HeLiPad Year 9 Incursion
Year 9 Workshop
On 2nd May 2019 the Year 9’s attended a drug and alcohol addiction prevention workshop.
The period started with us entering one of the four stations of the workshop. The group that I was in started at the station with a hypothetical boy named ‘Jasper’ who started showing signs of having alcohol addiction.
The conversation we had was very interesting and informative. We talked about the different help lines and clinics there were for young people and for older people as well. We made up little situations that Jasper had gotten himself into and discussed it in more depth.
After time was up we rotated to the next station. At the second station we got to play a Snakes and Ladders game. The game was about going through a night out and returning home safe and sound. The game was rather fun. We got to see how people’s actions caused them to face harsh realities, and the game showed us all the things that could go wrong on a night out, and how to avoid them. (I got a lollipop for participating and being the coin flipper.)
The third station, in my opinion, was the most ‘useful’. Not to say that the other three stations weren’t useful because they were, however, station three taught us how to put someone in the ‘Recovery Position’ and to me that topped everything else because it could potentially save a life.
The fourth station was very ‘chill’. We took it in turns to throw a ball in buckets that had statements in them. The goal was to say whether the statement made it more or less likely for a person to become addicted to drugs or alcohol. To start off the station, the instructor made it clear that the statements were not a guarantee that you were more or less likely to get addicted but that it may influence you and your decision making when it comes to things drug and alcohol related. To finish off the session we were all given multiple lollipops and went on with our day.
Overall I really value this experience to become more educated, even though I was thinking that this wouldn’t apply to me, but you never know! Maybe I could pass down the knowledge that I was given to help someone out.
The workshop was great.
We would like to thank Sonya Morrissey from Westcare for organising the workshop; Ambulance Victoria; Victoria Police; Melton City Council, Youth Services; and YSAS (Youth Support and Advocacy Service), for their support in the program.
