Transcript The Base Youth Centre & Childcare Facility

The Base Youth Centre &
Childcare Facility
“Illegal/problem drug abuse, a
support group perspective”
Presentation to the Joint Committee on
Health and Children 15th September 2011
Presented by
Sharan Kelly
(Chief Executive Officer)
Amel Yacef
(Youth Health Coordinator)
James Hurley
(Young person)
The context
National strategies and policies emphasising
prevention and education:

Limiting accessibility to specialist services
Recommendation
Strategies to be identified to ensure a
comprehensive inclusion of a youth
centred approach in future policy
On the ground
Profile:
 Predominantly males
 Low social economical background
 Low levels of education attainment
(poor literacy and numeracy)
 Poor levels of physical and mental
health
 Generational history of offending
behaviour and substance misuse
Trends
14 to 15 years old
Substance
Issues
Alcohol, Cannabis,
exposure to
Headshops products
(ambrosia and bath
salts),
experimentation with
street bought
methadone, Valium,
cocaine
Using
socially, recreationally
bordering on nightly use
Poly drug use (they very rarely
use a substance in isolation)
Poor school attendance and high
risk of disengaging from
mainstream education
First offending behaviours/
coming to the attention of the
Gardai
Minor possession/ holding
charges
16 to 17 years old
Substance
Issues
Alcohol, Cannabis,
Amphetamines,
crack cocaine,
sedatives,
hallucinogens,
opiates, head
shops products
Noted
increase in the frequency of
use and the doses used/Binge use/
overdose levels in some cases/ Poly
drug use
Total disengagement with
mainstream education
Increased and strong involvement of
JLO, YPP or justice system (Car theft,
Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH),
assaults charges)
Noted resentment towards the
Gardai and feeling unfairly targeted
by Gardai and justice system
18 to 25 years old
Substance
Issues
Alcohol,
cannabis,
heroin,
cocaine,
amphetamines
(and other
substances
named above)
Most
young people in this age bracket
engage with us at point of crisis
Reluctance to acknowledge correlation
between substance misuse and
problematic behaviour until crisis stage
Many engaged with probation services
and generally more than two
outstanding fines/warrants. And Total
disengagement of education
mainstream or other wise and refusal to
reengage
Introduction of heroin (no cases of
injecting have been reported)
Additional issues





Increase in suicide and self harm
Increase in street violence (fire
arms)
Increase in levels of domestic
violence and child protection reports
Homelessness
Breakdown between community and
Gardai
Recommendations


Complexity of the issue needs to
reflected in policy
Young people in lower socio
economical environments are at
increased risk of problematic
substance misuse at a younger age




Youth centred, cohesive and holistic
approach
Flexible and inclusive inter agency
approach
The need for the youth setting to
evolve from prevention and education
to harm reduction and intervention
Need for support from specialist
agencies
The Youth Health Programme
Visionary HSE and Base
initiative to bridge the gap
between young people and
specialist services
Challenges
 Lack
of understanding and
awareness from both sides
 Rigidity of the structures
 Young people’s voice lost
Solutions





Reviewing structures (more flexible)
Building the capacity of both sides
Building the capacity of young
people
Youth work, programmes and
services
Inter agency partnership, family
and community involvement
Respecting and listening to
the young people and
their families
St. Johns Secondary School
my old school
Ballyfermot is a nice area
This is what you don’t see
Conclusion



Acknowledging the youth setting as
gatekeepers (access, engaging and
retaining young people)
Cohesive, holistic and flexible
partnership between all
stakeholders
Build the capacity of existing
models
It is a different way
of working
not a different budget
Thank you