What is SMARTRISK No Regrets?
SMARTRISK No Regrets is a national program that you can run in your high school to help students learn to prevent injury and take smart risks. After participating in training, you can choose a variety of injury prevention activities, events and campaigns to host throughout the school year that will promote the SMARTRISK five key messages: Buckle Up, Look First, Wear the Gear, Get Trained and Drive Sober.
More than 700 youth die each year in Canada from injury. The good news is that you can do something about it. Brainstorm how youth are getting hurt in your community and then, with SMARTRISK’s help, organize some creative activities to address those risks. By making students more aware of the issue and the choices they have to manage risk, you will be able to help them learn to take smart risks.
Here are examples of past SMARTRISK No Regrets initiatives:
Two Feet, Two Seconds: Tape a line around school hallways two feet from the floor and add the caption, “Afraid of heights? A fall from two feet can cause brain damage. Take two seconds to Buckle Up your helmet!”
Chalk Murals: Create chalk murals outside the school (sidewalks, parking lots, driveway) using SMARTRISK’s five key messages. Find creative and informative ways to integrate the messaging into the environment.
Melon Splat: Provide classes with materials to design protective gear for melons. Representatives from classes drop the protected melons to demonstrate the fragility of the human head and to promote the Wear the Gear message.
Wear the Gear Dodgeball: Host a Wear the Gear Dodgeball Tournament for a week over lunch hour to encourage students to wear appropriate protective sporting equipment. Have the winning team compete against a staff team to determine the final winner.
How did SMARTRISK No Regrets start?
SMARTRISK No Regrets was built on the success of the traveling one-hour SMARTRISK Heroes show. Schools regularly told us that they wanted to continue to promote the SMARTRISK five key messages after the show had left. SMARTRISK No Regrets was created in 2003 to give schools that opportunity. By the end of 2009, over 100 schools in nine provinces and one territory will have been trained to run the program.
What is SMARTRISK No Regrets?
SMARTRISK youth staff train a group of five or six schools within a three-hour drive from one another at a location central to them. Two senior students (one male and one female) and a teacher participate in the two-day training session and return to their schools to recruit additional team members. Each school team meets once per week to choose and plan activities, events and campaigns throughout the school year. SMARTRISK communicates with schools regularly by phone, email and social networking platforms to support their efforts.
What is SMARTRISK No Regrets Online?
This new program was launched in 2009 to make the program more accessible to interested schools that might have difficulty attending centralized face-to-face training. Students and teachers train online in the form of videos and presentations. They then host three activities, two events and one campaign during each school year. The social networking platforms Facebook and Twitter are used to connect students and teachers involved in the program with each other and SMARTRISK.
How do I know SMARTRISK No Regrets works?
SMARTRISK has evaluated the program each year since the program was created. A recent study found students reported 17% fewer injuries requiring medical care following a single year of exposure to the SMARTRISK five key messages.
How can my school get involved in SMARTRISK No Regrets?
Contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and request inclusion on a recruitment list for your province/territory. Once SMARTRISK has secured funding to recruit schools in your area, a SMARTRISK staff member will contact you to start the registration process.
If you’re looking for more information or you’re not sure which program might be right for your school, contact us and we’ll help you decide.
