In week 9 as part of their Community and Connection Day, the Year 11 students participated in a seminar conducted by Drug Ed Australia. The program is aimed at students in Years 7 through 12. The objective is to teach young people about the harmful effects of alcohol and other drug use. These sessions are interactive and assist young people to develop skills and strategies to stay safe while socialising with friends.

We acknowledge that even though many of our audience will choose not to experiment with alcohol or other drugs, it is likely that they will at some stage be around others that do. A key component of our course is to develop strategies to avoid harm and to react when things go wrong. Often tragedies occur when young people do not know when to ask for help or what to do in an emergency. To combat this, we have developed “Six Obvious Signs to seek help”. Students learned about this during our session. Essentially Six Obvious Signs asks six questions that will help young people to identify an alcohol or drug emergency and guide them to act by calling a trusted adult or paramedic. We encourage you to discuss this with your child and other strategies, boundaries, and expectations you may have in regard to alcohol, vaping, and other drugs.

This session is aimed at opening the conversation between students, families, and schools, as we know teenagers who remain connected to their families and communities are less likely to experience problems with drugs. If you would like any further information about today’s session or other sessions, please feel free to contact us at info@drugedaustralia.com.au