By Jubilee Adams

CSHA Youth Board Member and event emcee Christian Lizaso asks a student a question during the general session. Photo by Cecilia Cazares, San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools

In November 2024, the California School-Based Health Alliance (CSHA) brought together over 250 attendees – including 180 youth – from across the state of California to connect with one another at the annual Youth 2 Youth (Y2Y) conference.

This year’s conference took place in Ontario at the Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) headquarters, with the theme of Empowering Youth Driven Waves of Change.

Students led and participated in workshops and activities based around topics such as substance use prevention, peer mentoring, improving community health, and helping youth develop leadership skills.

There were 11 youth-led workshops targeting topics such as fostering healthy relationships, youth advocacy, and school wellness centers. Alongside the workshops were creative and fun youth-led activities such as “get to know each other Bingo” and group activities such as guessing objects depicted in close-up photos.

Students enjoyed a photobooth as well as numerous “brain breaks” that fostered a fun and creative outlet for youth to relax and bond. These youth-only rooms included bouquet-making, collaging, bracelet-making, and many more opportunities for the attendees to connect with one another and try new things.

Students present to other students about different substances and how they affect health and behavior during a workshop session. Photo by Cecilia Cazares, San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools

The conference cultivated a space where young people could come together to connect with one another in a youth-centered space.

CSHA’s Youth Board, which consists of 9 young adults from across California, worked together to envision a youth-centered safe space. Two youth board members , Rehma Shahid and Christian Lizaso, emceed the event.

Attendees learned about the experiences of other young people as their peers presented about challenges impacting their communities.

The environment at Y2Y helped to foster a feeling of hope and resilience as the attendees experienced the impact that youth-collective power can have in their school and their communities.

The Triangulum

Tobacco Use & Prevention

Cannabis Use & Prevention

Vaping & Mental Health

Opioid Use & Prevention

CSHA’s School-Based Health SBIRT Quick Guides

Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) is an evidence-based approach to the screening and identification of individuals engaged in substance use, the delivery of early brief interventions in order to reduce use, and the referral to treatment for high-risk use. These quick guides give a brief overview of each “step” and implementation considerations for SBIRT within school-based health centers (SBHCs).

• Screening Quick Guide
• Brief Intervention Quick Guide
• Referral to Treatment Quick Guide
• Opioid Use Disorder Quick Guide
• Substance Use Identification & Treatment Guide for Native Youth

Frequently Asked Questions about Minor Consent for Substance Use Disorder Services in California has information on Family Code 6929.

CSHA’s School Discipline & Student Substance Use: A Guide for School-Based Health Providers

Many schools’ “zero tolerance” policies conflict with a public health approach to youth substance use that recognizes and addresses the underlying factors that contribute to substance use. This report highlights how – and why – schools should replace punitive discipline practices with recovery-focused approaches to student substance use. It also provides an overview of what is in California state law regarding discipline approaches to student substance use.

Alternatives to Suspension: Student Tobacco & Substance Use

This resource synthesizes some of the main points in the above report, with a specific lens to student tobacco use. It provides some helpful guidance, informed by best practices in the field, on how to create non-punitive discipline policies and important aspects to consider when implementing.

(1) D’Amico, E.J., et al. (2016). Alcohol and Marijuana Use Trajectories in a Diverse Longitudinal Sample of Adolescents: Examining Use Patterns from Age 11 to 17. Addiction, 111(10), 1825–1835; Engberg J., Morral A.R. (2006). Reducing substance use improves adolescents’ school attendance. Addiction, 101(12), 1741-1751.
(2) The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University. (2011). Adolescent Substance Use: America’s #1 Public Health Problem. New York: CASA.
(3) Kann L., McManus T., Harris W. A., et al. (2018). Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance — United States, 2017. MMWR Surveill Summ 2018, 67(SS-8), 1–114. Retrieved from: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.ss6708a1.
(4) California Healthy Kids Survey. (2017). Alcohol/drug use in past month, by grade level [data file]. Retrieved from www.kidsdata.org.