Half Moon Bay High School

Tobacco Use Prevention Education (TUPE)

no smoking Dear Cougar and Friends,

Here you will find some quick info about TUPE (Tobacco Use Prevention Education). Hope you find your visit productive with access to FAQs, Program Information, Links, & Events.

EVENTS

Local stop smoking classes - check this out or email Eva Forchini

For more about the upcoming events click here to Breathe CA website

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What does TUPE stand for?
TUPE is an acronym for Tobacco Use Prevention Education.

What is TUPE's purpose?
TUPE is designed to reduce the tobacco use of youth by helping them to make healthful tobacco-related decisions through tobacco-specific educational instruction and activities that build knowledge as well as social skill. There are several school wide events held for the general student population and specific group sessions held for intervention and cessation purposes.

Who provides the funding?
Major funding comes from the CA State Proposition 99 that increased the tax on tobacco sales. The Federal government also provides anti-tobacco education fund through the State Department of Health Services. Additional funding also comes from State and Local programs of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act - the Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Act (SDFSCA) State Grants Program.

Who is your TUPE Coordinator?
Eva Forchini coordinates the TUPE Program at HMBHS. She can be reached by phone at 712-7182, or via e-mail . The coordinator will provide FREE, INDIVIDUAL cessation consulting for students who want to quit using tobacco.

PROGRAM INFORMATION

We offer two anti-tobacco programs. These programs are FREE. Teachers, parents, staff and students can make referrals or self-referrals to these programs.

Tobacco Awareness Program (TAP)
Program Goals:

Increase participants' awareness of the short and long-term effects of continued tobacco use
Increase participants' awareness of their own level of risk for becoming victims of tobacco use.
Help participants identify their own best ways to quit using tobacco
Motivate participants to move forward in the action stage of quitting
Explain a range of cessation methods including cold turkey, tapering, and postponing
Provide specific techniques to help participants avoid the thoughts, feelings, and physical cravings that lead to tobacco use
Learn refusal skills
Help participants understand how to remain tobacco-free
Provide a supportive environment and social pressure to help participants quit and stay free of tobacco

Not every TAP participant quits using tobacco or even cuts back on their use. Even those participants that don't quit during the program have learned how to quit when they are ready. Similarly, not all TAP participants who quit as a result of the program will stay tobacco-free through-out their lives. On average, adults attempt to quit 11 times before they quit for good (Falkowski and Own 1999).

However, through TAP, participants receive a great deal of information and special techniques for quitting. When they make their second or third attempt, they will be much more likely to be successful than if they had not attended TAP. TAP participants are always welcomed back to the group if they wish to try again, and they all know where to go for additional help in the school and in the community.

Source: Helping Teens Stop Using Tobacco, a Research-Based Cessation Program for ages 12-18 Community Intervention, Inc. Tobacco Awareness Program (TAP)

Tobacco Education Group (TND-Project Towards No Drug Use)
(delivered in HMBHS Freshman Studies classes)

Project TND is a 12 session, interactive classroom-based substance abuse prevention program with specific lessons that focus on tobacco. Project TND focuses on three factors that predict tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use, violence-related behavior, and other problem behaviors among youth, including:

Motivation factors (students’ attitudes, beliefs, expectations, and desires regarding drug use); Skills (social, self-control, and coping skills); and Decision-making (how to make decision that lead to health-promoting behaviors).

This curriculum, besides providing basic tobacco information, reviews social and health consequences of drug use, examines attitudes and beliefs that lead to use, address coping and communication skills, and cessation strategies.
The format includes a mock talk show, games, a panel discussion, a video and various engaging discussion topics.