Jake White | Co-Founder of Vive18
Jake White is a national speaker and sought-after expert in the field of youth drug prevention. As the co-founder of Vive18, an author and podcast host, he helps students overcome peer pressure with confidence so they can become resilient, passionate leaders for their schools and communities.
With over a decade of experience, Jake has contributed significantly to the substance use prevention field with works like “The Vive18 Playbook” for student leaders, “Beyond Alcohol Drug & Vaping” curriculum and toolkit, and “The Opposite Direction: How My Parents Kept Me Off Drugs and Alcohol.”
His insights and life changing message have not only been featured in prestigious news outlets like USA Today and ABC, but also showcased on the stages of the DEA’s Youth Summit and various universities across the country.
Jake is the founder of Vive18 – a Youth Drug Prevention Initiative, and Party.0, a movement dedicated to sober events, demonstrating his innovative approach to drug prevention. His initiatives have led to the launch of 50 new student clubs, furthering his impact into new communities and schools.
Jake White’s journey is more than just a career; it’s a mission to ignite leadership and purpose into young lives for a substance-free future.
Vive18 Prevention: Skillsets Over Shortcuts
K-12 Keynote or Assembly
Vive18 is a national movement of young people showing their friends how to have fun, make friends, and feel good without substances like alcohol, nicotine, cannabis, and other drugs. This highly engaging keynote presentation will have students learning the facts about today’s substances and how they influence the brain and body. Most importantly, they’ll learn strategies to stay drug free and live the best life possible!
After this session, participants should be able to…
Explain why students staying substance-free is important to brain development.
Apply refusal skills if offered an unhealthy substance.
List at least 3 healthy ways to cope with stress and challenges.
Identify at least 3 reasons to avoid underage substance use.
Launching Your Youth-Led Initiative
Student Leader Workshop
What if the message of substance use prevention and mental health promotion could live on your campus long after your speaker left the stage? This workshop takes students through Vive18’s Planning Playbook so they can continue the life-saving impact we started. Not only will they learn tips on project management, teamwork, marketing, and sustainability — they’ll choose an idea and create a plan to implement it within 60 days.
Students will…
Identify challenges and needs of their community.
Brainstorm potential solutions together.
Develop a thorough plan for implementing one idea.
Find Your Aces: Recruitment for Student-Led Clubs
Student Leader Workshop
Recruiting doesn’t have to be scary. Growing a peer-led club is fun and easy with Vive18’s ACE framework. In this training students will find step-by-step instructions on how to build confidence in your club, easy-to-follow scripts to invite new members, and the tools to keep new members engaged. Not only will you recruit more people into your life-saving group, you’ll retain them too!
After this session, participants should be able to…
Invite potential new members to join their club
List the 3 steps to recruit peers into their club
Identify at least 2 parts of highly engaging meetings
Explain what elements cause students to stay in clubs
The 5 C’s of Everyday Prevention
Staff PD Session
How can we ask teachers, counselors and school staff to help us with drug prevention… the key to making sure it doesn’t add more work, but recognize opportunities that occur every day. Come learn a few easy ways to influence students towards healthy decisions. You’ll identify the most common pitfalls we make as adults, the science behind adolescent substance use, and key strategies in guiding young people to put their future first.
After this session, participants should be able to…
Explain why students staying substance-free is important to brain development.
Analyze interactions to gauge effectiveness in promoting healthy behaviors.
List at least 3 protective factors that influence students towards healthy choices.
Initiate discussions with youth about substance use.
Promote positive social norms to students showing that most of their peers are not using.
Making Prevention Pop: A Holistic (and FUN) Approach to Substance Use Prevention
Prevention Professionals or School Staff Training
Are you seeking fresh, impactful ways to teach youth about substance use prevention? What if you could also match SEL Competencies and School Counselor standards too, so school partners were excited about you partnering with them?
Come experience the “Beyond Drugs Alcohol & Vaping” toolkit, a promising practice rooted in evidence-based research that makes prevention fun to learn for pre-teens and teenagers. Prevention professionals, school staff, and youth workers will explore interactive activities that boost protective factors (resilience, healthy coping strategies, refusal skills, etc) and address the challenges of traditional messaging. Participants will gain valuable insights into the toolkit’s methodology and learn effective facilitation techniques to energize their own prevention efforts. Discover how to transform prevention education into an engaging experience that empowers youth and builds resilience.
Workshop Objectives:
After this session, participants should be able to…
Explain the core methodology (e.g., PROVES method) and foundational principles of prevention to potential stakeholders in your community.
Demonstrate effective facilitation techniques to engage youth participants.
Analyze how specific activities directly contribute to enhancing protective factors against youth substance use.
Lead interactive activities to suit diverse youth audiences and educational settings, fostering increased engagement.
The Youth Launch Framework: How to Create Sustainable, Substance-Free Youth Clubs
Prevention Professionals Training
Youth-led programming is one of the top strategies in substance use prevention, but how can we get students excited about the topic and empower them to lead? Vive18 has helped start more than 50 student-led clubs across the U.S. to prevent youth substance use like vaping, nicotine, THC, alcohol and other drugs. Come learn how to gather a group of passionate, hard working students to use their voice in leading their peers to healthier choices. Imagine the joy of involving youth in your education, advocacy and events… now let’s make it happen!
After this session, participants should be able to…
Identify resources and relationships needed to start a student-led club
Understand student motivations for involvement and action within prevention
Coordinate a strategic invitation that attracts the right students to the group
List steps to the Youth Launch Framework to start and grow a youth substance use prevention club in your community
Contact partners to support and sustain youth-led activities
Our team of nationally recognized speakers delivers engaging, age-appropriate presentations grounded in evidence-based prevention strategies — with the energy students love.
