Laurianne

Quebec

Issue: Drugs
Why? Drug use is becoming more frequent in my school and youth don’t always consider the consequences of their actions.

Updated: 2011-03-20

The first part of my action plan has taken place. Two ‘presenters’ came and spoke to youth aged 14 and 15 about their lives and the drug problems they’ve experienced. Afterwards, the students reflected on the presentations with the school liaison police officer and discussed the legal aspects related to drug use.

I believe that the project has had a positive impact in my community. During the reflection (in class), many youth stated that they did not, or no longer wanted, to do drugs and that they would be more adamant about saying no. The presenters really changed the way the students saw drug use; as they now know what could happen.

I learned that I have the power to help make my community a better and safer place and because of this project, a lot of youth will no longer use drugs. They are much better informed on the subject now.

I’ve realized that I could pull-off big projects, step by step. I won’t get discouraged if a project I am working on doesn’t seem to be going as quickly as I would like it to; some things take an enormous amount of time and preparation.

I would tell them to keep it up and to not hesitate to get help when they need it. I did not accomplish my project by myself; I had the support of professionals who have a better understanding on the subject. These people wanted to make my community better and together we were able to create an effective prevention project. It’s important make a plan and go through with it, rather than just talking about community problems.

Updated: 2011-10-15

We have found presenters (people who will be speaking to youth about their personal experiences with alcohol and drugs). We’ve also set up dates for the presentations: part of the project will occur in November and the other part will take place in March. We’ve also decided what each session is going to look like (the presenter will discuss his or her story during the first period, than the legal and educational aspects will be discussed when the youth return).

As for the difficulties, finding presenters was not an easy task for Mrs. Brûlé, the probation officer who is helping me with my project. Furthermore, getting a good group of people together to help with the project was pretty complicated. Changes occurred often within the team (workers were assigned to other functions and therefore, they were no longer taking care of substance abuse and the schools).

For the presenters, we had to remove some of our selection criteria. We decided to organize another meeting with the new team, so that everyone would have the same information.

RCMP Cst. Lefort is assisting me and is present at all the meetings. I also have help from Mr Juan-Claudia Vera, the grade 11 ethics teacher, he is letting me know when is the best time for the presentation. The probation officer is also assisting with organizing the presenters.

Updated: 2011-06-28

Since my last update, Suzanne (the officer assisting me with my Action Plan) and I have organized a meeting at school so that all the participants of the project are given the same information. In addition to Suzanne and I, the individual who is responsible for drug prevention within the school (who is helping us to plan the project at school, with the principal, etc.), the officer responsible of our community (that informs us of youth issues and their consequences, she could even speak in front of a youth audience) and a probation officer (that take will take care of finding the presenters and make sure the project is safe and appropriate for youth) were at the meeting.

We all agreed on organizing a series of guest speakers with people who have had alcohol or drugs ruin their life (we’ll probably also talk about the legal, social and financial aspects). The research for candidate will only start at the beginning of September, since the project will commence at the beginning of the school year. The probation officer will take care of it, because she knows who would be right for it.

Ideally, the speakers would present during ethics classes in secondaire 3 (9th grade) (for youth between 14 and 15 year old) and there would be a follow-up during the year (to see what the youth have retained about the presentation). The secondaire 3 (9th grade) ethics teacher is interested in the project. He even told me that the teacher responsible for Life studies is looking into doing a similar project during the second semester next year.

We decided not to work on the project for the summer (the school members are on holidays). We will continue with the planning at the end of August.

Updated: 2011-05-01

What issue did you choose to address in your Action Plan? I chose the issue of drug use because it is happening in my school.

Why did you choose that issue? I chose that issue because it is becoming more frequent among youth, including those from my school. Also, youth don’t always consider the consequences of their actions and how it can affect their future.

How are you going to address the selected issue? I would like to demonstrate to youth what could happen to them if they keep using drugs. I am planning on using posters displaying the “before” and “after” life of a drug user (physical and monetary consequences), as well as visiting grade 9 to 12 classes with a speaker who still has problems caused by her present and/or past drug abuse.

What do you hope to achieve in the next year? I am hoping to raise awareness among other youth so they understand how drugs can be harmful and therefore change their attitude towards them. I am also hoping to get them to realize that using drugs has nothing to do with becoming popular at school and fitting in.

What progress have you made so far? I have discussed my project with the person responsible for such initiatives in the school; he agreed and could even help me. I am planning on starting the project before next Christmas vacation so that youth won’t forget the message and won’t change attitude during the school year. I have already contacted Mitchell Kutney and asked for his help to find a speaker. I also asked for the help of a police officer from Gatineau for the same purpose.