A couple of weeks ago we delivered in Highland a brand spanking new course in ‘Substance Misuse Prevention and Education’. The delegate group was a good mix of Secondary / Primary Teachers, Youth Workers, Health Promoting Schools Officers and Social Work Staff. All delegates will be involved in delivering substance misuse education to groups of young people in their areas which spans the whole of the Highland Council area.

I thought it might be helpful to post up on my little site some of the aspects of the course and the web resources we highighlighted. If you would like the full evaluation please contact me on http://scr.im/good Big thanks go to my co-pilot John Merralls from the Highland Youth Action Team. Above all else, we wanted folk to come away from this course feeling confident to deliver effective education to young people across all ages and stages, using key principles and Curriculum for Excellence experiences and outcomes as the stimulus for planning activities.

The whole day used active learning methods, heaps of discussion, case studies, handouts, web resources and brain friendly techniques. We planned each section on four main themes – knowledge, evidence for effective education, resources and support (local and national). We are very lucky in Highland to have the Health Information Resources Library and a great selection of materials, leaflets and posters were made available for all delegates, every NHS board in the UK should have one if you check with them.

Enjoy the following extracts from the evaluation, for me the most interesting bit is the evidence base provided through existing research for effective education and how our dynamic group added to this.

Aim of the course – To provide participants with the knowledge and increased awareness of substance misuse prevention and education to be able to confidently deliver to children and young people in school community settings

Learning Outcomes  – Participants will…..

•  be aware of the current evidence for effective approaches for substance misuse education.
• will be able to critically appraise educational resources
•  have considered current trends & issues regarding substance misuse and it’s impact on society
•  will have explored attitudes and values to substance misuse
•  be able to define a range of substances and know their legal classifications
•  have an increased knowledge of local support services for childen, young people and adults.

Content

Morning Session – Knowledge

• Cocktail Party walkabout discussing Professor Nutt, mingling & meeting
• Group Agreement, creating the right climates for effective delivery
• Brainstorming different drugs – Identification
• Drugs and the Legal classifications
• Activities that can be used with young people for identification

 Morning Session (After Break) – Evidence

• Just Say No (Grange Hill Song Video clip) (why this wasn’t an effective message)
• Dusenbury and Falco (1995) 11 points for effective SU education,
• Evaluation of drug education in Scotland (McNeil and Stradling  2005)
• Curriculum for Excellence, background and developments
• National and local data of usage amongst young people
• Substance Misuse trends
• Normative Education

 Afternoon Session – Resources

• Polarized debate about need for education in two groups (Attitudes and Values)
• Introduction to Highland Health Information Resources Service
• Web Resources for professionals for educational resources (live demo)
• Referring resources back to effective education principles.
• Active Learning methods for Health and Wellbeing education.
• National and local strategy

 Afternoon Sessions (After Break) – Support Services

• Impacts on society
• Examination of 2 case studies in groups (Attitudes and Values and examining local support services)
• Group activities using resources to plan sessions with young people based on CFE Experiences and Outcomes and effective education principles
• Q & A and closing
• Evaluation

  Website Resources Promoted

•    www.knowthescore.info    (Scottish site for professionals, young people and parents)
•    www.talktofrank.com  (All the Pablo adverts and interactive basement)
•    www.snapy.org.uk  (Scottish National Alcohol Practitioners for Young)
•    www.healthpromotingschools.co.uk  (resources and search on drugs)
•    www.sharedresponsibility.gov.co  Cocaine production in Colombia Educational Resource
•    www.re-solv.org  Volatile Substance Abuse Educational Resources                     
•    www.alcohol-focus-scotland.org.uk  Scottish Charity dedicated to raising awareness of alcohol issues)
•    www.alcoholdebate.com  Everything you need to know about drinking, Scottish Government)
•    www.nelsonthornes.com  (What’s the Score Resource) Education materials for purchase
•    www.sdf.org.uk  Scottish Drugs Forum, working to reduce drugs harm in Scotland.
•    www.hvlc.org.uk  Highland Virtual learning Community – copies of guidance for incidents
•    www.highland-adp.org.uk  Home of Highland Alcohol and Drug Partnership, links to local forums
•    www.urban75.com/drugs Online Resource of Drug Information.
•    www.scdea.police.uk Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency

 Educational Materials Highlighted

• Drug Box (available for loan via Youth Action Team, Northern Constabulary or HADP)
• Alcohol Dilemmas Game (given to delegates available from HADP)
• Unit Measure Guide Cup (given to delegates available via HADP)
• Drug Fact Game (available via HIRS)
• Drugwise (Fact Game available via HIRS)
• Gym bag provided by HDAP for all resources / handouts.

