A new educational message from the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust’s (TSET) Healthy Youth Initiative exposes the impact vaping can have on teens’ mental health.

The latest message package, “Choose Not Worse,” launches on social media today and demonstrates to teens that while daily stress can be normal, using nicotine to cope worsens stress over time.

“It’s essential for teens to understand vaping not only poses physical health risks but also impacts mental wellbeing,” said TSET Executive Director Julie Bisbee. “This message helps teens make more informed choices about their whole health.”

In “Choose Not Worse,” a young student, overwhelmed by stress while studying, reaches for her vape to alleviate the stress. However, the spot explains while nicotine in vapes may initially reduce stress, it ultimately makes it worse.

After viewing “Choose Not Worse” with a focus group of teenagers, some participants who had experimented with nicotine began to question whether their vaping habit was contributing to stress rather than reducing it.

“Choose Not Worse” is a part of the Behind the Haze campaign, which educates teens about the dangers of vaping. Behind the Haze is a part of the TSET Healthy Youth Initiative —a statewide public health education program focused on Oklahoma youth.

You can view “Choose Not Worse” and other youth tobacco prevention messages by visiting the TSET Healthy Youth Initiative website: TSETHealthyYouth. com. Additionally, TSET has free healthy youth resources for educators, health care providers and youth-serving organizations available for order at TSETHealthyYouth. com/order.

Oklahoma teens struggling with tobacco and vape use can connect to free quit services through My Life, My Quit™ at My-LifeMyQuit.com or by texting “Start My Quit” to 36072.