Substance misuse programme to educate 250,000 schoolchildren
Derren Hayes
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Charities Addaction and The Amy Winehouse Foundation are to teach 250,000 English secondary school pupils about the dangers of substance misuse thanks to a £4.3m Big Lottery Fund grant.
The five-year resilience education programme will explain about the risks of drug and alcohol use, and also offer support to young people affected by parental substance misuse.
A team of 250 volunteers from the Amy Winehouse Foundation, the charity named after the singer-songwriter who died in 2011 as a result of alcohol toxicity, will deliver the project in 10 areas: Barnsley, Bournemouth, Brent, Derbyshire, Halton, Havering, Lincolnshire, Liverpool, Morecambe and Preston.
The volunteers, all of whom have experience of substance misuse and are in recovery themselves, will deliver "life story share" sessions and workshops on resilience, self esteem, peer pressure and risky behaviour. They wil be supported and supervised by co-ordinators from the Foundation.
The sessions will explore factors that can contribute towards a young person being susceptible to substance misuse, such as emotional issues, bullying and family problems.
Should any problems be identified in the sessions, Addaction will provide specialist clinical support.
Parents and teachers will also be offered training by Addaction staff to help them better understand drug and alcohol use, and how to stay abreast of latest developments such as the advent of so-called “legal highs”.
The programme brings together separate projects previously delivered by the two charities: between 2011-13 Addaction supported 1,626 children living with an adult misusing drugs and alcohol; while the Amy Winehouse Foundation developed its "life story share" model with schools in Hertfordshire and London in 2012.
Simon Antrobus, chief executive of Addaction, said: “The Foundation came to Addaction as they really wanted to get this right. They knew that if the resilience programme was to work, it needed to be built on the best experience and expertise available.
“Then, and now, we’ve been hugely impressed with their commitment to addressing the lack of decent drug education in our schools – and how they have campaigned for more and more pupils to benefit from this effective and brilliant programme.”
