#IChampionHealth

#IChampionHealth is a youth-centered health and well-being initiative part of the PREVENT Community-Engaged Alliance. We develop, support, and evaluate programs, resources, and partnerships that promote mental health, prevent substance use, and strengthen health and hope across Kentucky.

Live Like a Champion Partner Portal

Through community-engaged partnerships with schools, community organizations, caregivers, and youth-serving professionals, we help young people build skills to care for themselves, support others, and share their unique voices and talents with their schools, communities, and future workplaces.

Our work focuses on:

• Youth mental health promotion
• Substance use prevention
• School health education and community-based health promotion
• Practical tools for caregivers and youth-serving adults
• Near-peer leadership and future health workforce development
• Community-engaged research, listening, and capacity-building

#IChampionHealth advances Kentucky by educating young people, empowering current and future prevention leaders, and engaging partners in community-driven health promotion. 

Through this work, we:

• Educate youth with evidence-informed lessons and activities that build practical mental health and decision-making skills.
• Empower youth, young adults, caregivers, educators, and community champions to support youth well-being and strengthen Kentucky’s prevention and health workforce.
• Engage schools, community organizations, and regional partners through listening, collaboration, and shared action.
• Evaluate and share what we learn to inform research, strengthen best practices, spread promising approaches, and spark health promotion innovation.

Live Like a Champion is the flagship evidence-informed youth prevention curriculum from #IChampionHealth. Designed for grades 4-8, this four-lesson series helps students build practical skills for healthy decision-making, coping, help-seeking, positive relationships, navigating influences, and goal-setting.

Lessons are guided by best practices, grounded in theory, and shaped by community needs and experiences. The series brings these skills to life through real-world scenarios, relevant examples, creative expression, and personalized tools. The curriculum is aligned with national and Kentucky health education standards and can be delivered in schools, after-school programs, community organizations, faith-based settings, and other youth-serving environments.

Live Like a Champion Partner Portal

• Melinda Ickes, PhD (Director and Primary Investigator)
• Meagan Scott, PhD, BCBA (Behavioral Health Advisor and Co-Investigator)
• Jakob W. Hester, MS (Program Coordinator)
• Brionna Conn (Community Health Educator)
• Shannon Meade (Graduate Student)

Email: ichampionhealth@uky.edu

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/ichampionhealth