Empowering youth through prevention and education Save the date: 21st June 2018 More details coming soon – watch this space About the conference Alcohol and drugs are taught at a basic level through the science curriculum in schools, but the life and resilience skills that young people need to prevent drug use and enable them to make healthy choices about drugs and alcohol as they get older can be better developed through Personal Social Health and Economic (PSHE) education or other teaching opportunities. Schools, local authorities and educators in non-formal education settings can benefit from guidance regarding effective, evidence-based alcohol and drugs prevention programmes, as well as support to improve training, content and delivery. The Alcohol Education Trust The Alcohol Education Trust (AET) is a national charity providing evidence-based resources on alcohol for 11-18 year olds across the UK, training for teachers and youth leaders and good parenting workshops. Visit www.alcoholeducationtrust.org and www.talkaboutalcohol.com to learn more. Mentor Mentor is a national charity working to prevent the misuse of alcohol and drugs among children and young people. Their work is rooted in building young people’s resilience, helping them develop the life skills they need in order to negotiate challenging situations. Mentor provides children and young people with the appropriate knowledge, skills and positive health values to help them develop the self-confidence to make their own decisions. Visit www.mentoruk.org.uk to learn... read more
Press release: Embargoed until 4 September Why do parents and teenagers consistently overestimate the percentage of young people who drink alcohol and the prevalence of drunkenness? Parents and carers think they are justified in supplying alcohol to teens because they perceive it’s the norm and assume that someone else will supply it if they don’t 78% of parents overestimated the number of teenagers who drink alcohol– just 38% of 11-15 year olds have tried alcohol and only 4% drink weekly Only 3% of parents correctly identified that 20% of 16-24 year olds get drunk regularly – most thought at least half did. 49% of parents and carers believed friends and peers were the prime suppliers of alcohol to their children and whereas it is actually themselves. The Alcohol Education Trust, which supports over 1,400 schools to prevent alcohol related harm has, in the past twelve months, interviewed parents and carers and secondary school children about their attitudes and behaviours around alcohol. At a series of events throughout England, 650 11-15 year olds took part in face-to-face interviews. In addition, more that 300 parents and carers were questioned before and after an information session delivered by AET specialist staff on how to keep children safe around alcohol. The results may surprise you – 49% of adults didn’t realise that parents are the prime supplier of alcohol, believing it to be friends and peers – and 65% of children believed this too. Commonly, parents and carers thought that giving their children alcohol would stop them getting it from somewhere else and at least that way they’d know what they were... read more
We are delighted to hear that the Alcohol Education Trust has recently been shortlisted for two awards for our work to minimise alcohol related harm among young people and delay the age of first consumption. Having been the Highly Commended finalist in the best secondary resource in the Education Resource Awards 2017, we’re thrilled to say we are now shortlisted in the Charity Times Award for best small charity of the Year 2017. We are also a finalist in the Children and Young People Now! Awards for the best early intervention. We will know the results in October and November so watch this... read more
We are very pleased to say that the commissioning of our full education pack with training in areas as diverse as Guernsey, Cheshire and Waltham Forest is proving very successful. In May, Public Health Guernsey supported the training of PSHE leads in Guernsey and Alderney, staff from Action 4 Children and The Youth Commission in two half-day training sessions. All attendees are now fully equipped to deliver the 6 evaluated lessons from our Talk About Alcohol programme from September. Cheshire training All PSHE leads across Cheshire are to receive Talk About Alcohol training thanks to the Cheshire Constabulary’s Safer Schools and Young People Partnership. The initiative is supported by Cheshire charity, Crimebeat, which recognises the importance of educating young people to raise awareness of the consequences of Alcohol misuse. Training will be available for two members of staff from every secondary school in Cheshire. The first training session took place at Halton on the 12th June and training will continue rolling out in July with Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Warrington. All schools will receive our brand new full education pack, which includes The ‘Talk about Alcohol’ 100 page teacher workbook, teacher guidance and lesson plans for children with SEN, a DVD of BAFTA award winning ‘Just a Few Drinks’ 4 short films, full access to the SEN area of our website with lesson plans, PowerPoints, 60 laminated discussion cards, pictures, scenarios and a quiz for use in class. The training showcases the 6 evaluated lessons followed by SEN specific activities. Cheshire Constabulary was founded in 1857 and is now responsible for policing nearly a million people. There are approximately 2,081... read more
Book your place for training in the SHAHRP and STAMPP alcohol harm reduction programme for schools Date: 27th April 2017 Location: St Saviour’s and St Olave’s School London SE1 4AN Time: 10.30 – 4.30 pm Cost: £190.00 30 places available on a first come first served basis DEADLINE: 10th April Who’s the training for? Those commissioning evidence based harm reduction and early intervention based programmes for young people, local authorities, public health, PSHE leads and Heads of pastoral care. Information The first training day for the highly evaluated programmes, SHAHRP and STAMPP is confirmed for the 27th April 2017 in central London. The UK trial of the highly regarded School Health and Alcohol Harm Reduction Project (SHAHRP) from Australia are now completed The research trial was called STEPS TOWARDS ALCOHOL MISUSE PREVENTION PROGRAMME (STAMPP) here in the UK. The 5 year trial of STAMPP led by Dr Michael Mckay and Professor Harry Sunmall from Liverpool John Moores University took place in 105 schools in Northern Ireland and Scotland and was funded by NIHR (The National Institute for Health Research). It was a cluster random control trial with schools comparing STAMPP vs alcohol education as normal. Over 12,000 pupils took part with information collected at 4 time points. The Children receiving STAMPP had reduced self-reported drinking compared with education as normal at +33 months (p < 0.001; OR = 0.596). The trial evaluation showed that the classroom component engaged, and was enjoyed by, pupils. It was also valued by teachers for its evidence based and structured content.Learn more about the trial here. The AET is pleased to be able to... read more
