Client Programme > Students > Substances
Substances
These sessions are devised by our Substance specialists and are in line with the latest guidance on Relationships, Sex & Health Education.
Your existing lessons around drugs, alcohol, tobacco, habit forming, addiction and harm-reduction can be supported and enriched by the use of an external speaker. A different voice. Another viewpoint. An expert in the field.
Adding these talks to your planning will extend your RSHE curriculum in a bespoke way to complement and consolidate learning in this important area.
Best delivered as part of a spiral curriculum so that we build up familiarity and connection with the students over a series of years. There are lots of links and overlaps with our work around RELATIONSHIPS & BODIES too.
Intimacy often happens in risky environments where alcohol and substances are involved… so this work responds to those real-life situations.
Medicines & Legal Drugs
- Medicines and why we use them
- Prevalence
- Why some people might use substances
- Legal substances - Caffeine, Nicotine (incl. Vaping), Alcohol
- The law
- Getting reliable information
Smoking & Vaping
Yr6, Yr7 or Yr8
- Prevalence of vaping & smoking
- Risks around smoking
- Risks around vaping
- The Law
- Influence of Peer Behaviours
- Where to find good information and help seeking
Habit & Addiction
- Your Chemical Brain
- Tolerance & Withdrawal
- Substance use, misuse, dependency & addiction
- Pre-conceptions about people who use substances
- Why someone might experience addiction
- Support services
Harm Reduction
Yr9 and above
- Main focus: Nicotine products & Alcohol
- Illegal substances: cannabis & synthetic cannabinoids
- Peer behaviours
- Strategies & Skills
- Drug categories
- Harm reduction messaging
Addiction Deep Dive
- Your Chemical Brain
- Understanding addiction
- Potential new opioid crisis
- Models of Addiction
- Strategies to manage stress & difficult feelings
- How to support a friend/ Support services
Vaping Deep Dive
- Smoking vs vaping
- Prevalence of vaping & smoking
- The law
- Risks & harms
- Nicotine pouches
- How to get support
Keeping Safe at Parties
Yr9 and above
- A focus on what happens at parties and how to stay safe
- Alcohol & Vaping
- Illegal drugs: Cannabis & Synthetic Cannabinoids
- Consent & intoxication
- Spiking
- Strategies and skills & how to ask for help if things go wrong
Keeping Safe at Festivals
- A focus on fun, freedom and safety at Festivals & Events
- Adolescent Brain rewards systems, risk & PFC
- Recent data around illegal substances: risks, mixing, strength, unknowns
- Harm Reduction & drug testing
- The 5 Ds: how to be an active bystander
- How to ask for help if things go wrong
Spiking Deep Dive
- What is spiking?
- The Law
- Different types of spiking
- Student insights
- Signs to look out for
- Where and who to ask for help
Next Chapter
Yr13
- Complexities of being away from home
- New friends and new challenges
- Travelling and Gap Years
- Freshers/Welcome week
- Substances: Drug, Set & Setting
- Accessing services away from home