Rosemount Young Person's Group

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Young Persons Drug & Alcohol Programme

REPORT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Index:

1. Introduction

2. Programme Overview – Aims, Objectives and Programme

3. Participants

4. Evaluation & Review

5. Recommendations

1. Introduction In February 2012, Rosemount and Glasgow Council on Alcohol met to discuss the possibility of developing a programme for young people who live with parental addiction issues. It was felt that due to the nature of the group approaches, content and resources for the programme had to be carefully considered to get the most of out of the programme. From March through to August various meetings took place to develop the programme, explore resources available that were appropriate for the target group, and to think of who would be best to attend the programme from the current group at Rosemount. It was decided that the programme would run for 6 weeks covering various topics (see below) that were not only targeted at raising awareness but exploring feelings, improving confidence and resilience, and raising awareness of support structures . As the programme could potentially open up feelings for participants, it was decided that keeping the numbers very low would be beneficial for the group to allow them the time and space to explore their feelings and have open discussions.

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2. Programme Overview

• Aim

To improve standard of living and life chances for young people who have parents

affected by drug and alcohol.

The aim of the course is to work with a small group of vulnerable children who live with parental substance misuse. The course will assess the information the children

have on drugs and alcohol, and provide correct information along with supporting the children with their thoughts and feelings regarding parental misuse.

• Objectives

Ø To increase the confidence and self esteem of young children in interacting

with others Ø Have fun while learning Ø Divert young children’s involvement in anti social behaviour Ø Improve mental health and resilience Ø Improve awareness on drug and alcohol Ø Support with feelings regards to parents misuse Ø Improve personal safety

• Participants

As Rosemount were already working with the young people on a one to one basis, they selected young people that they felt were ready to be part of a group programme and would benefit overall from participating. It was decided that each programme would work with a maximum of 4 young people in attendance.

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• Outline of Programme

Week 1 – Getting to know you

Topics: • Icebreaker activities • Programme Overview • Group agreement • Hopes, fears and expectation of the programme

Week 2 – Alcohol Topics:

• Alcohol Effects • Alcohol & the body

Week 3 – Drugs Topics

• Drugs Awareness • Illegal/legal Drugs • Drug Effects • Why do people use drugs • Ways people use drugs

Week 4 – Building Resilience Topics:

• Support systems • Support Services • Working with others • Diversionary Activities

Week 5 – Mind Matter Topics:

• Mental Health • Building Confidence • Self Esteem

Week 6 – What do I know? Topics:

• Decision Making • Evaluation

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3. Evaluation and Review In order to evaluate the programme, an evaluation exercise was facilitated on week 6 to gauge the learning process of each participant throughout each session of the programme. Also Rosemount and Glasgow Council on Alcohol met to discuss their experience of the programme and to evaluate it from their perspective.

• Outcomes Week 1 – Getting to know you During this session (to enable the participants to relax and get to know each other more), icebreakers were facilitated that were interactive and fun. A consultation exercise was facilitated to gauge the young peoples’ knowledge, gaps in knowledge and what activities they enjoyed. Thereafter the programme was presented and young people were given an opportunity to discuss this. Once the programme was agreed a group agreement of how they would work together was facilitated. This gave young people the opportunity to say how they felt they all should behave in the group setting and their expectations of other group members. This was made visible throughout the programme for all young people to see. At this stage diaries were introduced to participants that would be used to record thoughts and feelings of the session, information that they had learned and their experience of the session overall. This was then to be revisited each week at the end of the session to reflect. Young people decorated their diaries to make them individual. Workers comments of the session: Overall the session went really well. It was felt that the diaries worked well and the concept of these was beneficial, however in practice this was very time consuming at the end of each session. Diaries

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Young peoples comments on session:

Ø Didn’t get to do the diaries every week, which would have been good to do every week

Ø Liked decorating the diaries Ø Could have wrote everything down that we done each week and stick it in the

diary Week 2 – Alcohol This session included a quiz of general information relating to alcohol which challenged their knowledge. An art exercise was also used where the young people drew round a body and thought about what effects alcohol has inside the body but also in the wider context – socially, emotionally and mentally. Workers comments of the session: It was felt that the body exercise was very engaging and the young people interacted well with this activity. It gave them the opportunity to think about alcohol in a wider context which was useful. The use of art proved a success with the group as they seemed to really enjoy this. Additionally, using a body took the attention away from them and allowed them to express themselves onto the paper. This gave Rosemount and facilitators an insight into some of the issues they may have been dealing with. Young peoples comments:

Ø Liked drawing round the body Ø Learnt about alcohol & pregnancy Ø Learnt about how alcohol effects body parts Ø Know not to drink it because of the effects

