Ketchikan, Alaska
“My name is Tara Taro. I work with the Ketchikan Wellness Coalition as their drug free community program director. And I’m also a youth advisor for the Ketchikan Youth for Change. I live in Ketchikan, Alaska, and I was born and raised on the island. I met Jake at a CADCA Forum Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. earlier this year. And we had been searching for a program curriculum to implement into our schools. And I mean, I approached the table and just the energy and then opening the book, I was like, this is it. Like it was one those instantaneous moments where I knew that we had found what we were looking for. And it really was an energetic exchange that was felt, not just content. was how we actually interacted with Jake and the way in which the content was being pushed through in the workbook like that. The way in which the content was being presented in the workbook was just so new and just different than what all the other ways in which we had seen it before. I think the reason why Vibe 18 is different than other drug prevention platforms that we have previously looked at is it is like so vibrant and colorful. like they say, like, you know, I think you guys Vibe says like Vibe is a vibe, like it is a vibe. And that’s what kids are looking for and that’s what adults are looking for for our kids is something that actually is a vibe. It is something that people want to engage in. It’s not some black and white boring just like here are the facts this is why marijuana is bad for you. It’s like it’s that but it’s like all the reasons in which you shouldn’t engage in it because of how you want to exist in the world, not just why you shouldn’t do it because it’s bad for your brain. Yes, we get that. We’re all aware that drugs are bad for your brain. That is a check mark. But it is the way in which it is really building up kids to look at their lives as a whole and the ways in which these drugs can impact their lives as a whole, not just their brains, but their entire life, their entire future, which is what they have, what they’re looking forward to right now currently is the next step. And so it really, even just between the colors, the way the content, all of it, it is an energy. It is a whole different vibe from just like the boring old, you know, old person, right? Like resources or old person workbooks. Like it’s just so different. You can tell that someone young who is into it, who lived it, and who wrote it for someone that they knew would be impacting themselves, right? Not just, you know, some fictitious kid, right? Like, it was obviously created by people who thought and put themselves in those shoes. We brought Jake and the Vive crew up, Tomas and Emily and Tomas’ son came as well, which was amazing. So it was an entire family affair and we had three days of kind of interactive. had a brunch with the youth, Ketchikan Youth for Change. We really wanted to ensure that we were bringing the crew in to really get to know our town so that they could really connect with our community once those presentations started on Monday. So on the first day of our presentation series, we had three different assemblies at the middle school. They broke up the school into three different segments so that the kids could really engage with the presenters, with Jake and Tomas. And then we had a leadership session with our leadership workshop with our catch can youth for change, which was so impactful for them. They are running into red ribbon week next week. And so it was really helpful for them to find ways to be leaders in the classroom full of elementary school kids, which, you know, is very different than talking amongst their peers, right? They have to be prepared for those like weird questions that kids are going to ask. And so it was really great for them to hear from. If you are on the fence about hiring Vive 18, about bringing them into your community, take the risk, right? If you feel like it’s a risk, take it because the energy that they bring is going to be matched every single time. They’re never going to just like drag their feet and bring it right? Like they will always come 100 % and they are so engaged. They want to do this work. They are excited. They feel good. They’re not in this burnt out stage. Like they are, their momentum is going and they are going somewhere and we could see easily. That this could become like the next standard in prevention, especially youth prevention. And so that is the goal. You know, it’s not just, maybe we help save a couple of kids lives. It’s really how do we find the precedent of pushing forward youth prevention? And that’s what they’re about. And so if you want to get involved in this, hop on board now, right? Because they’re going to be in high demand soon and you might not be able to get scheduled. So get on it because I can’t wait until the next time we bring them up.”
Ketchikan, Alaska
“My name is Debra Asper and I work for Residential Youth Care as the project developer for Sea-Level. We are in Ketchikan, Alaska, and this week the Vive 18 team came in and they did several presentations around the community at the middle school and at the high school. They also did a leadership development meeting with our Ketchikan Youth for Change kids and did a community presentation.
Vive 18 is different from other drug prevention platforms because it focuses more on skill development versus the idea that kids should just say no to drugs. Some of the things that I’ve heard kids say after their presentation was that they felt very connected to Jake and to Tomas. I know that one of the Ketchikan Youth for Change kids went up and introduced Jake because after the presentation that they did with with the smaller group with Catch Can Youth for Change, she felt very connected to him.
