| Did You Know? |
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Eating disorders have reached epidemic levels, affecting 7 million young American women.
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| Donor Thank You |
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notMYkid would like to thank our generous supporters. For a complete list of our donors, please click here. |
| Have You Heard About notMYkid's Lunchbox Series? |
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Our organization operates through many donations, funding programs and partnerships.
Support notMYkid today!
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notMYkid spreads the word about prescription drug abuse...
Everywhere you turned these past few weeks, you found a flood of media coverage about Michael Jackson's apparent prescription drug addiction and how it may have been the cause of his death. notMYkid encourages your family to use the media coverage as an opportunity to discuss the dangers of prescription drug abuse with your own teen.
The Office of National Drug Control Policy says that while overall teen drug use is down nationwide, more teens abuse prescription drugs than any other illicit drug except marijuana.1 It claims that every day, 2,500 kids age 12-17 abuse prescription painkillers for the first time, and more people are getting addicted to prescription drugs. The reason is partly due to the wide availability of these drugs and the myth that they must be safer than illicit drugs since they are given out by a doctor.2
Become part of the solution by monitoring the medications in your home, properly disposing of unused or expired drugs, and educating your teen about the risks of Rx abuse. To get help call 1-800-662-HELP or go online to http://findtreatment.samhsa.gov/.  Check it Out!
Click HERE to download notMYkid's "Rx Family Drug Prevention Plan."
Click HERE to take the " Anti-Drug Tour" to see how you can safeguard your teen and your prescription drugs. Rebbeca Lahann, MA
Senior Director Curriculum DevelopmentnotMYkid
5230E. Shea Blvd Suite 100
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
602-652-0163
www.notMYkid.org
1 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, SAMHSA, 2008.
2 PATS 2006, Partnership for a Drug-Free America, 2007. |
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Community Feedback |
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As the school year quickly draws to a close, I want to take a moment to thank you and your colleagues for another year of outstanding collaboration in support of our students.
The Upper School's counseling department and SADD chapter were fortunate to host three of your speakers this semester (I know my colleagues in the Middle School worked with you, as well). Justin spoke very effectively about teen drinking and children of alcoholics, and Melissa gave an equally powerful presentation about dating violence and sexual assault. Barry Adkins raised the entire student body's awareness about alcohol poisoning with his keynote address to the entire Upper School during our annual Safe Prom Week in April. All three speakers did an outstanding job, with persuasive examples that underscored age-appropriate and healthy messages. They engaged our students quite well and generated a lot of valuable follow-up discussion.
We are very grateful to all three of them, and to you, for the time and energy you have invested in the speakers' program and the ongoing concern you all have shown for our students. We are especially thankful for the speakers' courage and willingness to share very personal stories with amazing candor. I hope you will share this letter with them.
As a counselor and an educator, I am grateful for the valuable service you provide to our students with your unparalleled speaker resources. Please keep up the great work-we are counting on continued collaboration during the coming school year.
Best wishes to you and your colleagues for a relaxing and enjoyable summer!
Sincerely,
Dave Drummer, M.S., N.C.C.
Director of Counseling / SADD Advisor
Phoenix Country Day School |
notMYkid at Work in Your Community |
The Speaker's Summer...
 So what have our speakers been up to this summer? It's been a busy ride to say the least. Our three coordinators, Scott, Violetta, and Rachel, have maintained a corner full of activity as enthusiastic new speakers come in and out of the office for training. With five topics on demand (internet safety, depression, safe dating, chemical dependency, and eating disorders), the ClearChoices coordinators have been recruiting from local community colleges and job hunting sites to bring in young people who are passionate about helping students by sharing their experiences.
"At the beginning of the summer," Rachel says, "I was interviewing at least six people a week. That's a lot of people under thirty years old who meet our sobriety requirements. At first, it was difficult to figure out how to balance training, hiring, and speaking before the school year ended. But now that speaking has slowed a bit for the summer months, we can focus all our energy on training our prospective speakers." Scott mentioned teaming up with notMYkid's chemical dependency coordinator, Violetta, to catch the overflow of sober adults who are finishing up the training process. "We all interview, observe, and critique each other's speakers," Scott adds, "to be sure school's are getting the best we have to offer."
One of the most rewarding experiences is watching a new ClearChoices Speaker share his or her experience for the first time. As students approach them after their talk, they are glowing with compassion for hurting kids, enthusiasm for thriving kids, and a drive to continue helping. notMYkid has been able to send off a handful of new eating disorder, chemical dependency, and safe dating speakers already, and it reminds the whole department what we're here for as we prepare to give our best as the new school year approaches.
-Rachel Curry, Eating Disorder Coordinator
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notMYkid: Real Stories of Overcoming
Life-Controlling Addictions
by Catherine Lanigan
is expected in stores soon!
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Teen Advisory Board Now Accepting Applications |
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The Teen Advisory Board mission is to give teens a voice about the issues they face and to educate their peers on the power of making ClearChoices.
Who is on the board? 
The Board consists of 35 energetic, motivated, driven high school students from around the Valley. Each member possesses outstanding leadership, communication and organizational skills along with the passion to serve their community.
What does the board do?
The Board recruits, plans and implements youth leadership trainings for students all over Arizona.
- Monthly meetings
- Continual education on leadership skills
- Engages in powerful discusses about youth issues
- Communicates the needs of the youth to notMYkid staff and board members
- Host community events
Do you know of a teen who wants to help improve their community while learning valuable leadership skills? We would love for them to apply to be a member of notMYkid's 2009-2010 Teen Advisory Board |
notMYkid's ClearChoices.org Website Wins An Award |
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notMYkid is proud to announce our redesigned ClearChoices website has recently won a Silver 2009 15th Annual Communicator Award for Interactive Distinction!
 Presented to The Lavidge Company for the notMykid ClearChoices project, the Communicator Awards is the leading international creative awards program honoring creative excellence for communication professionals. Founded by communication professionals over a decade ago, The Communicator Awards is an annual competition honoring the best in advertising, corporate communications, public relations and identity work for print, video, interactive and audio. The award is a true honor, as it helps recognize notMYkid's efforts to proactively inspire positive life choices in young adults. 
Our ClearChoices speakers share real-life struggles, peer-to-peer, emphasizing how consequences and responsibility relate to individual choices. By sending young adults who have overcome life-controlling addictions and behaviors into our community to share their stories, we hope to inspire positive life choices and increase awareness of the challenges facing kids today. Also, our goal is to provide information and resources to support the success of students, families and educators.
Check out our website, ClearChoices.org, with your teen and talk about the speaker's stories together as a way to discuss issues your teen may be facing. 
Rebbeca Lahann, Senior Director with notMYkid
and Adrian Martinez, Interactive Project Manager
with The Lavidge Company | |
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