The Mike and Vicki Project is an online experience where youth can safely find out the consequences of making bad decisions.
Image Credit: The Mike and Vicki Project
September 27, 2013 - 10:48 AM
PENTICTON - An online choose-your-own-adventure experience offers youth a safe way to find out the consequences of drinking and driving and other bad decisions.
The Mike and Vicki Project's motto is a safe place to make bad choices. The program follows two high school youths, Mike and Vicki, as they plan their weekend and attend a bush party. The user decides which choice Mike or Vicki will make and watches what happens. The two characters can drink, take ecstasy or just go home while the user watches the aftermath.
The project is the result of a partnership between the Penticton South Okanagan Similkameen Regional RCMP Detachment, Interior Health Mental Health and Substance Use and Mind Festival Learning. It provides an easy tool to elicit conversations between youth, educators, police and parents. The scenarios that Mike and Vicki experience are drawn directly from real life situations. The project allows youth to talk about the possible choices without making it personal. Funding was provided by the B.C. Civil Forfeiture Office.
"This resource is not about judging people’s choices, but about helping the participants gain insight into how decisions are made," Penticton RCMP Community Policing Coordinator Terri Kalaski says.
"Through conversation there is the opportunity for increased understanding and education," Interior Health youth counsellor Ginger Challenger says.
To contact a reporter for this story, to send photos or videos, email Shannon Quesnel at squesnel@infotelnews.ca, call 250-488-3065, tweet @shannonquesnel1 or @InfoNewsPentict
News from © iNFOnews, 2013