Anti-vaping vids a turn-off for tweens

THE City of Greater Bendigo has teamed up with Bendigo Community Health Services (BCHS) to produce four short pieces to camera that aim to promote awareness of the harms of vaping among young people.

It is also hoped that the short films, which are part of a new initiative known as Escape the Vape, will help build young peoples’ capability to reject vaping, upskill local health professionals and provide educational support to parents, carers and educators.

A key part of Escape the Vape involves delivering a school-based education program to students aged between 10 and 12 that demystifies vaping and provides them with strategies to say no.

City community partnerships manager Amy Holmes said the new videos will sit alongside the program as a resource for parents and teachers.

“The videos feature parents with lived experience and local health professionals and provide information on the health effects and harms of vaping, how to talk to a young person about vaping and intervention and support strategies,” she said.

“It can be very hard for parents and carers of young people aged 10 to 18 to navigate the topic of vaping and the aim of the videos is to provide tools to help them do this.

“We also recognise that parents lead incredibly busy lives, so each video has been designed to be short, just a few minutes long and easy to watch.”

BCHS integrated health promotion senior leader Natalia Smith said awareness efforts were making a difference and a video series aimed at supporting parents, carers and educators was essential to reinforce declining youth vaping rates.

“We’re excited to support this video resource, especially given parents are at the forefront of efforts to encourage young people not just to quit but to not even pick up a vape in the first place,” she said.

“This video series is a real asset to parents and educators and will provide them with further support on how to encourage young people to make positive choices when it comes to their health.”

To watch the films and access further information, visit the CoGB website.