LIBERTY, NY — Sullivan 180 will host two trainings for teachers, community volunteers, youth workers and community health advocates to become facilitators of the CATCH My Breath Youth Vaping Prevention Program. The trainings will take place on February 14 and March 14 from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the CVI Building. Participants need only choose one date to attend. Trained facilitators will be certified to lead this program with youth in school and afterschool settings or at youth-serving organizations.

According to the Truth Initiative, 48% of young people aged 18 to 24 made quitting vaping their 2025 New Year’s resolution. “Quitting nicotine is hard, but it doesn’t have to be a lonely or impossible journey,” said Kathy Crosby, CEO and president of Truth Initiative. Through programs like CATCH My Breath, students are given access to resources to help them stay or be vape-free. Sullivan 180 Prevention Coordinator Nicole Blais shared that “there are currently 436 students who have graduated from CATCH My Breath, but we need more facilitators to ensure that every student in Sullivan County is given the resources they need to make healthy decisions.”

According to Amanda Langseder, senior director of prevention programming at Sullivan 180, newly trained facilitators in Sullivan County have shared that they see themselves “bringing the resources to youth in [their] personal lives and also recommend CATCH My Breath as a preventative measure for other programs and planning in the community. They have shared that the facilitator training is engaging and easy to follow and really connects the inner workings of the vape to its harmful consequences.” 

Adults trained will gain free access to the complete curriculum to guide young people, grades five through 12, through this evidence-based program, which is proven to reduce the chances of youth starting a lifelong addiction to nicotine. Educators will receive CTLEs for completing this training thanks to an agreement with Sullivan BOCES. 

Partnering organizations including the Tobacco Free Action Communities Reality Check Program; Catholic Charities of Orange, Sullivan & Ulster; Restorative Management Corp.; and the American Lung Association will present resources available to schools and opportunities for students to get involved in a youth-led movement against big tobacco.

To register for this training or to learn more about upcoming facilitator trainings, email trainings@sullivan180.org.