So I think also the parents were very, like the presentation was done in a way that they could understand it and it was relevant to what they’re experiencing with their kids at home. And currently there’s a bunch of people down the hall who are interacting and networking and talking, still talking and having conversations about it. Very high energy, very easy to talk to, very inclusive and collaborative. Sometimes when presenters come to Ketchikan, because we’re like this little isolated island and community, it can be difficult for them to kind of break the ice. And that was not an experience that the Vive 18 team had with us here. So my job is to develop this project that focuses around primary prevention. And one of the things that I hope that the community can take from this is the emphasis on like skill development and connection and not the previous idea of what prevention is, but like moving into that idea that like prevention doesn’t have to be clinical. It happens all over us. It happens with my kids, with me and my kids. It happens with my friends and her kids. It happens between us with each other’s kids and with teachers. It can happen anywhere with safe adults all over the community. And that’s something that I’m hoping people register, that it’s not difficult, but it’s very important.
I think that regardless of how much prevention work is already being done or is not already being done, Vive 18 will bring something new or they’ll introduce it in a way that’s fun and easy to understand. I I really enjoyed that presentation and the two different dynamics. I think that that’s important. It’s, I think that as somebody who’s in recovery, I think that typically people expect people who are in recovery to talk about prevention and be like towing the line. But it really also has to come from people who are not in recovery, who are like their lived experience is primary prevention, not that they wish they had, that there had been primary prevention efforts in their community that were stronger. So that there’s that well-rounded balance. So that’s really cool.”
Ketchikan, Alaska
I am Sherrilyn Cross-Cavage and we are here today in Ketchikan, Alaska. What happened this evening was phenomenal. I had no idea that what I was coming to, a friend had invited me and I really didn’t know what I was coming to or what it was really about. I just knew it was the Wellness Coalition.
From what I saw, they were very, very pumped about it. And it was just, it’s just a breath of fresh air to have that, the infusion of education for one, and that someone cares that these people, Jake, Crystal and Tomas came here. It didn’t have to. It didn’t have to do that. You have so many other things that you could be doing with your lives, but you’re taking time out to come here to share this message and to just bring hope and encouragement. I keep saying the word encouragement, but it was. It’s just like yeah, we don’t have to swim around in this muck and do nothing about it.
There’s something that we can do, should do, and will do. It gave us the tools, the equipment to start the progress of moving forward in the change that needs to happen. Communication and conversation. I remember the list of a caring adult, which I do feel like I’m a caring adult, and there a lot of caring adults here, but community, communication skills, the five C’s, which I counted six, but we won’t nitpick over that. Yeah, the communication and just conversation, having a lot more conversation and my boys and I do, but we also have a lot of their friends that come into the house and I feel like I can have the liberty to have conversations with them too and be bold in just talking about.
Two years and one mouth and asking questions and getting the ball rolling and listening and providing a safe space. And I counted four times that Tomas said, the space. You know, I was hearing him say, hold the space and yeah, I can do that. I can absolutely do that. That’s an easy and actually fun thing to do. Yeah. And also the sober parties. I mean, I always have sober parties anyway, but intentionally. providing that in the community. I can see, I feel energized about, hey, let’s start doing this intentionally and on a broader scale than just in our home. I can’t honestly answer that because I haven’t seen the others, but I can say what I saw tonight, it was very fresh and you are young people to be doing this and very, very relatable and you guys are just so open. to the community and to people. You’re truly, I don’t feel like that this is a job that you’re doing. I feel like your heart and soul is in what you’re doing and you’re investing so much of who you are and the gifts that you’ve been given and you’re taking those things and making a difference. were sharing with me about how you’ve traveled and done all these things that it’s so much deeper than just. It feels like it’s really so much that you’re giving of yourselves that is, yeah, that is immediately evident when I walk into the auditorium. I didn’t have to be in there not even a minute. It was like, this feels very alive. So you’re planting those seeds, and then the community will water them, and it’ll bring forth a good fruit, definitely.
I would say if I was asked if Vive 18 should come back to the community about coming back, would say absolutely get them back here again because it’s something that we need. mean there’s a tremendous need and a desire. You can see that desire by the people who showed up and are here to say we’re going to grab hold of that. being very, very enthused and I saw him interacting with you and Jake, with Emily and Jake. And just, they were just so lit up. They were just lit up from the inside and when Jake walked through the commons area, my son goes, Jake, my man, you know, and he was just, and someone else said like, they’re just trolling him. It’s like, no they’re not. They’re not trolling. This is genuine. This is sincere because I know my boys and I know how they behave. They were truly enthusiastic and wanting to get engaged and involved in what’s going on and wanting to be a part of it. that was… And they’re at an age. They’re vulnerable to what’s going on with their peers and they’re in that their frontal lobe is developing, you know, and to have that big, big nudge in the right direction to make making those good choices where they’re in situations where they have decisions to make. And it’s it’s certainly every week, but it’s kind of every day, too. And this was this was a huge like here, here’s a signpost. Go this way. And they responded to it beautifully. And I’m here to support those continued good decisions. I just want to say thank you so much for coming here and I do hope that you’ll return. I certainly do hope you’ll return, come back again. We’d love to come back. Good, good. Well thank you so much.
