ALCOHOL
What happens to alcohol in the body?
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First Stop: The liver
As you drink, the liver will remove alcohol from your blood stream. However, if you consume more drinks than your liver can keep up with, then there will be 'spill over' and it will accumulate in your blood stream. Once in circulation, it will quickly make its way to your brain. Here it affects different neurotransmitters to make someone look and feel intoxicated.
Workshop 1
Alcohol & the Growing Brain
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With a focus on the growing adolescent brain, we examine the physical impact of alcohol....
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What is a high?
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Why do some people choose to take drugs?
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What drugs cause the release of what neurotransmitters?
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Why the soft v hard drug dichotomy doesn't work
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How does alcohol affect the brain to change our behaviour ?
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Are the long term effects of binge drinking?
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How is my idea of normal influenced by those around me?
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Workshop 2
Party Drugs & HARM REDUCTION
Unravelling the science of the brains reward system, we examine the progressive psychological harm
associated with illicit drug use...
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How do we measure harm?
- What influences a person's experience of a drug?
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How does ecstasy work ?
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How does cannabis work?
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How do I minimise harms on drugs?
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What can I expect from police and medical services?
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How much is too much?
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How do I look after a mate?
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How do I build motivation to change a behaviour
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Where can I go for a non-judgemental conversation about this?
Workshop 3
Addictive behaviours, human nature & Wellbeing
Beneath the surface, unhelpful thoughts and behaviours are symptomatic of deeper, more human issues. You can't talk about drug use without talking about mental health...
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What is a craving and how can it drive behaviour?
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Are we all primed for addiction?
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What does problematic use look like and how do we recognise this in ourselves and others?
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How can we experience natural mental highs?
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Where can we go for support ?
"I found the neuroscience really interesting and memorable"
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"I'd recommend this program to other schools"
The Evidence base
Every aspect of the workshop has been proven to reduce harms related to drug and alcohol use!
HARM MINIMISATION
Our program aims to reduce the harms associated with the use of drugs and alcohol, as this is considered best practice in the field and is in line with the National Drug Prevention Strategy.
Students will explore differentttypes of harm from a health, social and economic perspective and apply it the impact on individuals, communities and society as a whole. In so doing students learn how to balance the costs and benefits, navigate conflicting thoughts, examine the progressive harm caused b drugs and alcohol on the brain and prioritise personal goals.
COGNITIVE-BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY (CBT) & MINDFULNESS
CBT and mindfulness are strong, evidence based interventions that seek to explore the relationship between one's thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Through analysing one's own attitudes and perception of risk and harm students are encouraged to manage varying emotional states. Both techniques are based on the premise that mental disorders and distress can be controlled through building self awareness and self regulatory skills. In the workshops, students become active participants in collaborative problem solving and examine the forces driving their own behaviour.
HEALTH LITERACY
Health literacy refers to the way in which people understand and use health care information and how they apply that to their lives. Health literacy is key to early detection of additive behaviours and informs the quality of health care services that people experience.