Working Towards Quality Substance Misuse Education & Sex and Relationships Education Andrew Powles Newport City Council

Background Community Safety Partnership and Children and Young People’s Partnership joint fund post of Substance Misuse Education Coordinator Post is sited within School Improvement and Inclusion and based with the Local Public Health Team within Newport Local Health Board

Initial Work Establishment of Education Sub-group of Newport Substance Misuse Action Team Working with all children and young people’s organisations (in and out of schools) to support the development and implementation of substance misuse education Support Newport Healthy Schools Scheme

Community and Teacher Adviser (Health) In October 2007 the post of Substance Misuse Education Coordinator was replaced with the post of Community and Teacher Adviser (Health) The post continues to be joint funded by the Community Safety Partnership and the Children and Young People’s Partnership

National Children’s Bureau: Sex, Alcohol and Other Drugs Forty percent of sexually active 13- and 14 year olds in the UK were “drunk or stoned” at first intercourse (Wright et al. 2000) Young people are having sex earlier, and may are having unsafe and unprotected sex. Alcohol and drug use is often associated with first sexual intercourse among young people, and this can lead to regret (MacHale and Newell 1997, Ingham 2001)

National Children’s Bureau: Sex, Alcohol and Other Drugs Hingson et al (2002) showed that condoms were less likely to be used when alcohol had been consumed. In the same study, the relationships between condom and drugs use was even more significant. Of the young people who had reported intercourse after drinking 16 percent also reported less condom use on these occasions. In addition, 25 percent of those who had used drugs before having intercourse reported lower condom use on these occasions.

National Children’s Bureau: Sex, Alcohol and Other Drugs A third of females and almost 40 percent of males aged 15 and 16 have tried illegal drugs (Plant and Miller 2000) Hingson, R.W. et al (2002) “Beliefs about AIDS, use of alcohol and drugs and unprotected sex among Massachusetts adolescents”, American Journal of Public Health, 80, Ingham, R. (2001) “Young People, Alcohol and Sexual Conduct”, Sex Education Matters, No.27,9-10 MacHale, E and Newell, J (1997) “Sexual behaviour and sex education in Irish school-going teenagers”, International Journal of STD and AIDS, 8, National Children’s Bureau (2004) Sex, alcohol and other drugs: Exploring the links in young people’s lives. Plant, M and Miller, P. (2000) “Drug use has declined among teenagers in the United Kingdom”, British Medical Journal, 320, p.1536 Wright et al. (2000) “Extent of regretted sexual intercourse among young teenagers in Scotland: a cross sectional survey” British Medical Journal, Vol 320,

Integration of the links into future policy Future policy developments include an explicit and consistent integration of the links between sex, alcohol and other drugs into all children’s policy. When guidance and programmes are topic based it is recommend it is always be located in the context of young people’s ‘joined up lives’.

Training and development Integrated sex and relationships and drug education messages are incorporated into all national and local training programmes including Personal, Social and Health Education for teachers and nurses, Sexual Health Training Strategy as well as helpline advisors.

Resource Development Resources, leaflets and campaigns must address the links between sex, alcohol and other drugs and the NCB recommend: Leaflets for young people exploring the issues are commissioned focusing on both younger people and those in their late teens and early 20s

Resource Development National campaigns such as DAN 24/7, Teenage Pregnancy and Sexual Health should develop materials that explore the links between sex, alcohol and other drugs When commissioning resources on sex and drug education, agencies are required to ensure the links are addressed.

Quality Approach to Substance Misuse Education Policy – there is an agreed and up-to-date policy for substance misuse education (including incident management); Programme – there is a planned substance misuse education programme tailored to the needs of the young people; Delivery – staff are well trained (mapped to DANOS) and confident in delivering substance misuse education; DANOS – Drug and Alcohol National Occupational Standards (

Quality Approach to Substance Misuse Education Incident management – staff are aware of the process and protocols for managing a substance misuse-related incident; Monitoring and evaluation – the policy and programme are regularly monitored and reviewed; Health promoting environment – substance misuse education is delivered as part of an overall approach to promoting the health and well-being of all staff and young people.

Now and the Future… Implementing recommendations developed as a result of a audits of SRE and SME carried out across a range of children and young people’s settings Production of a SRE Toolkit as an inter-borough initiative

Now and the Future… Open up membership of the SMAT Prevention, Education and Training sub-group to sexual health staff Utilise GTCW grants release teachers from school in order to build understanding and skills in bother SRE and SME and facilitate resource development

Now and the Future… Open up SMAT-funded training to members of the local c-card scheme Promote sexual health training to substance misuse workers

Contact Details Andrew Powles Community and Teacher Adviser (Health) Victoria House Corporation Road Newport NP19 OBH