09/02/2026
A long read from our To***co Control Practitioner....
For those of you who don't know, my role is working in prevention and early intervention with young people across D&G to try reduce the number of young people starting to use tobacco/ni****ne products. As well as sharing the most up to date information to help them make the right choice, the best part of my job is listening to the young people themselves about their views and feelings on the topic.
Sometimes the young people don't want to give me (the person they think will take away their v**e - a power I do NOT hold!)their honest views. So I've introduced an "Honesty Box" into my sessions with secondary pupils. The ask is that they tell me if they smoke/v**e/use pouches, and why/how it makes them feel. For those not using them, I ask them to tell me how they feel about others using them. They just have to give me an honest and anonymous message.
These are the slips from the first day introducing this idea. There was a lot of "I don't use them, and don't care if other people are".
But some others that stood out were:
"My mum v**es and I really worry about her damaging her lungs"
"I hate when I go to the toilet at break and it's full of v**ers"
"I did try it once because I was curious"
This one stood out, despite hearing it from young people all the time, seeing it written down was quite sad...
"I v**e because it helps me cope when things get hard".
These might look like little bits of paper to most, but to me, it's what will shape future sessions and focus in on what's actually relevant to our young people in the region.
We all have a responsibility to help these kids build resilience and coping mechanisms that don't involve ni****ne and toxic chemicals.
Rebecca ☺️
