Substance Misuse - Key Stage 5

Guidance for local areas on planning to deal with potent synthetic opioids

Click here to read guidance that explains how local commissioners and service providers can prepare for and respond to incidents involving potent synthetic opioids like nitazenes or fentanyl.

Alcohol and Drugs during the festival season

Festival season is upon us once more. As well as the music and being with friends, festivals are places where inhibitions and ‘safer’ choices can go out the window.

Click here for 'The Frank Guide to Festivals'

Read the guidance from Festival Safe about alcohol and other drugs at festivals

View the advice from the Alcohol Education Trust

Gloucestershire Young People's Substance Misuse Screening Tool

YST's dedicated team provides individual support, helping young people to reduce drug or alcohol misuse (tier 3) and the risks associated with it.

Contact us:

Youth Support Team, The Vibe,

Druids Lane, Stanway Road,

Gloucester, GL4 4RE

Tel - 01452 415707

Gloucestershire Young People's Substance Misuse Screening Toole

mail this completed form to: sas.referrals@prospects.co.uk

FRANK - (Talk to Frank)

The talktofrank website offers friendly, confidential drugs advice. Hear from others, share stories, explore FAQs about drugs and their effects on the mind and body.

Noteable webpages include:

Are you 'Under The Influence'? - What to do if you're feeling pressure to take drugs

Worried about a friend? - Here's how you can help them out.

Gloucestershire Youth Support Team

Gloucestershire's Youth Support Team works with approximately 6,000 vulnerable young people.

They target specific groups of young people who are the most at risk of not making a successful transition into adulthood. They also deliver statutory services, and operate across Gloucestershire through our youth support centres and mobile centres, as well as in schools, and with families and young people in their homes.

Their multi-disciplinary team is made up of youth workers and family support, health and careers specialists, social workers, police and probation officers. Acting as an integrated team, they identify young people who are most at risk, and intervene early to prevent issues and problems from escalating.

"More than 90% of young people supported by our team say it has made a difference to their lives."

The Youth Support Team is run by Prospects, which provides a wide range of education, employment and skills services in the UK and internationally. We work on behalf of Gloucestershire County Council, in a partnership which is the first of its kind in England.

The success of the unique partnership between Gloucestershire County Council and Prospects was recognised at a national level, when we won the Best Public/Private Partnership award at the national 2014 Local Government Chronicle (LGC) awards.

the talk about trust (Formerly The Alcohol Education Trust)

The Talk About Trust provide educational materials and lesson plans, listed on their website by subject, to make lesson planning simple. There are different levels of resources for different age groups and abilities, together with short film clips and hand out sheets.

Resource topics include:

Click here to dowload the talk about trust teacher workbook.

Subscribe to the teacher newsletter.

The Talk About Trust have created a resource pack which includes the updated 'Talk about Alcohol' workbook (5th edition), 60 full colours laminates of pictures, activities and scenarios; an updated version of the BAFTA award winning Just a Few Drinks DVD and their guidance for those working with children with moderate learning difficulties. The complete learning resources for 11-18 year olds are available for a one off cost of £90. To reserve your copy or to learn more, email kate@alcoholeducationtrust.org

The Talk About Trust are very excited to announce the launch of their brand new website for 16-25 year olds: www.life-stuff.org . The site includes helpful advice and information on a wide range of topics including alcohol, drugs, mental health, vaping and gaming/gambling.

Order some spiking resources from The Talk About Trust by emailing kate@talkabouttrust.org

Order up to 10 copies of each of the three posters free of charge. You can also request a bespoke PDF copy with your setting name and contacts by emailing lucy@talkabouttrust.org
Order up to 500 of the handy awareness cards with helpful advice about what to do if you think you have been spiked.

Talk About Alcohol

The Talk About Alcohol website offers a wealth of information and advice to young people on alcohol and its effects to help them make informed decisions about drinking.

Spiking

Teenagers and young adults should be aware of the issue of drink spiking. A recent UK survey in Cambridge nightclubs found that a third of students had experienced their drinks being spiked.
The majority of reported drink spiking incidents are not linked to any additional crime and are most likely to be the result of a prank, but drink spiking can be linked to sexual assault and robbery. Whatever the intent, drink spiking is illegal and people who spike drinks can be charged, fined or jailed. Click here to read the full article.

Stamp Out Spiking informs people on the spiking symptoms, what to do if they have been spiked and how to report it to the police in each region.

Articles

The Guardian - Why fentanyl could become the UK's most dangerous drug

The painkiller and anaesthetic is fifty times more potent than morphine, is powerfully addictive, fatal even tiny amounts. The drug has medical applications, for example, in anaesthesia and relieving pain from surgery or cancer. Those who have been taking opioids for a longer period can cope with quantities that would kill new users or those who have lost their tolerance through a break in taking the drug. Withdrawal from opioids can be agony. Every bone in the body hurts, you experience severe cold and goose bumps. With fentanyl, the high is greater and so is the withdrawal. The intense and rapid high produced by fentanyl has made it attractive drug for recreational use. Cutting fentanyl with drugs like heroin and cocaine dramatically intensifies the potency and makes it far more addictive, benefiting drug dealers with very dependent consumers.