On October 27th and 28th, Partners Aligned Toward Health (PATH) and MY Prevention and Recovery Coalition celebrated Red Ribbon Week at local middle and high schools! They brought inspirational speaker, author, researcher, and vocalist Jessie Hansen to share her singing talent and life-changing message, “It’s All About Choices.”
As a speaker with over 20 years of experience, a performer with 5 solo albums and a national tour with the Broadway musical Footloose, she kept students engaged with her sharp wit and upbeat songs. She challenged them to pick a cause close to their heart and, in 30 minutes, come up with a nonprofit idea, name, mission statement, and plan for how their nonprofit would use a million dollars to make an impact. Several brave students stepped onstage to share their ideas with the school in a one-minute pitch.
Jessie encouraged students to remember that by starting small, they can make positive change on the important issues in their community right now. To inspire the students, she shared examples from students across the country who are already finding small but powerful ways to make their schools and communities better places to live.
Jessie blended evidence-based doctoral research into the psychology of kindness to share practical tips on how students can “be the boss” of their brains. She shared how students can use tools from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to look for the good and examine the stories they believe about themselves.
With a mix of songs, science, and personal stories, she illustrated how often bullying is the result of someone struggling with their own problems but choosing poor coping mechanisms. Jessie offered simple, evidence-based solutions to deal with difficult times and take their lives from average to extraordinary.
Her presentation is part of Red Ribbon Week celebrations, which aim to educate youth in drug prevention and promote youth mental health and resiliency. Founded in 1985, Red Ribbon Week is the largest and longest-running annual drug prevention awareness campaign in the United States.
