The overall goal of CATCH My Breath is to prevent the initiation of e-cigarette use among preteen and teen adolescents. 

The program is designed to help students:

• Discover that non-use of e-cigarettes is the norm for adolescents
• Identify reasons why young people might start using e-cigarettes
• Recognize the subtle, and not so subtle, messages in e-cigarette advertising
• Practice skills for resisting peer pressure and advertising pressure to use e-cigarettes
• Decide on their personal reasons not to use e-cigarettes and set goals for future non-use

The intended outcomes are to ensure that students will:

• Resist their own curiosity, peer and advertising pressure to experiment with e-cigarettes
• Understand that e-cigarettes are addictive, unhealthy, and not as popular as they think
• Influence friends and peers not to use e-cigarettes

CATCH My Breath is taught by staff of the Craven County Opioid Task Force and Coastal Coalition for Substance Awareness & Prevention.

This target population for this program is youth ages 10-18 years. CATCH My Breath was taught at the YMCA summer program in 2022. In the Spring of 2023, the program will be introduced to area middle school students. 

Nationally CATCH My Breath has reached 1,800,000 students and counting. After completing the CATCH My Breath program, 7 out of 8 students say they are less likely to use e-cigarettes. 

Craven County Health Department staff were trained to teach Catch My Breath in late 2022. The first session was completed in the spring of 2023 within Craven County Schools and the local YMCA. During 2023, a total of 300 youth participated in the Catch My Breath program.