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Week 3 – Drugs This session focused mainly on specific drugs which include: Cannabis, Ecstasy, Amphetamine, Cocaine and Heroin. Using a matching exercise, young people were asked to think about the name, what it looks like, effects and consequences of these drugs. The drugs case was also used as a visual aid for the group to look at a variety of drugs and what they look like. Workers comments of the session: It was felt that this session involved exploring lots of information in the 1 session and found that the young people seemed to disengage with the topic. There was a lot of reading involved which was difficult for some of the young people and also a general lack of knowledge about drugs which came through. It allowed workers to see where their knowledge was at with different drugs and also where they get information from about them. Young peoples comments:

Ø Learnt most dangerous Ø Learnt about amphetamine Ø Didn’t know much about drugs so was difficult to do the matching exercise Ø Leant about stimulants, depressants and hallucinogenic

Week 4 – Building Resilience For this session the young people were taken out to a local park where they completed a “treasure hunt” style activity. Young people had to work in teams to find questions that were hidden throughout the park that related to general drugs and alcohol information, support services available and diversionary activities. Workers comments of the session: Workers felt that all of the young people really enjoyed this session and it was good to get them out of their environment and working together as a team. It was fun and very interactive but was also putting information across that was useful and beneficial for them.

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Young peoples comments:

Ø It was challenging Ø Liked being outside in the park Ø Competitive Ø Enjoyed playing in the park Ø Learnt about services available

Week 5 – Self Esteem This session used art to look at confidence, support structures and activities. The young people made a tree which highlighted what makes them confident, how could they become more confident, what can they do when they are feeling low and what activities do they do just now that they really enjoyed. Workers comments of the session: Young people enjoyed the art section as they got involved in this and seemed to be really happy with the end product. This was something that they could take away with them and remind them of the programme and things they explored throughout the session. There could be more put into the session to reiterate some of the messages as the young people weren’t very clear on what the session overall was about. Young peoples comments:

Ø It was ok – didn’t like cutting things out Ø It was fun decorating the tree Ø Learnt about feelings Ø Learnt about making the right choice

Week 6 – What do I know? This session was to pull together and explore what the young people had learnt throughout the programme. This was done by revisiting each session, what they enjoyed, what they didn’t enjoy, was there anything they felt could have been covered that wasn’t and what information did they pick up on that they will use. Once this was complete the young people decided to come up with a small drama piece that looked at harm reduction and also decision making.

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Workers comments of the session: The young people seemed to get really involved in the drama development and performance. It showed how far they can come with the relationships with the other group members and how their confidence had grew in this time. Young peoples comments:

Ø Loved the costumes and dressing up Ø Enjoyed making the video Ø It was challenging Ø Gave you some confidence Ø Could look at doing a play that looks at people without drugs

Recommendations:

• Participants Group dynamics can be an issue if the young people are not used to working in a group or if they are not ready for a group setting. It was useful that Rosemount had a relationship with the young people on an individual basis and was able to recruit young people that they felt were ready. This should continue for any future programmes.

• Facilitation The slow pace and interactive style of this worked well. Being able to adapt and change is important to keep the interest of the group. With the low numbers of young people it seemed overcrowded sometimes with staff members. It is useful to have Rosemount staff present at all times as they have a relationship with the young people and can also assist them in picking up information that they may not receive through individual contact. GCA should look to having one facilitator present during sessions. Facilitators should try and get across the message that alcohol and drugs is a major and these young people are not on their own.

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• The Programme Due to holiday periods there were breaks in the programme which sometimes interrupted the flow of the programme. It can sometimes be difficult to get 6 weeks in a row, however where possible, this should be the aim for the programme to run on 6 consecutive weeks. Young people seemed to really enjoy week 3 where they were taken to a different environment. Possibly look to developing this further and adding in more sessions similar to this. The young people also seemed to really enjoy the art parts of the programme. Again try to look at developing this further by adding more activities like this throughout the programme. Drama wasn’t necessarily part of the initial planning of the programme but the young people suggested this and really enjoyed taking part. This could be a consideration for including in future programmes and introducing this early on in the programme to allow a more structured piece.

• Evaluation The diaries were a useful idea, however these were very time consuming for the limited time there was for the session. Possibly look at having an evaluation board for each week that is visited at the end of every session to capture thoughts, feelings and learning then.

• Resources Possibly look at sourcing a DVD resource that looks into people living with addiction issues that young people could relate to. This should be age appropriate and supportive content that can be used within the programme. Visual aids proved a success, therefore try and source more of these that are relevant to the education of the programme. It was discussed the possibility of having a “worry box” available each week for the young people to put in any comments. This will indicate if the session has highlighted any issues for them and if they feel they need additional support. This should be facilitated each week of the programme.

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• Overall The general feedback from all was very positive, the programme should continue and the opportunity be opened up to other young people within Rosemount with carful consideration of the above.