What happens in the Circle?
Check out how the four people from "What young people say about their use" went through the Circle. Watch their stories and then judge for yourself if you're in the Circle now or ever have been.

Click below to see these teens' own Circles of Change:
Deka | Becky | Devin

What is the Circle of Change?
Well, it looks like this.



The Circle of Change is a process people go through when they’re trying to do something different. The drawing shows the steps that can be very helpful when you’re trying to change a habit like risky drinking, smoking or drug use.

Each step along the way is important. But maybe you’ve found you’ve changed, or tried to change, and haven’t followed these steps. Maybe you went from Uh problems to Action without the planning stage. Or maybe, looking back you see that you started, stopped, and went back to a different stage.

But young people have said that the end result is more effective if you go through all the steps – particularly planning time. They say that every action needs a Plan of Action or it may not be as solid or last as long.

Here’s what the steps along the way mean.

This could be the beginning or the ending of the circle. It could mean you’ve worked it all out and have taken action to reduce your problems or risks. But this stage is also typical of someone who has a problem but doesn’t see it or they are not interested in changing. People in this stage don’t want to hear about their problem from anyone, or to consider that the concerns of their friends and family are real. They see weed as just a part of life.

The next stage is becoming aware that there may be a problem. But, do you want to change or put in a lot of effort into changing. This is Big Decision time. Do you go on through the Circle, or do you think it isn’t serious enough, and you go back to No Problem.

This is the most important step in the Circle. If you decide to move ahead, you have to set a goal and make a plan. This gives you something else to do or think about when you want to smoke weed. Your goal can be to cut back, to avoid harm, even to stop altogether. But you need a plan to get there and to help you in case you slip. Check out Risks and How to Reduce Them for things you can put into your plan.

Taking action means that you are likely in the process of changing or holding your safe patterns. You may have been thinking about it in the past year or taken some action already. You have a plan now. You know what your goal is and how you’re going to succeed.