Vol.2 Issue: 4 - Community Drug Summit at St Monica's

On September 12th this year, St Monica's College, Epping, hosted what we ended up calling a Community Drug Summit. It took place in the large Sports & Assembly Hall at the school, where round tables of 10 were set up so that families and groups could sit together. About 250 people came together on the night, including students, parents, staff and representatives of various organisations who work in the field of drugs and alcohol. The majority of people were from St Monica's College, but there were many from the local Primary Schools and Parishes, and some from the broader community.

Mary of the Cross Centre was one of the organisations that became involved, and staff from the Centre set up a stall to let people know about the service. There were a total of seven stalls in the hall, including Parentline, Family Drug Help, Epping Police, Kildonan Child and Family Services, Whittlesea Youth Services and Moreland Hall. There was always at least one staff member from these organisations stationed at the stall to answer questions that people wanted answered during the course of the night. Judy Cain from Mary of the Cross Centre was also part of a Planning Group that met several times in the months leading up to the Summit. This group also had Gerry O.Connor (a local drug counsellor), Senior Constable Charmaine Hosking (Epping Police Pro-Active Unit), Stella Avram (Kildonan Child and Family Services) and myself as the school representative.

The idea of the night was to bring together parents, young people (Grade 6 . Year 9) and information and support agencies who worked in the area of drugs and related issues. The night comprised of role-plays, video presentation, guest speaker, a quiz and workshops, with an emphasis on student involvement in presenting the material. One of the main messages was the important role families play in the well-being of young people during the turbulent adolescent years. Another clear message focussed on getting to know the many resources in the local community that are there to support adults, young people and families. The atmosphere was relaxed and informal, much fun was had with some prizes and handouts during the night, and some food was provided on each of the tables to help people settle in. The senior SRC did a great job in facilitating the night.

We were aware that we could not cover everything there is to know about drugs in the two hours available. In fact, the drugs that were nominated as the focus for the night, namely alcohol, tobacco and cannabis, hardly got a look in. Instead, people went away confident that they knew which support agencies could assist them should an issue arise in their family. They also went away knowing how important it is to talk about and communicate with young people about drugs and related issues, that it isn.t something to be swept under the carpet. Finally, they went away feeling buoyed by the fact that if communities pull together and become resourceful and helpful towards each other, great strength can be found in the partnerships formed.

Joe McCarthy.

Federal government funding is available through the .Tough on Drugs. campaign until July 2003 to run similar evenings to the one mentioned here, or to do something completely different that serves the needs of your community. Please contact Philippa Lovell or Cath Behan at the Catholic Education Office (Ph: 9267 0228) if you are interested in your school doing something in this area or Judy Cain (Mary of the Cross Centre) or Joe McCarthy (St Monica's College, Epping) for more information about St Monica's program.