The Division of Public Health announces an anti-drug campaign asking young people to make short PSA videos.
The #MyReasonWhyDE campaign asks Delaware’s youth to make videos promoting what keeps them happy, healthy, and drug-free and upload them at myreasonwhyde.com.
The goal is to feature young people in the community as influencers giving diverse reasons not to use drugs.
DPH is using this campaign as a long-term strategy to work with community partners and schools to promote resilience and positive messaging.
Katie Capelli oversees the campaign for the Division of Public Health.
"This sprung out of a need to really educate our students on the drug crisis, but also to give them a voice and we know that the peer-to-peer model is a lot more effective with youth. And our social media model is a lot more effective with youth than hearing it from adults or hearing it from the state,” said Capelli. “So we really wanted to get the youth involved, get them excited around a positive resilient message."
There were four workshops during the summer to build the PSAs with community partners, and they featured t-shirt contests, art expressions with song and dance all using #MyReasonWhyDE.
Capelli, who oversees the campaign for DPH, says they are looking to branch out.
"Now we want to bring it to the next level. Now we want to engage our other partners whether it be our school systems or after school care. Whether it just be individuals, and we have many adults that are also participating in this campaign that want to get their children involved with it," said Capelli.
The campaign also seeks to educate teens on the drug crisis so they’re better informed.
Capelli notes this allows young people – mainly high school age – to be positive role models.
