Programs – Drug Education
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For Parents
- Drug information in Victorian Schools
- Drug Information for Parents
- What's New - Fact Sheets for Parents
- Family Support Services
Drug Information in Victorian Schools
Parents and school drug education
Your encouragement and support of drug education is seen as crucial to improving the wellbeing of your child and their learning outcomes. Research tells us that parental involvement in drug education enhances the wellbeing and learning outcomes for all students. You help build your child’s resilience by giving them the means of dealing with and reacting to the use of drugs in society.
The school assists you in this process by developing relevant and engaging drug education related curriculum, programs and resources and by ensuring that the school responds to drug-related incidents in a reasonable and timely manner.
Effective drug education
In a typical example of effective school drug education in Victoria, a school would have:
- a drug education plan that is reviewed every four years in consultation with teachers, parents, and students. This plan includes age appropriate curriculum on licit and illicit drugs and programs to support the wellbeing of students
- a policy on how to manage critical incidents
- a minimum of 10 hours of drug education across each year level.
Contact your child’s school to find out about the school’s drug education plan and policy for managing critical incidents.
Get involved – attend a Student and Parent Participation Forum at your School
Schools have the opportunity to access funding to stage forums, encouraging active participation of parents, community and students in exploring drug related issues. Forums are a great way of helping you to acquire knowledge and skills to assist your child deal with the sorts of things people their age find challenging.
Schools may obtain a $500 grant to organise a parent information forum at your school. You can speak to your child’s teacher to see if parent information events have been planned for the year. The activities are designed to make the forum enjoyable and informative for you and your child.
Why attend a forum?
You can meet and get to know other parents. You can suggest topics to be discussed during the forum. Topics could include:
- What is a drug? Are all drugs illegal?
- Information about drugs and their effects
- Harms associated with a particular drug may vary from person to person
- Staying safe around drugs
- How much alcohol is in a standard drink? Useful information about the measure of Blood Alcohol Content (BAC)
- What is a standard drink? / startling statistics
- Does introducing alcohol to your child promote responsible consumption?
- Consuming alcohol or tobacco in public, or school functions
- Discuss your values and attitudes with other parents and students
How will your child benefit by participating in the forum?
- increase their self esteem by having a role as a presenter or organiser of forum activities
- younger students will gain publishing and promotional skills in designing the invitation flyer
- have a say in designing a quiz or group activity to be used for the forum
- your child will get information about the impacts and effects of drugs on their health
- learn about the difference between a licit and illicit drug
- develop skills to manage stressful situations.
You can get involved by helping to organise a forum. How? – by suggesting health and drug information topics and activities to run. A discussion with your school about organising a forum will generate further ideas.
Drug Information for Parents
Following are links to websites that you may find useful. Current information about drugs, evidence-based research and activities that highlight the health impact of drugs are offered.
Also see: Research
Drug information for parents in 23 languages including English
This brochure gives you accurate information about the most commonly used drugs. The brochure is available to parents in 23 languages. It is often distributed at drug information forums facilitated by the school. The brochure is available here: Teacher Resources – Engaging Parents.
Druginfo Clearinghouse (http://www.druginfo.adf.org.au)
The Druginfo Clearinghouse provides information about alcohol, other drugs and drug prevention.
QUIT (http://www.quit.org.au)
QUIT is an organisation that was established to provide information, support and resources to reduce tobacco use in society.
Tobacco Reforms (http://www.health.vic.gov.au/tobaccoreforms)
This website is provided by the Department of Human Services, Victoria. The website provides information to parents and organisations about tobacco legislation.
REDI Resources (http://www.redi.gov.au)
This Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training website contains a comprehensive database of information about resources, policies and materials for drug education and incident management.
OxyGen (http://www.oxygen.org.au)
OxyGen provides information, fact sheets and activities that highlight the impact of smoking on your health and the environment. Resources are available to support schools and the community to sustain and enhance their tobacco-prevention strategies.
Volatile Solvents Act (http://www.legislation.vic.gov.au)
Volatile substances or inhalants refer to everyday household products such as paint (chroming), glue, paint thinner, deodorants and petrol, when inhaled for an intoxicating effect. A new Act, the Drugs Poisons and Controlled Substances (Volatile Substances) (Extension of Provisions) Act was passed in 2006. The Act can be downloaded from the Victorian Statute Book link.
What’s New - Fact Sheets for Parents
In conjunction with the Australian Drug Foundation 8 fact sheets are provided to support parents to minimise the harms associated with alcohol use. The Fact Sheets are available here:
Factsheet 1 - Alcohol and adolescent development (PDF - 329Kb)
Factsheet 2 - Alcohol, teenage parties and the law (PDF - 314Kb)
Factsheet 3 - Standard drinks and low risk drinking (PDF - 377Kb)
Factsheet 4 - Fact or Myth : common myths and misconceptions (PDF - 305Kb)
Factsheet 5 - Medicines and alcohol : a dangerous mix (PDF - 261Kb)
Factsheet 6 - Which parental factors influence young people's choices about alcohol? (PDF - 354Kb)
Factsheet 7 - Teenage drinking : A parents' communication style can make a difference (PDF - 345Kb)
Factsheet 8 - Teenage Drinking: Communicating with other parents and families (PDF - 608Kb)
Family Support Services
The following agencies are available to assist you and members of your family with information, advice and counselling.
Parenting Research Centre (http://www.vicparenting.com.au/vp)
The Parenting Research Centre is a research and training organisation committed to developing and disseminating effective support to families facing the challenging task of raising children.
Parents Victoria (http://www.parentsvictoria.asn.au)
Parents Victoria provides parents with a voice, presenting an organised parent perspective to State and Federal Governments, educational bureaucracies and institutions, community organisations and the media.
Phone: (03) 9380 2150
Email: emailoffice@parentsvictoria.asn.au
DirectLine (Victoria) 1800 888 236 (http://www.turningpoint.org.au/service_information/si_directline.html)
DirectLine provides 24-hour, seven-day counselling, information and referral services to alcohol and drug treatment support services in Victoria.
Youth Substance Abuse Service (YSAS) (http://www.ysas.org.au)
YSAS provides a range of youth-specific outreach, treatment, withdrawal, rehabilitation and support programs across Melbourne and regional Victoria.