Expected to reach more than 3000 schools nationwide, the program, co-designed by educators and students, is the first rigorously developed online vaping program and focuses on working with young people to empower them to protect their own health and wellbeing.

Vaping is endemic in Australian schools, and has become the number one behavioural issue for many students. Data shows 1 in 6 high school students have vaped recently.

Most concerningly, 12-year-olds who had vaped are 29 times more likely to go on to try smoking than 12-year-olds who had not vaped.

Health minister Mark Butler acknowledged that given vaping is a modern problem, modern and innovative solutions are required if another generation of people becoming addicted to nicotine is to be avoided.

“The experts at the Matilda Centre have worked closely with students and teachers to develop and deliver an evidence-based online program to highlight the risks of vaping,” he said in a statement.

“We’re standing with thousands of parents and educators who are rightfully concerned about the impact of vaping and cigarettes on the health and wellbeing of young Australians.”

The OurFutures program puts vaping education and intervention within reach of all students regardless of school resources.

The program, based on the effective OurFutures prevention model, cuts through misinformation, using a comprehensive harm-minimisation and social influence approach to empower young people to avoid vaping. 

A current trial of the OurFutures Vaping program is so far proving to be successful.

Led by Professor Nicola Newton, Dr Lauren Gardner and Associate Professor Emily Stockings, it is the first clinical trial of an online vaping prevention program in Australia.

“We are thrilled that the Government is investing in the roll out of an effective prevention model, based on decades of research led by Professor Maree Teesson, myself and our team,” Newton said in a statement.

“With this roll-out, Australia will be leading the world with vaping and e-cigarette harm reduction”.

Stockings, the program’s chief investigator, said the investment in the initiative will make significant strides towards preventing the uptake and use of e-cigarettes and combustible cigarettes.

“This unique, evidence-based program provides young people with a toolkit of skills that can be used in the real world to prevent vaping and smoking,” she said.

“We know these kind of coping skills can also have flow on effects on mental health and wellbeing.”

Initial results with more than 5000 students in NSW, Queensland, and WA have showed that immediately after receiving the program, students had significantly reduced intentions to vape, as well as improved knowledge about the harms and risks associated with vaping.

Approximately 8 in 10 students said the skills and information they learnt would help them deal more effectively with vaping situations in the future.

Data from the trial has also revealed a clear association between poor mental health and vaping among Australian students, with those experiencing severe depressive symptoms and/or high levels of stress being more than twice as likely to have vaped.

The OurFutures expansion comes on top of Government vaping reforms aimed at cutting off the pipeline of vapes being sold to young people.

Therapeutic vapes are now behind the pharmacy counter, rather than stocked at corner stores and vape shops with flavoured products designed to entice school students.

Schools can register their interest in the OurFutures vaping program here.

Young people can get further information about vaping and their mental health here.