substance misuse and early intervention for schools
DESCRIPTION
Presentation to a seminar on school drug policy and early interventions.TRANSCRIPT
Strengthening Early
Intervention and Improving
Access to Lo
cal Services fo
r
Pupils
The Case for P
revention in School
What do we mean by Prevention and Early Intervention?
“The primary objective of drug prevention is to help people, particularly but not exclusively young people, to avoid or delay the initiation of the use of drugs, or, if they have started already, to avoid that they develop disorders (e.g. dependence).”
UNODC – International Standards on Drug Use Prevention (2013)
How are we doing?
Fuller, E. (2012) Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England
How are we doing?
Over a quarter of the 15 year olds in our classrooms took an illegal drug in the last year, 15% in the last month. 5% took a Class A drug.
About 55,000 15 years olds drank over 15 units in the last week.
One in ten (11%) of 15-16 year olds said they had had unprotected sex after drinking.
Fuller, E. (2012) Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England WHO (2012) Health behaviours in school-aged children
DfE (2012) Permanent and fixed-period exclusions from schools in England: academic year 2010 to 2011
How are we doing?
• Early drunkenness (38 countries):– Scotland 6th highest – Wales 8th and – England 9th
• Positive correlation between early drunkenness and 5 other risky behaviours – smoking, cannabis use, injuries, fights, and low academic performance.
WHO - Health Behaviour in School Aged Children (2012)
Single Spies or Battalions?
Fuller, E. (2012) Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England
What protects young people?
Environment
Parents
School Positive Activities
Peers
Media
What creates a protective environment in school?
School
Rules Development Ethos Specialist Support
Messages that focus on the worst outcomes
Harsh and inconsistent discipline
Knowledge on its own Didactic teaching
Don’t know Ex-users
Things that work, things that don’t
Work Clear (and well understood)
boundaries Some life skills curricula Positive ethos Parents that hold restrictive
views about early drinking Brief Interventions Treatment for those
needing it
Don’t work
Caution
Mentor’s toolkit for creating and reviewing a school’s drug policy
Introduction Consultation Working group activities Consulting teachers Consulting parents Consulting pupils
Consultation framework Checklist for reviewing
drug education Suggested survey
questions and activities Drug incident scenarios Further resources
online...
http://www.mentoruk.org.uk/resources/schools/toolkit
Other Resources EMCDDA - http://www.emcdda.europa.eu
European drug prevention quality standards Guidelines for the evaluation of drug prevention: a manual for programme planners and
evaluators (second edition)
EUDAP - http://www.eudap.net/ Unplugged – an evidence based life skills curriculum for secondary schools
Centre for Analysis on Youth Transitions - http://www.ifs.org.uk/centres/cayt Repository of evidence based programmes
Mentor - http://www.mentoruk.org.uk thinkingPrevention papers – how risky behaviours interlink, and how evidence based
prevention can reduce the risks to young people. School governors: Taking a lead on drug and alcohol prevention for safer schools and
confident pupils The Drug Education Forum set of six good practice briefing papers, including: principles
of good practice, legal highs, and engaging parents
Contact Details
Mentor1st Floor, 67-69 Cowcross StreetLondon EC1M 6PU
020 7553 9920 [email protected] @andrewbrown365; @MentorTweets;
@MentorADEPIS www.mentoruk.org.uk