Drugsline

On Tuesday I went to visit one of the Forum’s newest members, Drugsline.

Drugsline deliver drug education in over 52 schools and youth facilities, to over 32,000 children a year.  Predominantly this is in London and Essex, but during the course of my time with them I also heard about visits to schools in Hertfordshire and Norfolk and plans to work in Birmingham

Drugsline has been in existence since 1991 and its founder, Rabbi Sufrin, clearly remains central to the organisation, and an excellent advocate on their behalf.  He recently appeared on The Politics Show debating the classification of cannabis with former Home Secretary David Blunkett MP, and was also in the news for some inter-faith drugs work he has been involved with in partnership with London Imams.

I’d been invited to observe a lesson facilitated by one of their educators, Darren, the team leader, at a large coeducational comprehensive in Waltham Forest.  By coincidence Darren had been a pupil at the school.

The lesson was with a Year 9 group, and focused on the causes of addiction and how the classification system operates.  Before starting Darren asked if any of the pupils had met anyone from Drugsline before; about half the class indicated they had and were able to remember aspects of the session Darren and a colleague ran with them in Year 7.

In talking about the causes of addiction Darren was able to draw on his own experiences as a recovering addict, which he did without glamorising his drug use or trying to shock.  So, for example, he talked about how his insecurities as a young person, and the difficulties he’d had making friends, had drawn him to becoming involved in anti-social behaviour and cannabis use.  He also spoke about how his criminal convictions had made it difficult in a number mundane but important ways once he was in recovery; insurance was more expensive, he was limited in the number of places he could holiday and so on.

In looking at the classification there was an exercise which helped the pupils think about the difference between possession and supply, as well as identifying which classes particular drugs fall into, and the penalties for each.

The lesson finished with a question and answer session and a chance to reflect on the learning from the lesson.

In talking to Darren, his manager Christina and other members of the team afterwards it was clear that much though they felt they were making a difference, they found it difficult to achieve as much as they would like when they are limited to one or two sessions per class in a school in the course of a year.  I also felt that given more time the charity would want to change the style of delivery to create more opportunities for interactive learning.  Indeed I was told that the follow up session was much more interactive and used scenarios which allowed the pupils to explore the issues that are raised by drugs.

While they clearly had some good relationships built with schools over the years I felt there was a desire to deepen the partnerships so that Drugsline could be clearer on what value they were adding to the schools’ wider PSHE education.

Drugsline also offer a telephone helpline and email support which is increasingly being used by young people who they’ve seen in schools.  Christina did tell me that having listened to young people they are now in the process of recruiting a younger set of volunteers who they hope will be available at times young people are likely to use the helpline.

Filed under: Drug Education Forum Members , Drugsline