A Youth-Led Approach to Preventative Action on Substance Issues in Scotland
[0:03]
True or false Scotland has the highest rate of drug and alcohol deaths in Europe. 
[Text on screen – True
Nearly 2500 a year]
Guess how many there have been since 2014. 
[Text on screen – More than 23,000]
Do you think it's important that young people have a say in this and other things that can affect us?
[0:23]
[Text on screen – This is a film made by us…
The Audit Scotland Youth Advisors]
[0:25]
Recording! We are recording.
[Text on screen – It’s about how to capture our voices…
on important topics like the Drug & Alcohol Audit]
[0:32]
[Inaudible]
[0:47]
Hi! So I'm Sophia and I'm new to all of this, and this is Lily Jane who's going to teach me all about the Audit Scotland Youth Advisory Panel which she's been a part of, for how long now? 
[0:57]
A year. 
[0:58]
So what is the panel like? 
[0:59]
So we are a group of young people who come together and collaborate on our ideas and our opinions on the audits that we've been presented with.
[1:08]
Who's in it? 
[1:10]
So there's about 26 young people in it and we range from ages between 10 and 18 we're from all over Scotland so Edinburgh, Glasgow, Falkirk, Stirling and Aberdeen. 
[1:19]
So how does it work then? 
Like any projects or that? 
[1:22]
So we meet about once a month and in the meetings we discuss the audits. 
So the audits we've done so far are Sustainable Transport audit and the Drugs and Alcohol audit. 
[1:33]
What is the drugs and alcohol audit? 
[1:36]
The drugs and alcohol audit is a review of how problems with drug misuse are being tackled in Scotland and the quality of the service provided. 
Young people were involved in this audit through a panel in which they expressed their concerns around drugs and alcohol in their local areas. 
[1:48]
Now, what's the impact of such an audit?
[1:51]
I'm glad you asked! 
So, thanks to the young people at the youth panel Audit Scotland has learned how young people are learning and are getting to know about drugs and alcohol and realised that, sadly, young people are finding it easier to get the drugs and alcohol than to find the help that they need. 
Because of this, we have come to  the conclusion that education is an essential part in prevention, which is why we call in Ray from Audit Scotland for a quick question. 
[2:25]
So welcome Ray. Thank you for coming. We had a quick question and it was how has the youth panel helped or improved or even changed Audit Scotland? 
[2:35]
So the first thing I say is that as Auditors it's important that we hear from as wide a range of people as possible and of course that includes children and young people. 
The Youth Advisory Group on our audit told us that prevention was really important to them and they also told us that the way that substance use harm is taught in schools wasn't effective. 
That allowed us to take those questions into the fieldwork that we carried out as part of our audit, and where we saw examples of good practice we were able to highlight those in our report. 
[3:06]
That's amazing, thank you so much. 
[3:08]	
Thank you.
[3:10]
When we talked to Audit Scotland, it was clear that PSE classes were the best way to deliver information. 
Now we'll see a recreation of what the ideal PSE classroom should be like. 
[3:19]
Right, good afternoon, everyone I hope you all had a good week. 
Today we're going to be discussing drugs, alcohol, and vaping. Scotland actually has the highest rate of drugs and alcohol related deaths in the  whole of Europe. 
The most affected areas are like the poorer areas so I think that's definitely a problem that needs tackling. 
So before we start, I just want to make it clear that this is like a totally safe space – judgment free - so you guys should feel free to share your honest opinions and your personal experiences. 
We left out an Anonymous box at the end of last week, and we actually got a response from Joanne who said that she would share her story with the class. 
So, are you ready to do that?
Yeah okay, thank you.
[4:00]
My friend had never vaped or drunk before until last week. 
We were walking home from school and we saw some of her friends vaping and drinking  in the park. 
They were saying things like 'go on have a puff' and 'come on just try it, it won't hurt'. 
I tried to drag her away but they were just pushing and pushing, and then she only took one or two puffs and then I managed get her to walk away. 
But 10 minutes later she said she was feeling lightheaded and then she lost consciousness. 
I had to phone an ambulance and she's still in the hospital. 
I know there was something in that Vape that shouldn't have been there. 
I'm worried, and I don't want this to happen to anyone else.  
[4:45]
Thank you so much for sharing that with us, cause that must have been a really stressful situation, I can imagine.
Does anyone want to say anything maybe any experiences of peer pressure or of vaping in school? 
[4:48]
Yeah definitely! 
In school I've experienced like a lot of peer pressure. 
Maybe not in like vaping and stuff but just in like the general like classroom and like hallways and stuff. 
[5:08]
Do we think that if you start vaping young, something like that, then do you think that could be sort of a gateway to starting to use drugs or drink alcohol? 
[5:19]
Yeah
[5:20]
I'm glad we're in agreement, because I think that that could be overlooked, but I agree that that could be quite an issue.
[5:30]
So I think that that sort of PSE lesson is a lot better than some of the PSE lessons we get in school these days. 
Do you agree? 
[5:37]
Yeah, we get to talk more with people like around us when we're sitting closer to them instead of being separated around the classroom and not being able to communicate ideas with each other, and just sitting there in silence watching a video that they were like 'oh I'm just going to put on a video'. 
[5:53]
No, I agree. 
I also think just creating that environment which is totally like judgment free you don't feel like people are going to go repeat it and gossip about it and I think you feel that you can speak just your honest opinion and  experiences. 
I think that definitely creates like a better, a better space for everyone. 
[6:10]
Yeah, especially the teachers - the teachers can’t really like comment like stuff on what you're saying because that makes you feel like you’re kind of like being judged. 
By not your classmates, by the teacher themselves! 
And that's not really a great environment for a student because they might need to talk to a teacher about something important that they don't feel comfortable talking to kids their age. 
[6:31] 
Yes, no I definitely agree. 
I think that PSE lesson is a lot more helpful to hopefully preventing drug and alcohol abuse. 
[6:49]
[Text on screen - To summarise:
Give us a voice. 
PSE classes could be central to any national prevention program.
Involve us fully in the design and facilitation. 
This will ensure a safe and non-judgemental environment for sharing and learning.]
[6:53]
If there's one thing we want you to take away from this, don't let yourself be influenced. 
If you have been influenced already, you should read this report. 
Please don’t let yourself add to that number!
[7:06]
Cut! Very good! 
[7:08]
So that's been really good, so how... so  like what...can we start again please? 
[7:13]
And sadly, have realised... Not sadly... 
[7:17]
Share our ideas on the panel... sorry... 
[7:21]
Education and prevention go hand in hand. 
I think we have to scrap all of this. 
[7:27]
What do you mean scrap all of this? 
[7:28]
Scotland has the highest rate of dug and alcohol deaths in Europe. 
Guess how [notes given off camera - you said dug]
[7:38]
Cut! I'm the director, I was waiting for someone to say cut!
[Audit Scotland logo]