Thank you for the informative presentation. Please let me know if you need any other assistance.

2. What do we mean by Prevention and
Early Intervention?
“The primary objective of drug prevention is to
help people, particularly but not exclusively
young people, to avoid or delay the initiation of
the use of drugs, or, if they have started
already, to avoid that they develop disorders
(e.g. dependence).”
UNODC – International Standards on Drug Use Prevention
(2013)

3. How are we doing?
Fuller, E. (2012) Smoking, drinking and drug use among young
people in England

4. How are we doing?
 Over a quarter of the 15 year olds in our
classrooms took an illegal drug in the last
year, 15% in the last month. 5% took a Class A
drug.
 About 55,000 15 years olds drank over 15
units in the last week.
 One in ten (11%) of 15-16 year olds said they had
had unprotected sex after drinking.
Fuller, E. (2012) Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England
WHO (2012) Health behaviours in school-aged children
DfE (2012) Permanent and fixed-period exclusions from schools in England: academic year 2010 to 2011

5. How are we doing?
• Early drunkenness (38
countries):
– Scotland 6th highest
– Wales 8th and
– England 9th
• Positive correlation
between early
drunkenness and 5 other
risky behaviours –
smoking, cannabis
use, injuries, fights, and
low academic
performance.
WHO - Health Behaviour in School Aged Children (2012)

6. Single Spies or Battalions?
Fuller, E. (2012) Smoking, drinking and drug use among young
people in England

7. What protects young people?
Environment
Parents Peers
School Positive Activities Media

8. What creates a protective
environment in school?
School
Specialist
Rules Development Ethos
Support

9. Things that work, things that don’t
Work Don’t work
 Clear (and well understood)  Messages that focus on the
boundaries worst outcomes
 Some life skills curricula  Harsh and inconsistent
 Positive ethos discipline
 Parents that hold restrictive  Knowledge on its own
views about early drinking  Didactic teaching
 Brief Interventions
Caution
 Treatment for those Don’t know
needing it  Ex-users

10. Mentor’s toolkit for creating and
reviewing a school’s drug policy
 Introduction  Consultation framework
 Consultation  Checklist for reviewing
 Working group activities drug education
 Consulting teachers  Suggested survey
 Consulting parents questions and activities
 Consulting pupils  Drug incident scenarios
 Further resources
online...
http://www.mentoruk.org.uk/resources/schools/toolkit

11. Other Resources
 EMCDDA - http://www.emcdda.europa.eu
 European drug prevention quality standards
 Guidelines for the evaluation of drug prevention: a manual for programme planners and
evaluators (second edition)
 EUDAP - http://www.eudap.net/
 Unplugged – an evidence based life skills curriculum for secondary schools
 Centre for Analysis on Youth Transitions - http://www.ifs.org.uk/centres/cayt
 Repository of evidence based programmes
 Mentor - http://www.mentoruk.org.uk
 thinkingPrevention papers – how risky behaviours interlink, and how evidence based
prevention can reduce the risks to young people.
 School governors: Taking a lead on drug and alcohol prevention for safer schools and
confident pupils
 The Drug Education Forum set of six good practice briefing papers, including: principles
of good practice, legal highs, and engaging parents

12. Contact Details
 Mentor
1st Floor, 67-69 Cowcross Street
London EC1M 6PU
 020 7553 9920
 admin@mentoruk.org
 @andrewbrown365; @MentorTweets;
@MentorADEPIS
 www.mentoruk.org.uk