NEWS & PRESS RELEASES
PLANS UNVEILED TO TARGET EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL AND DRUGS IN LANARKSHIRE
New plans have been unveiled to tackle alcohol and drug problems in Lanarkshire including initiatives aimed at supporting young people.
They have been developed by the Lanarkshire Alcohol and Drug Action Team (ADAT) which is a strategic partnership between NHS Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire Council, Scottish Prison Service, South Lanarkshire Council, Strathclyde Police, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, Strathclyde Fire and Rescue and the voluntary sector.
The plans are part of the Lanarkshire ADAT Strategy for 2008-11, which is based on an analysis of local needs.
A three-year delivery plan has also been developed to support the objectives and targets set out in the strategy. The delivery plan includes details of additional funding from the Scottish Government for alcohol services over the next three years.
The additional funding for 2008/09 is more than £1.62 million marking a record level of alcohol misuse funding for Lanarkshire. This money will be targeted at alcohol screening, prevention and treatment services including training to GPs, practice nurses and other community health staff so they can provide brief interventions on alcohol to patients they see.
This will help staff offer treatment at an earlier stage and therefore reduce the number of people who go on to develop more severe, chronic, alcohol problems.
One of the key areas focused on in the strategy and delivery plan which will benefit from additional investment is the national priority of safe guarding and promoting the interests of children, young people and families affected by substance misuse.
Chair of Lanarkshire ADAT Colin Sloey, who is NHS Lanarkshire's Director of North Lanarkshire Community Health Partnership, said: "Problematic alcohol and drug use among young people has a detrimental effect on the young people themselves, their families and the communities they live in.
“The additional funding will give us an opportunity to not only enhance, but to speed up the programme of service improvements.”
The most recent Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS) in 2006 showed a drop in the percentage of 13 and 15 year olds surveyed in Lanarkshire who had consumed alcohol in the last week although the figures were still slightly higher than for Scotland overall. The survey also found that the percentage of young people being offered or taking drugs had decreased.
Colin added: "We are aiming to further reduce the impact and level of drug and alcohol use among young people in Lanarkshire through education, prevention and diversion. We have already introduced a number of innovative and effective approaches through the Lanarkshire ADAT. Our new strategy is about developing more of these approaches and making them available to a wider number of young people."
The wide range of approaches already being taken across Lanarkshire include Choices and LANDED (education), test purchasing (prevention) and Streetbase (diversion).
The delivery plan includes investment in prevention, early intervention and treatment programmes for children and families affected by parental substance misuse. It is estimated that there are nearly 60,000 children in Scotland affected by parental drug use and more than 100,000 affected by parental alcohol use.
Approaches to tackling this will include investment in Circle Lanarkshire to extend it into every locality in Lanarkshire. Circle is a charity working with children and families affected by parental drug and alcohol use to provide holistic, community-based support.
There will also be investment in Health Promoting Schools and Nurseries to build resilience and improving mental health and well-being.
A Lanarkshire wide youth counselling services will be developed in 2009/11 along with additional nursing and psychologists posts.
Other approaches include increased training for staff in how to identify and respond to substance misuse concerns and the routine recording of problem drug and alcohol use in pregnancy.
For young people with problematic substance the misuse, the strategy targets the development of services appropriate to the needs of young people especially those who are at risk, vulnerable and hard to reach.
Dr Gary Tanner, Lead Clinician for Alcohol and Drug Services, NHS Lanarkshire, said: "There is growing evidence that younger people, particularly females, are drinking at an earlier age than ever before. They are also more likely to be drinking in potentially risky situations, mixing drinks, and drinking large amounts of alcohol in a short period of time.
"Young people are particularly at risk from the effects of alcohol, and it doesn't take much alcohol for youngsters to get drunk. There are three main reasons for this. Firstly, their bodies are usually smaller than an adult’s, and as a result are more likely to be affected by alcohol. Secondly, their bodies may not be used to alcohol, and so organs like the brain and the liver will find it harder to cope with alcohol than would a regular drinker. Thirdly, young people's bodies are still developing, and alcohol may affect the development process.
"Within the Addiction Services in Lanarkshire, we are developing services for younger people. This will include, for example, specialist psychologists and substance misuse nurses who will work with younger people who have drug and/or alcohol problems."
Some Good News has LANDED - June 2008
These days when young people get together and do something negative we hear all about it, but when a group of young people organise themselves to do something positive in their community it sometimes slips by without anyone noticing. The volunteers at LANDED Peer Education Service are just such a bunch of young people and this year they’re going to spread the word about the positive things they are doing in Lanarkshire.
Sara, a volunteer with LANDED, explained, “LANDED has about 20 volunteers all aged between 16 and 22 and we meet every week to get training about drugs, alcohol and sexual health. We then go out and work with other groups of young people in the community and give them information so that they can keep themselves safe”.
The volunteers deliver Peer Education workshops throughout Lanarkshire and say that the young people they come into contact with get a lot out of the workshops. Sara went on to tell us, “we learn something new every week in training and we like getting the chance to pass that information on to others. They always tell us that they’ve found out something that they didn’t know before and that makes it worthwhile”.
Shirell Johnson, Training Development Officer with Landed, explained. “The young people we work with are just like any other group of youths in Lanarkshire but they’re fed up hearing negative stories about their peers all the time. They’ve decided they want to respond in a positive way.” The young people from LANDED are determined that people should know about the work they do.
This year looks set to be a busy one for LANDED, Shirell gave us some details. “We have a load of big events we will be involved with starting with the ‘Young Scot M&D’s Hijack’ on 17th & 18th May. We’re then doing the Choices for Life event on 8th June and we’ll be helping the NHS celebrate their 60th birthday on 22nd (all at Strathclyde park), all of this and our regular workshops as well.”
As Shirell pointed out, with all this work LANDED needs as much support as they can get. “We’re always recruiting young people and are currently recruiting some adults for our management committee to support the work the volunteers.”
So if you’re interested in helping young people make more good news stories, in volunteering or getting involved with the Management Committee, please get in touch with LANDED on 01698 269872 or go to www.LanAdat.org.uk .
Scottish Charity No 036012