 Principles for Effective Education (re-created using mindmeister from flip chart notes)

 This was added to with the following points from discussion through examination of the key points from the 2005 McNeil & Stradling review.

• Must promote a sense of self-efficacy
• Learning must be recognised
• Delivered by trained and approved staff
• Considers background knowledge
• Uses current media (i.e Pablos Basement and Talk To Frank videos)
• Through School Development Plans, set out time for planning
• Young People involved in setting out program
• Must be unbiased
• Have the latest accurate information
• Time relevant
• Contextual to local areas and national picture
• Must be delivered in the context of curriculum for excellence
• Enhanced by expressive arts and wider Highland events such as Choices for Life
• Support from local authority for professionals
• Include a broad skill mix Includes social resistance skills / practical emergency skills

Finally! Here’s some evaluative comments from the delegates, I hope you found this post useful, if so please leave me a comment!

Evaluation (Flip Chart Post It’s)

 What shone?

• I really enjoyed linking the experiences and outcomes to ideas of good practice. It made it real all come together
• Fab and Fab
• Web address resources
• Good handouts and useful reading
• Liked the case studies.
• Real stories
• Stimulating to cover lots of topics and meet others with different background.
• Ability to network
• Case studies
• Interactive approach
• Awareness of local and national initiatives
• Great ethos
• Up to date information
• Websites appreciated
• Useful handouts and resources
• Super day
• Lots of sharing of knowledge
• Good activities to try
• Been given lots of information and resource source / ideas
• Examples of working with young people

 What could be changed?

• Would like more time to do games for pupils (last exercises)
• Would have liked more time for last exercise (design) my favourite
• More of the last session – FAB!
• Take out the session on the names of drugs
• Would have liked guidance on how to run a group
• Would like to see more activities like the last one, very useful for school
• I found one group exercise too different (cause = effect)
• More time on different drugs and how to discuss these with young people.

I was lucky to be invited to a meeting with LTS and the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, SCDEA last week to establish a new way forward in looking at substance misuse prevention and education work in schools.

An article in The Scotsman recently highlighted it and I’d be really keen to follow this up in Highland.

Did you know that..

• Colombia is the most biodiverse country per square kilometer in the world.
• In twenty years, 2.2 million hectares of tropical forest have been cut down to grow coca.
• Contamination of the fragile eco-system due to cocaine production pollutes rivers, forests and leads to the possible extinction of wildlife, including a rare Hummingbird, discovered only 3 years ago.

Cross-curricular approaches are something we have always hoped for as health education professionals, rather than having subjects such as this ’fly-in’ helicopter fashion. A fresh way of looking at things in a cross-curricular fashion has been made a little bit easier by the outstanding partnership work between SCDEA and the Colombian Government. Take a wee minute to look at their Shared Responsibility website to understand more of the affects on their environment and population of cocaine production.

I think it could tap in to a new approach to substance misuse prevention and education. One thing to think about is the way that as a nation we think more about buying organic food, impact to fair trade, exploitation of both men and women, recycling, air miles of the food and products we consume.

So why is it that an eco-conscious person (possibly celebrity) that dabbles in cocaine cannot give any consideration to the devastation of human life and to the planet in this aspect of their lives? Surely, if we are aiming to acheive a culture shift in the way drugs are viewed then this could be a way forward?

Check out the website and let me or my colleague Louise Anusas at LTS know if you would be interested in looking at cross-curricular approach in your authority or school. It could tie in brilliantly with Curriculum for Excellence Health and Wellbeing experiences and outcomes, just a few of mine and Louise’s thoughts..It could also help to deliver:

• Expressive arts – Use drama to promote learning. Art and imagery.
• Health and Wellbeing – All aspects
• Languages – Study of words for different substances and development of street words
• Literacy and English – Debate of legalisation issues.
• Mathematics – Analyse SALSUS data
• Science – Physical health issues, compounds.
• Social Studies – Climate change, Ecological Impact of drug production and trafficking, history of wars.
• Technologies – Internet research, Google Earth, gaming technology, social networking.
• RME – Examine values related to drugs

Let me know what you think…