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How to do drug prevention among teenagers effectively? Adults all over the world are trying to answer this question, but all their efforts usually give no result. As a rule teens ignore information on drugs coming from their teachers and parents. |
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Foto: Tatiana Honzhurova |
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| It is evident that young people are more likely to believe the information coming from their peers. NGO Kalegium took this fact into consideration while working out the strategic plan to organize a youth movement against drugs in Pinsk. Kalegium uses the experience of our partners: Club Rovesnik from St. Petersburg, RNS (Swedish National Union for Drugfree Society) and also WOCAD (Women’s Organizations’ Committee on Alcohol and Drugs) and tries to adjust it to local conditions. Practice shows that many teenagers take an active stand against drugs. Many of them possess leadership qualities and are able to influence their peers’ mode of thinking and also to form negative attitude towards drugs among teenagers. So Kalegium aims at educating youth leaders against drugs and on healthy lifestyles propaganda. We have already made the first steps! In year 2003 the students of Pinsk Pedagogical College were educated by Kalegium. The course on drug prevention and healthy lifestyles propaganda included information on Belarusian legislation and politics on drugs, on harmful influence of drugs on human organism, and also methods of teaching children against drugs. Students listened to the lectures and practical training, based on interactive modern technologies. Oksana Dubnovitskaya, the paediatrician and the participant of the project, considers it is to be very important to work with young people. She said: “It is necessary to organize the educational process in the proper way. Our aim is to help future social pedagogues form an active stand against drugs. Soon they will start working with school teachers and I hope they will influence the teenagers’ mode of thinking”. The course was based on two programs – “Peer Education” and “Rubble and Roses”. In “Rubble and Roses” special attention was paid to building self-esteem, as this quality is necessary for the ability to make important decisions, especially when it concerns drugs. Tatyana Korogvich, the psychologist, thinks that using new technologies makes the educational process more interesting and intensive. She said: “Kalegium uses new interactive methods – this is interesting for teens and helps to involve more and more youngsters in anti drug movement”. Not only the specialists but also the students appreciate this program. Lena, the student of the faculty of Social Pedagogy, thinks that different games make the educational process more interesting. Two initiative teenagers’ groups had been formed in two schools of Pinsk. It was planned to form more groups and also to organize a teenagers’ club where youngsters will be able to meet, to share their experience and simply to have good time together. Nadya Avsievich, the leader of NGO Kalegium, considers that youth movement against drugs has good perspectives. This project opens new possibilities for spreading information against drugs in the circles of youngsters and gives them good opportunities to spend their spare time in an active way. Olga Kostetskaya, the student, said, that she liked very much the seminars and classes she attended. She added that she had already used this knowledge in practice working at schools with initiative teenagers’ groups. And the most important thing is that she would like to continue. Translation from Russian: Nadya Avsievich |
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