I am the co-founder and Executive Director of Choice & Consequence (CC), a nonprofit organization educating youth in Washington State. Our mission is to educate youth about the consequences of their health behaviors. We show the benefits of choosing wisely, using real human organs, and empower audiences of all ages to make positive health choices. Our registered nurses use the organs, humor, storytelling, interactive activities, and an unforgettable hands-on component to get youth to contemplate the impact their choices have on the mind and body. "The Real Inside Story" is much more than a substance abuse prevention program. This innovative program has been experienced by over 325,000 youth since 1989 and the nurses have received over 10,000 letters from kids sharing the impact TRIS had on their lives.
I feel a strong connection with children and want to help them find their way to a healthy future. I worked for eight years with young people that had ended up in a locked psychiatric unit for many different reasons. The majority of the youth had begun using alcohol, tobacco or other drugs (ATOD) and made choices that brought them to my unit. I began to feel frustrated and wanted to find a way to get to them before they ended up there. I began uisng ATOD in my youth, grew up in an alcoholic home, and flunked out of Edmonds High School in 1971 because of my behavior.
I want parents and other adults to stop conveying the message that ATOD is a "rite of passage" for adolescents. I want adolescents to make informed decisions and have the truth about what really happens to their minds and bodies when they make poor health choices. We allow the students to put on gloves and feel the difference between healthy and damaged organs. Just because you can't see the damage happening when you use ATOD doesn't mean it isn't happening. I want to spread "organ ladies and guys", all registered nurses, across the United States and beyond.
I have been a psychiatric/mental health nurse since 1991. I have a Master of Science in Health Promotion and Community Health Administration and hold certification as a Health Promotion Director from the Cooper Institute in Dallas, TX. Since 2002, I have been the Executive Director and a TRIS presenter.
