, and then hope for the future. 

That’s a good, yeah. Yeah Wow, I remember getting the text from you dude. You made my whole week. It was like Because yeah, we had that discussion and you were right on it You’re just like taking action right away, which I think number one. That’s huge anyone who gets information and lets it sit as information is gonna miss out on the transformation, right? You put it into action and you saw the results and so like your next text I think was like dude, I came out another conference students came right up to me tell me how amazing it was. And then maybe the planner was like, my gosh, I’m going to get you in touch with this person. You were getting referrals, which I think that’s the number one, like that’s how you know you’re doing a good job because everyone is polite. Everyone is nice. They’ll tell you, Hey, good job. Thank you. But it’s when they want you to go speak somewhere else or send you to another audience that you know, there’s something here that can help people. And I think that’s the clue. And you started getting that. To me, I was like, that’s great. That was worth the entire trip to come there and see you was the fact that you’re doing that now and like changing so many more lives. It’s pretty incredible. 

It was really cool because I had reached out to a conference that had already booked me off of the old title. And I said, hey, I just want to let you know, I changed the title. It’s much of the same content. It’s delivered in a little bit of a different way. But I’ve added this acronym that is very important that I think kids can learn from. And they came back and they were like, 

I, don’t know what you presented us was we really liked and we don’t now you’re changing it. we don’t know. And I said, I just delivered it. Let me send you a couple of testimonials from some students. so I sent those testimonials and it was like three minutes and they’re like, yep, come on, let’s go. Yeah. So that was, it was this absolutely, it was life changing, for me to, have that coaching and, but again, and it’s one thing to have coaching, but if you don’t take action on it, it’s not gonna do you any good. Well, and what’s interesting from that standpoint, and I think adults listening to this will get, is that what adults love, if you’re looking at your students’ reaction, it’s not really about the adults. If you’re going there to impact young people, you have to see, they connecting, are they getting it? 

And I think what was really cool is another part of your text is you said, I’ve never had more fun delivering my content. And I think that’s what the students pick up on. Because I got to know you. was like, you’re incredible. You’re fun. You’re goofy. You’re like sarcastic. But then when your presentation started, it was a little different. So now it seems like, no, this is Nathan. This is him. And we’re experiencing the way that he likes to do stuff. And that vulnerability and that level of confidence cuts through all the noise. 

And for anybody listening to this, you have that thing that you’re not showing students when you go and you present to them and you’re trying to be someone else and it’s not working. Right. It doesn’t work and students see right through it. But even if you’re goofy, if you’re weird, if you don’t like the way you look, if you’re insecure about something, I guarantee every student in there also has those insecurities. And if you bring it out, if you play with them, if you have fun, they’re going to have fun too. Is that what started to happen too? Is like your content became more fun and it was more you, not just the title, but the experience. 

Yeah. so one of the things I realized was, and thinking back when to when you came to mid year, when I started to deliver my presentation, I noticed that kids were kind of like, well, wait a second. Like what happened to the goofy guy? Like, where did he go? Ooh, when you started the slides. I started to think about, like when I sat down and kind of processed how everything went and you know, you just kind of do that. I don’t know if you do that. It’s a switch. Yeah. Yeah. But I like every time afterwards I’ll go home and I’m like, okay, what, were the reactions like? And I was like, I realized like I noticed some of the the faces were like, wait, this isn’t the same guy that was just like skibbity toilet riz with me just a minute ago. You know, like what happened to that guy? Yeah, I him to present. Yeah, I wanted him to present, not this guy. And so I realized that and you’re 100 % right. If you are uncomfortable with something, a lot of the students are too. But if you can find a way to make it funny, or if you can find a way to bring it out in a way that they can relate to it. The whole room is way more comfortable, way more comfortable for everybody. And it puts you in a spot where you’re having fun and it puts them in a spot where they’re having fun. The very next, not the very next. So in April, I went to a high school in Wisconsin and in the middle of nowhere, right? And so again, just goofy Nathan, having fun Nathan. I had never done this before, but I’m like I do this, I’m fist bumping the kids as they come in, high fiving them, nice hair, nice shoes, right? Just doing those things to have that interaction with them before I even speak to them. And I hear what they’re doing, right? I hear the viral thing that they’re talking about, the thing that they’re doing. And so, and I didn’t even know how this was gonna work, but I’m goofy and I don’t care. 

