12 Mar 2010
Developing Resilient Teenagers
Wellington College, who as readers may remember have been at the forefront of developing a well-being curriculum, is running some training that readers may find of interest. They say they will provide:
Six days of intensive training run by staff from the University of Pennsylvania
Introduction to the theoretical grounding behind the science of well-being
Practical skills for developing resilience and well-being in children aged 12+
Tutored by the team trained by Dr Karen Reivich, author of the Penn Resiliency Program and 'The Resilience Factor'
Residential option for delegates if required
Details of how to book and the costs are on their website.
12 Mar 2010
Watching movies aimed at adults increase likelihood of underage children trying alcohol
Eurekalert has a write up of some research into the impact of seeing films aimed at adults on young people's drinking:
R-rated movies portray violence and other behaviors deemed inappropriate for children under 17 year of age. A new study finds one more reason why parents should not let their kids watch those movies: adolescents who watch R-rated movies are more likely to try alcohol at a young age.
It seems that watching the films has an impact on young people's likelihood of taking part in sensation seeking activities. There's a short explanation of their methodology that's interesting. They conducted telephone survey's with 6,522 adolescents aged 10-14 years and say:
Sensation seeking was based on how individual subjects identified with statements like: "I like to do scary things, I like to do dangerous things,...
11 Mar 2010
Mentor International Prevention Awards 2010
Mentor International have announced they are seeking nominations for their awards for this year.
They say:
The Awards celebrate promise and achievement in drug abuse prevention globally. Awards are open to all non-government organizations working in the field of drug abuse prevention.
Cash prizes totaling €50,000 will be awarded in three categories: Achievement, Innovation and Youth ‘Big Idea’; recognizing evaluated, promising and youth-led drug prevention initiatives.
Closing date 31st May 2010.
11 Mar 2010
More help for professionals to spot children and young people at risk of gang involvement
The DCSF have announced new guidance to schools about gangs:
Teachers, youth workers, and children’s social workers will receive new guidance to help them spot the signs of gang activity, Schools Minister Vernon Coaker will announce at the Tackling Serious Youth Violence conference today.
The guidance ‘Safeguarding children and young people who may be affected by gang activity’ will help all professionals working with children and young people by highlighting signs to look out for such as anti-social and aggressive behaviour, permanent exclusions and substance misuse.
We'll have to wait until tomorrow before we can see the guidance, which will be published on the DCSF website.
Readers my remember that we took a look at this issue last year (download the paper here) and quoted from Home Office research which...
11 Mar 2010
Make a Difference: Talk to Your Child About Alcohol
Here is the action checklist at the end of a leaflet about talking about alcohol aimed at American parents, but which seems to be applicable here too:
Establish a loving, trusting relationship with your child.
Make it easy for your teen to talk honestly with you.
Talk with your child about alcohol facts, reasons not to drink, and ways to avoid drinking in difficult situations.
Keep tabs on your young teen’s activities, and join with other parents in making common policies about teen alcohol use.
Develop family rules about teen drinking and establish consequences.
Set a good example regarding your own alcohol use and your response to teen drinking.
Encourage your child to develop healthy friendships and fun alternatives to drinking.
Know whether your child is at high risk for a...
10 Mar 2010
Media Straight Up!
I recently came across Media Straight Up! which is a teaching curriculum developed by Drug Free Pennsylvania aimed at giving young people an understanding of and ability to critically engage with media images of drugs.
They say:
According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, a media literacy approach can support substance abuse prevention goals. Media literacy can empower youth to be positive forces of social change, which benefits drug prevention efforts by teaching youth:
To recognize how media messages influence them. Students can internalize the skills they need to protect themselves against messages about drugs or unhealthy lifestyle choices.
To develop critical thinking. When youth learn to analyze media, they can uncover the values messages about drugs embedded in media and decide whether to accept or reject...
10 Mar 2010
Street-wise? Substance use in town and country as reported by young people
David Regis of the SHEU has a paper in Health and Education looking at rural and urban young people and drug use.
This is a subject he talked about at a Mentor conference last year - see the slides here.
In his article he says:
We can say with some confidence there is little evidence that young people in rural areas face any less of a challenge from substance use or anti-social behaviour than those in rural areas. In fact, several lines of enquiry over 10 years have shown that there can be higher use of tobacco, alcohol or illegal drugs in rural communities.
Read the whole thing here.
10 Mar 2010
Lord Layard on PSHE
Richard Layard, the prominent economist and advocate for wellbeing, used the Second Reading debate of the Children, Schools and Families Bill, in the House of Lords, to set out his thoughts on PSHE becoming statutory.
I think it's worth reproducing in full:
My Lords, I strongly welcome the Bill, especially the clauses which make personal, social and health education compulsory subjects in the national curriculum. I should like to talk about that.
I had the good fortune to be a member of the Good Childhood Inquiry, and we were one of the many organisations that recommended what is now included in the Bill. In her opening remarks, the noble Baroness, Lady Verma, said nothing much about her party's attitude to this key issue. I will make clear why it is so important that this goes into law. Of course, it is not an original idea: the...
10 Mar 2010
RedNeT - an ICT prevention intiative
Below are links to the presentations made by Dr Ornella Corazza and Zoe Davey about the work they are doing on the RedNeT project and about how they are tracking the rise of novel compounds through the internet.
As you'll see one of the key points that both make is that there is very little medical evidence as yet as to what long term harms these drugs may do, nor does the buyer know whether they are getting what they paid for.
Dr Ornella Corazza from The Drug Education Forum on Vimeo.
Presentation on the RedNeT project, and internet based drug prevention project focusing on novel compounds.
Zoe Davey, presentation on RedNeT and Mephedrone from The Drug Education Forum on Vimeo.
Zoe Davey from the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London talks about the Recreational Drugs European Network: an ICT prevention...
09 Mar 2010
Most people don't think that kids hanging around is a problem
The Home Office have published a new paper about the perception of anti-social behaviour (ASB) that may be of interest to readers.
In talking about what can be done to ameliorate perceptions of ASB they say:
Public information strategies such as ensuring residents are fully informed about local patterns of crime and disorder in ways which may mitigate fear and promote individuals’ sense of control over risk in their neighbourhoods, and fostering positive media relations (e.g. between the local authority and local newspapers) to encourage the dissemination of ‘success stories’ in tackling ASB, and positive stories about young people, and to discourage ‘scare stories’ and the misrepresentation of isolated or unusual instances of ASB as commonplace.
But they also point out that while a lot of...
09 Mar 2010
RedNeT - an ICT prevention intiative
Last week the Drug Education Forum was pleased to hear from two of the researchers who will be working on the RedNeT project, an ICT prevention service addressing the use of novel compounds in vulnerable
individuals, including young people.
Given the story covered in the Mail and Telegraph today about a school in the Midlands where there has been apparently large numbers of pupils using Mephedrone this intervention could prove to be immensely helpful.
The link below is takes you to the presentation we received from Dr Ornella Corazza and Zoe Davey. I am currently editing video I took of the presentations and will look to post that on the blog when I can.
RedNeT Presentation
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About this blog
This blog tries to pick up relevant media and research stories about drug education. It mainly focuses on information in England as this is the geographical remit for the Drug Education Forum. We welcome comments that are on topic.Categories
Recent Posts
- Watching movies aimed at adults increase likelihood of underage children trying alcohol
- Developing Resilient Teenagers
- Make a Difference: Talk to Your Child About Alcohol
- More help for professionals to spot children and young people at risk of gang involvement
- Mentor International Prevention Awards 2010