For many young people, experimenting with drugs and alcohol is just a part of growing up. While not all young people go on to become dependent, using drugs and alcohol during these formative years can have significant risks for a young person's physical, mental, and emotional development.

At KELY, our goal is to support young people to make healthy choices, protect themselves, and support their peers. Our Drug and Alcohol Awareness programmes focus on two key areas: drug and alcohol prevention strategies and harm reduction.

Drug & Alcohol Prevention Strategies

Each of our Drug and Alcohol Awareness programmes aim to equip young people with prevention strategies needed to avoid, delay, or reduce using drugs and alcohol. This means addressing the key reasons that lead to drug and alcohol use in young people in the first place, including stress, boredom, curiosity, and peer pressure. Through interactive workshops and activities, we work to improve young people's knowledge of drugs and alcohol, support them to develop healthy coping mechanisms for stress, and empower them to resist peer pressure.

We also intentionally engage young people in reaching their peers and take ownership of their own learning. Many of our programmes include a project component, where young people take the information and skills they have learned to develop youth-friendly drug and alcohol prevention resources to share with their peers.

Harm Reduction

In addition to preventing the use of drugs and alcohol, we also strive to meet young people where they are in a non-judgmental way to reduce the harms associated with drug and alcohol use. We work to break the stigma around drug and alcohol use, facilitate open and honest conversations, and encourage help-seeking behaviour.

Our Drug & Alcohol Awareness Programmes

Current:

• Drug and Alcohol Awareness Workshops- Workshops that cover drugs, alcohol, and related issues such as self-esteem & bullying, mainly for Ethnic Minority and non-Chinese speaking communities
• Moments not Wasted - A city-wide youth alcohol education and intervention service
• ExCEL! - Participants are trained and develop their own campaigns to promote culturally appropriate drug awareness information. Targets young people from Ethnic Minority backgrounds
• SOSKELY - Outreach at events to raises awareness about the immediate risks of binge drinking and offers practical harm reduction strategies to teenagers

Others:

• Drama Programme - Addressing key issues around substance misuse and its risk factors through drama training and short performances
• Prevention Starts with You - A one-off workshop to increases awareness around drug use, targets parents and teachers in English Medium of Instruction schools