Right? If it flops, it flops. I’m just going to keep doing my thing. Yeah. And so I walk out and I’ve got the microphone on and I go, I just got one question for you. And everybody’s like, my God, what is it? Right? They’re like, this guy is serious. And I go, what’s up, brother? no. And the whole high school went, what’s up, brother? 

I mean, if you, like, in that moment, they knew, like, that’s the guy. You became one of them. Right. That’s the guy that’s gonna present to them. It’s not gonna be the guy that’s gonna come out and be like, hello, I’m here to talk to you about emotional regulation today. Right? It’s not that guy. Yeah. You know? And I never really was that guy. I just, I don’t know, I just start different now. And I have fun with it and I goof off and. 

Do you keep in touch with what the trends are? Because that was a trend. Like I’m, pretty late to trends. people probably feel this way. Like I don’t understand what they’re saying sometimes. how do you actually know what they’re saying? Are you on TikTok? Like do you, you know, like, you ask them stuff. 

Yeah. So, there’s a couple of middle school teachers on TikTok that will they talk about what the middle schoolers are talking about? Okay. And even, even the high school kids do they, they act like they don’t do it, but they do it. college too. Yeah. But the cool thing is being late to trends is cringe and cringe is cool, but it’s not cool. But for, for us to be cringy, it’s funny. Yeah. To them. Yeah. And they love it. Yeah. And so especially middle schoolers. Yes. And so being late to a trend isn’t a bad thing.

Right. I’ve been doing what’s up brother all week. Yeah, and they’re like, it’s funny. That’s hilarious You know and I’ve been like, I’ve got I would always say I’ve got Riz, you know, yeah I’m Sigma, bro. I’m straight Sigma and either way you’re entertaining. Yes. It’s like yeah I’ll admit it. I am entertaining Jake. I love it. 

Yeah Okay, that’s good. In my presentation, I rely because I don’t think of myself as funny. I’m very goofy. I’m that way. Thank you. You’re welcome. I try to put it in my slides though, because now that we have a program where I’m training other speakers to do our program is it can’t rely on one person having this gift of humor. Right. Then I’m trying to put most of it in the slides and take the guesswork out of it. And that’s been really cool. But that was one thing that I used to be insecure about. like, do I have to be on the trends? Can I not be late? But it’s like, no, as long as you just own who you are and you do that, even if you’re not funny, if you’re the feely person, be that feely person, because there’s people in the audience that are that way. For sure. Switch up your learning style for the people to relate to them, but you don’t have to change. Yeah. Nope. Nope. Not a bit. 

The humor stuff, it’s just a way to connect to the kids. If there’s another way, like if you have another way and they get it, do that. Like you don’t have to be funny. You have other talents and other gifts that kids connect with. There are some people that just, they’re great listeners and sometimes kids need that. I heard somebody say the other day, talking to a student, 

Do you need me to listen or do you want my advice? I’ll do either one. Ooh, that’s good. And that student was like, I mean, there’s like, just listen. Wow. That’s cool. And like in that moment, that person disconnected with them. Like, cause you just gave them the option. You didn’t just assume what they needed. Right. Going to lecture mode or. And I can’t tell you how many times as a dad.

That I’ve just been like, I’m going to give you one and a half hours of advice now, now that you’ve asked me a question. So buckle up and get ready. you know, I go into advice mode and then I get done and my kids will be like, it’s not even what I asked. know? And I’m well, we just, it’s dinner time. So yeah, let’s go eat. 

That’s, I, I’m definitely guilty of that. I think a lot of people are. Yeah. So I love that line. Do you need me to listen or do you need some advice? Yeah. That’s so good. Yeah. Remember that one, Emily. Yeah. That’s awesome. 

