The following is the text of an abstract submitted for presentation at the ALAC Conference in May 2010:
A collective of youth/alcohol-related agencies acting under the YATA network in Tauranga pulled together a pilot project with the Police to offer brief interventions to youth (aged under 18) who had come to notice for alcohol and other drug-related offences over the Christmas and New Year period. This replaced the proposed project with the Tauranga Hospital Emergency Department.
The brief interventions were one component in a multi-faceted social marketing campaign “A Summer to Remember” delivered by Tauranga Safe City that focused on parental risks and responsibility when providing alcohol to teens.
With funding from ACC and ALAC, the Police youth referrals received single sessions of assessment and counselling (brief interventions) delivered by a team of DAPAANZ registered counsellors. The team endeavoured to contact youth (and/or their families) within a 72 hour timeframe to offer an immediate response to the circumstances that led to them coming to Police notice, and their substance use.
The project was based on the model successfully implemented by Dr Paul Quigley at the Wellington Hospital Emergency Department; and supported by a growing body of evidence that demonstrates the effectiveness of the brief intervention approach.
Since the start of the project 37 youth have been referred with a contact rate of around 95% and an intervention rate of around 75%. This is due to Counsellors adopting a tenacious ‘we will get hold of you’ approach which seems to have been effective.
In most cases Counsellor contacts were openly received by the young people, with many families expressing both surprise and gratitude that there had been a response to their young person’s offending behaviour.
We believe this is the first time the brief interventions methodology has been used in a Police setting and indications are that it has been sufficiently effective to warrant further exploration and on-going evaluation.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Matua alcohol-free event goes wrong
An alcohol-free party organised by a group of enterprising young people last weekend at Matua Park was spoiled when a large number (approx 300) of local youths aged 14-17yrs chose not pay the $5 to enter the event but instead milled-around, many in possession of quantities of alcohol . The young people were dispersed without any issues by the Police. A front page article reported one nasty incident where a local resident got into a confrontation with a group of drunken youths and was beaten up.
The following day, the Matua Residents Assn chairman Richard Kluit explained that permission had been granted to the organisers to use the Park because they were trying to do something positive and provide an activity for local youth. He acknowledged that they should have taken a closer look at the proposal. He described them as "good kids from good families with nothing to do but hang out and drink alcohol". He visited the event at 11.00pm and described the scene: " It was not a pack of hoons - they were kids from our neighbourhood". He stated they were well-dressed and not looking for trouble.
For Richard Kluit, the incident highlights an on-going situation where "week in and week out these kids are gathering somewhere...carrying their booze and gathering for little parties, sometimes in parks. When something is organised, then arrive en-masse". The two issues facing the community was giving the kids something to do on Friday and Saturday nights, and the problems associated with easy access to alcohol. He asks "if the parents are supplying the alcohol, why shouldn't the parents take more responsibility?"
I applaud Richard Kluit's attitude and his assessment of the situation. The "Summer to Remember" campaign that featured in an earlier blog reinforces the risks of adults supplying teens alcohol in unsupervised environments. The campaign challenges parents to have the conversation with their teens about drinking and set limits around their access to alcohol. We are already working on a new campaign with ALAC to further emphasise parental responsibility and offering a 'toolkit' for parents to engage with their teens.
The following day, the Matua Residents Assn chairman Richard Kluit explained that permission had been granted to the organisers to use the Park because they were trying to do something positive and provide an activity for local youth. He acknowledged that they should have taken a closer look at the proposal. He described them as "good kids from good families with nothing to do but hang out and drink alcohol". He visited the event at 11.00pm and described the scene: " It was not a pack of hoons - they were kids from our neighbourhood". He stated they were well-dressed and not looking for trouble.
For Richard Kluit, the incident highlights an on-going situation where "week in and week out these kids are gathering somewhere...carrying their booze and gathering for little parties, sometimes in parks. When something is organised, then arrive en-masse". The two issues facing the community was giving the kids something to do on Friday and Saturday nights, and the problems associated with easy access to alcohol. He asks "if the parents are supplying the alcohol, why shouldn't the parents take more responsibility?"
I applaud Richard Kluit's attitude and his assessment of the situation. The "Summer to Remember" campaign that featured in an earlier blog reinforces the risks of adults supplying teens alcohol in unsupervised environments. The campaign challenges parents to have the conversation with their teens about drinking and set limits around their access to alcohol. We are already working on a new campaign with ALAC to further emphasise parental responsibility and offering a 'toolkit' for parents to engage with their teens.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)