Posted on: 29 May, 2023
We’re delighted to announce that we are partaking in the Not My Child campaign, which is spearheaded by the brave and brilliant Kerry Roberts. The campaign, which started in October, is in memory of Kerry’s daughter Leah, who tragically died after taking two bombs of MDMA, at the age of just 15. Kerry’s belief is that her daughter would still be alive today if she had been provided even the most basic drug education.
These tragic incidents of young people losing their lives to drugs are preventable and should be prevented. The status quo has allowed this to happen for too long, and it is time for change. Education equals empowerment, and we endeavour to empower the next generation to make better informed decisions when it comes to substances.
Cranstoun would never condone or encourage the use of harmful substances, but a blind eye approach to drugs further ostracises those who are suffering, and increases risk for people who do end up using drugs. It also leads to further stigmatisation for people who use drugs, which sets a dangerous precedent for our young people.
We want to normalise honest, open and age-appropriate conversations about substance use, addressing the UK’s drug crisis in an upstream, preventative way that could cut the cycle of intergenerational addiction and tragedy.
To show our support for the campaign and our commitment to keeping young people safe, our team has put together nine open-access resources for schools, colleges, and community groups to provide sound drug education in a digestible format. Our resources aim to communicate accessible, accurate and helpful harm reduction advice to people aged 14-24, reducing the chances of the tragic loss of young life.
Over the next six weeks, we’ll be releasing original harm reduction content through our socials, speaking to experts in our organisation about how we aim to tackle the drug crisis, as well as travelling to services and schools to deliver education sessions and workshops in the areas where we deliver Children and Young Person Services.
We’ll also be visiting Children and Young Persons Services and a College to find out more from the youth of today, receive life-saving information, whilst providing a channel for any student to refer themselves to our service.
In addition, Cranstoun will soon be publishing our 5 key pledges and this campaign ties in perfectly with our commitment to collaboration, and our pledge to equip parents, teachers, schools and practitioners with the tools they need to deliver accurate and honest education to young people.
Our resources are available now online, and we’ll be releasing bite-sized facts and short videos throughout the campaign on how to reduce the harm that drugs and alcohol can cause. If you’d like to support the campaign, please share the resources with those who might benefit from them, and promote healthy conversations about substances.
We can stop the preventable tragedies that tear through families, but the work must start early enough to be effective!
If you’d like to learn more about the campaign, our Children and Young Person Services, or refer yourself to our services please email youngpeople@cranstoun.org.uk
This article was written by Vicky Branch, Head of Children and Young Peoples Services at Cranstoun.
For open access education resources, please visit this link.