Course and Coaching Opportunities

Well, let’s wrap this up. I’m going to do a quick plug. I want you to tell us how to follow you and then stay in touch, hire if you want to bring you out to speak, all that good stuff. When I was working with you at Midyear and doing some coaching for your speaking, I said I wouldn’t be a coach. was like, I don’t want to be a speaking coach. What I have done because I found there’s a lot of people that need help with it is I’m putting together a course. I will have, yeah baby. I like it. Putting together a course and it’s coming with some group coaching. like it’s just a course on prevention foundations of building a youth prevention club, but also how to be a good influence with that group. So that’s step one. And then step two is we will have on top of the pre -recorded coaching material and the like handouts and stuff you use. I’m going to do a weekly or bi-weekly coaching call where people can jump on, ask any questions and it will be good because we’ll get to teach each other and they’ll get my advice if like, you know, there’s something that they want more information on. So you inspired me to do that because we had such a good experience together. So that was really good. So do want me to plug that? No, I just did. I can plug that. just did. But if you want to say nice things or whatever. Yeah, I’ll say nice things for free access to the.. I’m just kidding. 

That’s really awesome. But I will say this, that you should honestly take that course because in one hour… Well, it really two hours because you listened to my speech first and then you gave me you went and wrote the feedback and then you gave me the feedback. So in about two hours, Jake’s coaching completely changed the way that I did my prevention message. And it has impacted more students than it was outside of Rome County. In the past, February was what? 

I’m bad at math, the semi story too. I am too man. I failed it twice. It’s June. So four months, it’s been four months. In the past four months, I’ve spoken more out of state than I have in the past three years. So that’s how much that information has impacted my life. so that’s cool that course is gonna be worth it. yeah, would definitely you for saying that. Absolutely. You’re awesome. Absolutely. And I hope that can pay me later. We’ll discuss.

And I’m hoping that people who are involved, like they’re their own county’s prevention specialists where they’re going to schools, they can benefit from it. Absolutely. So that’s my hope. We’re gonna build capacity through this and help everyone be, you their own hometown hero, share their story. Avoid the pitfalls of what we do and we learned. You we learned the hard way. But now we can pass on that. So before we go, how can we follow you? How can people work with you? Like any of that stuff. 

Yeah, absolutely. So you can follow me on Instagram at thatnathanwray, TikTok at thatnathanwray. I’m on Facebook it’s Nathan Wray. W-R-A-Y is how you spell my last name. I don’t even know what my Facebook is. Nathan Wray something. So you can also find me at nathanwrayspeaks .com. Those are really the best ways. Instagram is probably the best way. I’m constantly on Instagram. My daughters hate it, but that’s probably the best way. but yeah, and even if you have questions, like, This whole thing, again, going back to collaboration, it’s collaboration. We never are like, hey, Jake, I don’t want to answer your question because I’m afraid that you might have a better deal from this. It’s always. I’m here to help you and you’re here to help me. Exactly. And that’s what I love about our field. Yes. Yeah, that’s it. And we have a mutual friend. Brittany Richmond is a mutual friend and same thing with her. I talk with her all the time and it’s the same thing. You know, how was that conference? And she asked me, how was your conference? And do you think, you know, you could hook me up and I can hook you up. And yeah, that’s the way that all of this works. And exactly. It’s just the collaboration. 

Well, and I’m going to encourage people to take you up on that, like to call Nathan because as you heard, he’s got so many tips from being a part of a coalition and a community group. He talked about building new school policies, about restorative programming. He’s becoming a master on stage to communicate well and to influence young people. So it’s one of those things. It’s like, we do this for a reason. We’re passionate about it. It’s always been about more than just us. So follow Nathan, right? You’ll see a lot of funny content too. He’s hilarious. As you can say, laugh your class off, Like it’s who he is. It’s really funny to follow him. So do that and then keep up the great work that you’re doing in your community. And we’ll see you next Monday for another episode of the Drug Prevention Power Hour.