One of the most difficult situations for any children's professional todeal with is when a child is suspected of being involved with drugs.
If it is not handled right the child can feel even more isolated so itis vital that the professional engages with them in a way they canunderstand and relate to.
I was working at a pupil referral unit as part of an outreach servicewhen one such case came up. The pupil was a 15-year-old who wasn'tcausing any trouble, he seemed well behaved and was easy going. Theproblem was that at lunchtimes he was coming back not as attentive asusual and with all the symptoms of having smoked cannabis.
This was picked up by the teacher who was faced with a decision: wasthis problematic abuse, in which there is a duty to report the matter tosocial services, or not problematic, which can be dealt with lessformally? While calling in extra support through social services can bebeneficial in some circumstances, it can make the situation worse inothers.
In this case the teacher didn't feel the abuse was problematic at thisstage and instead got me involved and we adopted a policy of engagingwith the boy. It was vital that the teacher was involved as that personhad built up a relationship with him and because I was assigned to theunit I was a familiar face there.
The way to deal with this was to talk to him and try and get him to openup. It is important not to judge, instead we asked him about his life,why he was taking drugs and offer some suggestions about stopping.
One day this boy asked to speak to me rather than the other wayround.
He told me how he thought his drug taking was getting out of hand and hewanted to cut down.
This was a really positive move and he opened up, telling me about thepeople he was hanging around with and why. I offered him some adviceabout getting off drugs.
I moved away from the unit into another role but bumped into him and afriend of his a while later. He seemed happy and told his friend allabout me and the work I did. I don't know whether he is off drugs, but Ihope so.
- Have you ever faced a tough professional choice? Call Stovin Hayter on020 8267 4767 or email stovin.hayter@haynet.com.
