Young People & Substance Misuse

What is being done in Cambridgeshire to Tackle this?

The aim of Cambridgeshire Drug and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT) is to help young people resist drug and alcohol misuse and to achieve their full potential in society. A wide range of programmes are in existence across Cambridgeshire supporting the education, prevention and treatment needs of young people in relation to substance misuse.

All Cambridgeshire Drug and Alcohol Action Team member agencies share a common purpose and are working towards an integrated approach to the development of education, prevention and treatment services for young people.

There are a variety of programmes being run across the county that aim to meet the substance misuse needs of young people. The Strategy group oversees these whilst the Commissioning group ensures the Young People's Partnership Grant is being spent appropriately.

Cambridgeshire Personal Health Social Education (PSHE) Service provides support for schools in teaching drug education and awareness from the ages of 4 - 16. Primary schools have been involved in a draw and write survey called "Dogs and Rugs", which looks at the drug awareness and knowledge of 5-11 year olds. Secondary schools undertook the Balding Health Related Behaviour Survey during summer 2002, providing invaluable information about the drug and alcohol use of young people at district council level. This enables a better understanding of young people's knowledge in order to better target drug and alcohol education.

In conjunction with this, drug awareness evenings for parents are held in both primary and secondary schools, where parents can get advice and information about substance misuse and their children. These are held in secondary schools every other year and primary schools every three years. Funding is available to develop drug awareness for parents in non-school settings and for "hard to reach" parents to receive information. An example of where this has happened effectively is drug awareness within the travelling community across Cambridgeshire, which has been recognised by the Home Office as an example of good practice.

The FRANK helpline has been set up for young people and their parents who are concerned or have questions about drugs. Cambridgeshire DAAT have been promoting this widely as a useful resource for young people and their parents across the county.

The PSHE service, have been leading on Community Drugs Policies across the county. The policy encourages a shared approach to drug education and managing drug related situations and incidents, so that young people and those working or living with them experience consistent messages and practice.

The DAAT also recognises that early interventions stop substance misuse escalating, this is especially true with vulnerable young people. Young people who become involved with the Youth Offending Team are screened for substance misuse concerns, and are then referred to specialist workers within the team who will deliver appropriate interventions. These workers also link up with relevant agencies to ensure that the young person is supported in accessing wider support or more specialist treatment. A specialist Young People's Substance Misuse Treatment Service has been developed through the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mental Health NHS Partnership Trust. This service works with under 19s who are misusing drugs and/or alcohol and require more specialist treatment.

The DAAT also part funds the IMPACT project which targets families whose misuse of drugs and alcohol adversely affects there parenting skills enabling their children to become vulnerable. The IMPACT team works with the parents to access treatment and supports them in parenting. The project has been developed further to support families in crisis due to a young person's substance misuse. By supporting the parents to create healthy boundaries and enabling them to link up with appropriate support within the community this ensures the young person has a chance to stay in the family home and address their issues.

It is vital that all young people have access to a range of drug misuse interventions countywide, this ranges from information sessions at youth clubs, advice and information and counselling. Currently provision varies across the county and it is the intention of the DAAT that this will be both sufficient and consistent.

The DAAT also recognises that alcohol is a key issue for many young people and has recently funded four alcohol workers across the county who will provide targeted prevention and education work as well as carrying a small caseload.

An analysis of training, support and supervision needs for all generic staff working with young people was conducted and revealed that a number of professionals working with young people require training on various aspects of substance misuse. From this the Supporting Professionals Project was developed, this will provide free training to all those working with young people. This will ensure that generic young people workers have basic drug and alcohol awareness, and knowledge enabling them to identify, screen and refer young people to specialist agencies at the earliest possible opportunity.

The Drug & Alcohol Action Team links with the Children and Young People's Strategic Partnership to ensure the planning of the Young People's Substance Misuse Service is fully integrated into the wider planning for children and young people.

The Young Peoples Substance Misuse Grant has also been used to fund extra places at Young Carers Projects across the county for young people caring for a drug or alcohol misusing family member. The National Carers Association defines a young carers as "Some one who's life is restricted in some way through having to take care of a person (usually one of the family) who ....... has problems to do with alcohol or drugs use, or has developed AIDS." (Carers National Association)

If you have any questions about work to tackle substance misuse in Cambridgeshire, please contact Vickie Crompton, DAAT Co-ordinator on 01223 713067.