Our wonderful hard back resource complete with a DVD, 60 laminated discussion and activity cards, SEN lessons and the new 5th edition of our highly evaluated Talk About Alcohol workbook is now ready and available to order! As our resources are used in a variety of settings and with children of differing ages, abilities and experience, we have worked over the last year to put everything needed together in one set of resources that can be used on a one to one basis, in small groups or for a whole class. In the easy to use file, you will find: a DVD of the BAFTA best secondary school resource winning 4 true stories ‘just a few drinks’ the new fifth edition of our PSHE quality assured and Mentor Adepis CAYT top scoring ‘Talk About Alcohol’ workbook including new games activities, guidance and links to all the relevant sections of www.talkaboutalcohol.com. The 100 page Teacher Workbook of 30 different lesson plans is suitable for different ages 11+, abilities and experience. Using 6 lessons over 2 years is shown to effectively raise the age that young people choose to drink. for children with moderate learning difficulties, a set of 6 lessons and specific guidance with access to a password protected website area with powerpoints and additional picture and story led resources. Children with learning difficulties are three times more likely to be abused than the average child and alcohol is used for ‘grooming’. The resources explain and rehearse complex social situations that these young people will encounter as they grow up as well as exploring consent and recognising motivations. 60 laminates... read more
The published results of a UK adapted version of the highly regarded School Health and Alcohol Harm Reduction Project (SHAHRP) from Australia are expected this week. The research trial was called STEPS TOWARDS ALCOHOL MISUSE PREVENTION PROGRAMME (STAMPP). The 5 year trial of STAMPP led by Dr Michael Mckay and Professor Harry Sunmall from Liverpool John Moores University took place in 105 schools in Northern Ireland and Scotland and was funded by NIHR (The National Institute for Health Research). It was a cluster random control trial with schools comparing STAMPP vs alcohol education as normal. Over 12,000 pupils took part with information collected at 4 time points. The Children receiving STAMPP had reduced self-reported drinking compared with education as normal at +33 months (p < 0.001; OR = 0.596). There were no statistical differences in self-reported harms, however, but mainly because they were very low in both groups. The trial evaluation showed that the classroom component engaged, and was enjoyed by, pupils. It was also valued by teachers for its evidence based and structured content. Through its agreement with Curtin University, creators of SHAHRP, the AET is pleased to be able to offer a training day led by Dr Michael McKay on Thursday 27th April with a second date available during the week of the 25th September. Participants will be fully trained in how to deliver the programme, supplied with a teacher training manual and CD of interactive activities and taken through the methodology and practicalities of the programme. SHAHRP is an example of a harm reduction education intervention which combines a harm reduction philosophy with skills training, education,... read more
Curry on fundraising! We’re hoping that friends and supporters will consider hosting a low key supper, tea, book club, film night or lunch for their friends during alcohol awareness week in aid of the work we do at The Alcohol Education Trust across the County. It costs us £90 to support a school, youth or sports club with our award winning programme with specific resources for children with moderate learning difficulties and just a few pounds raised in donations, when added up really make a difference. We work out of a garage in Frampton to ensure our overheads are kept to a minimum – so your donations go directly to training teachers and community leaders, providing our programme for young people or providing outreaches to parents and carers – helping to change behaviours and outcomes across the UK . Would you host something on our behalf? I’ve enclosed a flyer to share with friends who may be interested in what we do and the extent of the problems across Dorset. Please take a look via www.alcoholeducationtrust.org and www.talkaboutalcohol.com . Please let us know how we can support you if you decide to take part. Thanks so much! Helena 01300 320665 or 07876 593... read more
As you may know, The CMO Dame Sally Davies released revised guidelines on alcohol consumption on Friday 8th January. Although some elements of the guidance are open for public consultation until April Ist, we are currently updating our websites and materials with the new guidance. The guidelines can be found online here. Sadly there hasn’t been a lead in period, so obviously our printed materials will contain the old guidance for the moment. We would therefore ask you to distribute the new guidance in the pdf and for you to add it to your unit and guidelines chapter of the teacher workbook. If you have any queries regarding the guidance, please email kate@alcoholeducationtrust.org or if you wish to read it in full, there is a link within the... read more
The Daily Mirror reports that shock new figures from the Department of Health have sparked concerns about a potential rise in binge drinking to potentially fatal levels: ‘Hundreds of children are being rushed to hospital every month with alcohol poisoning, shock new figures show. Nearly 4,000 children were taken to A&E last year – including 52 under the age of 11 – said the Department for Health. Sarah Wollaston, chair of the Commons health select committee, warned: “It is a grave risk to young people’s health.” In total, 3,748 under-18s were admitted to hospital with alcohol poisoning during 2012-13 – more than 300 a month. Dr Wollaston said: “We should be very concerned about who is supplying them.” The total number of booze-related admissions to hospital among young people is falling. But the number of cases of alcohol poisoning has sparked fears of a sharp rise in binge drinking. Dr Wollaston added: “It would be wrong to think this problem has gone away.” Among adults, there were almost 82,500 cases of alcohol poisoning in hospitals last year. And the total number of alcohol-related admissions to hospitals has soared by 12% since the Coalition came to power.... read more
