Alcohol Concern Conference

1. Alcohol Concern Conference Peer Outreach Team

2. Peer Outreach Team

3. Who we are • We are a group of 40 young people aged between 15-25 from different Boroughs around London, who help the GLA engage with young Londoners to find out their opinions and how to help shape services. • We are responsible for the delivery of information, supporting and delivery of projects. • We actively promote participation across London, working with the voluntary & statutory organisations. • In addition we also advise but most importantly we act as a VOICE for young Londoners. • We also organise events, run workshops, do presentations, research, write reports and consult with young Londoners. Nasra

4. The projects we are involved in are in the following categories: • Community Safety • Work with disadvantaged and disengaged young people, i.e. young offenders, young people in care and young people with disabilities. • Health and Sexual Health projects • Generational • Political Engagement Nasra

5. Why Participation is important… • Giving Young Londoners a voice • Involving everybody and every one. • To sustain relationships between young people and decision makers. • Challenging negative perceptions Christian

6. Creating a comfortable environment • Following Child Protection Guidelines • Listening and Hearing • Support and Advice • Good Communication • No judgement or exclusion • Understanding diversity • Respect and appreciation • Young people being involved in processes and decision making • Building good examples • Realistic expectations • Commitment of the organisation • Involvement from start to end • Being prepared to compromise • Young people being involved in evaluating and monitoring projects Through discussions with young people, this is what makes Participation work. Christian

7. Three project examples of where participation has worked for us… • You’re Welcome • Lost Voices • Alcohol Awareness Nasra

8. You’re Welcome • This is a national initiative, that aims to improve the way that primary health services (sexual health clinics, GPs, mental health services and drugs services) deliver their services to young people. • We were asked by the Government Office for London on behalf of the Department of Health, to train other young people from across London in how to assess primary health services, through mystery and known shopping. • We did a pilot of the project in 7 London Boroughs in 2008 and as a success of that we’ve been asked to carry on with the work and train young Londoners in all London Boroughs. • We will also be training frontline staff, as well as writing a communications and PR strategy. • 1 of the aims of the project was to get young people to lead the project and the research. • We have also developed a training pack for front line staff for health services. • Through mystery and known shopping feedback to DOH, health services were made accountable and had to change accordingly. Elvige

9. Local influence – Lost Voices • The lost voices documentary was introduced with a partnership between us and the Bromley YOT. • We wanted to tackle around the area of power and how it links into offending – what makes someone powerful or powerless. • Providing opportunities for young people who are at risk of youth violence/offending especially first time young offenders to speak out about issues affecting their lives. • Exploring the deciding factors in terms of their experience to date and what could prevent re offending. • Deliver the workshops to as many young people as possible, to any YOT or PRU that is interested in working with us. We are also looking into the possibility of taking this into prisons to work with young people who will be shortly be leaving the prison to look at what next and risks of re-offending. • Bromley: 4 young people joined the team. • Redbridge: Delivered to young people who had lack of attendance and motivation. By the end of project, they all had secure places in FE colleges and 2 young people joined the team. • Worked with excluded young people. Many who have come from alcohol and drug related programmes. Paris

10. Alcohol Awareness • The London Assembly asked us to lead on workshops with young people so that we could find out their views on alcohol and its affects on young people. • In order to achieve our aims we knew that we had to engage with the young people in person. • Therefore the alcohol group set up meetings with different groups of young people. • Learning about Young People Experiences with Alcohol • We worked with a variety of young people from young offenders to young people who have or are being closely affected by alcohol. i.e personally, through family or friends. • Based on our experiences we devised and facilitated all the focus groups and children and young people which included general intros and ice breakers. • Delivered project findings at the Alcohol Conference. • We filmed this and turned it into a documentary in order to deliver it as a workshop. • Worked with the ambulance service Booze Bus and CO14. • As a result of the focus groups, London Assembly included the findings in their final report. • Paris – a member of the POW team made the film for AA with the fox pops. Zainab

11. Focusing on the Alcohol Awareness project, these are some questions we asked in the focus groups. • We asked questions such as: ‘why they thought some young people started to drink heavily?’ • One young person said: • ‘Alcohol is cheap, you can buy a bottle of vodka for 50p in Tesco’ • Others said: • Stress from families, friends or school • The body just becomes dependent on alcohol • Peer pressure (some people drink just because their friends do). Elvige

12. Some of the other questions • We also asked ‘what they thought could happen when young people drink too much? • One young lady said: • “When I was younger I use to go home with strangers, nothing ever happened but it could have’ • Others said: • Get scared and paranoid • Get addicted • Throwing up • alcohol poisoning Nasra

13. The questionnaires and flyers we used in the streets of London informing young people of how o drink safely. Elvige

14. Elvige

15. Questionnaires • We also developed questionnaires to get some information on the age ranges of people drinking, how much they were planning on spending, what areas they lived in and more. • This made it easier for us to collate information and also inform people about Alcohol Awareness. • For example, A lot of the feedback we received showed that a lot of people did not know they could get a free glass of tap water in a club/bar/restaurant. • There was a high number people being hospitalised because of alcohol related incidents either themselves or somebody they knew. • We found out that more than half of the young people we questioned knew that they could get free tap water in a club/bar/restaurant, But feedback showed that less than a quarter were taking advantage of this. • We also found out that an even higher number of people either knew someone or had been taking to hospital themselves for an alcohol related incident. Elvige

16. Why the workshops were effective… • Gave us the opportunity to listen to young people’s views on the issue of alcohol • Some of the young people were reluctant to talk and get involved, so we had to be persistent and eventually got them involved • Because the groups were divided, we were able to try and get each individuals’ opinion. • The young people’s input influenced the report delivered by the London Assembly. Zainab

17. What we learnt • Peer pressure is a significant factor in the growing use of alcohol amongst young people. • There are young people who are just experimenting with alcohol and who therefore don’t wish to be labelled as an alcohol abuser. • The media give a lot of coverage on celebrities (drunk and falling out of cars) this constant glamorisation of alcohol abuse by the media, is not sending out a positive message to young people. These mixed messages can essentially undo all the emphasis and campaigns advertised to drink responsibly. • There are serious safety issues surrounding alcohol abuse, especially for young females who can prove to be vulnerable and more prone to attacks when intoxicated. Measure to be taken need to be discussed to reduce the risk of danger when over the limit. • Long term health can be affected by alcohol • It increases their risk taking I.E sexual activities and general safety. • Young people want to attend support groups, where they can receive both individual time with workers as well as meeting other young people, who have had similar experiences. Zainab

18. Our Views • We enjoy and appreciate being given the opportunity to deliver these projects. We hope the messages from the young people are used to inform policies and strategies surrounding these issues. • What is clear is that there are young people who need help, but there are also young people who just want to be healthy, have fun and occasionally drink. • Young people need to know what is available to them and how to access it without being judged or stereotyped. It’s important that young people should be more involved in the decision making which help shape the services that they use. Christian

19. Why Participation is effective… Thank You Young people and children participating in shaping solutions, policies and strategies will make a fundamental difference to the outcomes. A quote from Peer Outreach Team: “Through the actions of young Londoners came real change.” Christian

20. Contact Details Rebecca Palmer Rebecca.palmer@london.gov.uk 02079834769 Nasra Salah Nasra.salah@london.gov.uk 02079834150 Elvige Tchalla Elvige.pouli@london.gov.uk