Getting Started in TAP/TEG?
Monroe County Facilitator Offers Practical Advice

For getting started with TAP/TEG, Shirley Lindsey-Sears, a respiratory therapist at Bloomington Hospital who has been offering TAP/TEG classes in Bloomington since 1998, offers some practical advice:

• Let teens know the rules and expectations for behavior in the first few sessions. After that, you can start to lighten up.

• Be willing to be very flexible and accommodating to the school schedules. “They have so much to do, so be willing to meet their requests for changing times,” she says. Lindsey-Sears keeps her TAP classes limited to 45 minutes in length and 10 students per class.

• Be willing to listen. “Most of these kids have lost hope. They don’t have a plan for the future,” Lindsey-Sears observes. “That’s why they experiment with using tobacco and other drugs.” She stresses the importance of listening to the teens and helping them to recognize that there are many people who do care about them and their futures.

• Train others in TAP/TEG to help. “You can’t do it alone,” Lindsey-Sears recommends. She has trained several other people who offer TAP classes at a few other Bloomington schools.

• Do an initial one hour presentation about TAP/TEG to generate interest among students to participate in the programs.

• Use a blanket permission letter to parents to indicate that their child is interested in attending a group. Do not name the class, as many teens don’t want their parents to know they use tobacco.

• Establish strong support and commitment for your efforts with your local hospital. Lindsey-Sears began her work with a $25,000 grant from the Bloomington Hospital Foundation, which continues to support her in her work. She currently is supported by a grant from Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation.

Questions to Lindsey-Sears about her work with TAP/TEG can be directed to her attention at: slindsey@bloomhealth.org.

Support for the development and distribution of this newsletter is made
possible by funding from Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation.