Two youth alcohol community workshops were held in Portland last week organised by SGGPCP in conjunction with PDH, Glenelg Shire Council, Victoria Police, Deakin University and Communities That Care Ltd. The workshops engaged a broad group of stakeholders and community members in looking at the key factors that influence young people in deciding to drink alcohol or not and can be summarised as:

  • Mental health, self esteem and resilience
  • Parental rules and actions
  • Culture, community expectations and role modelling
  • Peer pressure and expectations

Key actions were agreed to start the ball rolling including:

  • providing more community events that are alcohol free for all ages
  • connecting parents together to share knowledge about alcohol and young people
  • building resilience of more vulnerable young people

Many participants committed to taking some ‘next steps’ to move the key action ideas forward. Backbone support is available where needed from SGGPCP and partners and work is also underway to integrate these actions with related initiatives such Live4Life and Beyond the Bell.

We look forward to seeing our actions progress! If there are others who are keen to join in and support these ideas, please get in touch with Rowena Wylie at SGGPCP, E: Rowena.wylie@wdhs.net M: 0419143652 .

MEDIA RELEASE – Youth alcohol community workshops