After hours of stuffing thousands of folders one by one (I’m not even exaggerating!), the Office of Community Safety has released the revised Parent Resource Toolkit “It’s Never Too Early… Talk To Your Kids About Drugs & Alcohol”.
Never heard of it?
The first version has been around for a couple of years, used by a number of agencies around Edmonton. In 2009 we decided that the toolkit was in need of a bit of an update, so after lots of hard work by the ICAAE (ICE-AH) Learning Team we created a more up-to-date resource available in 12 languages.
Last week the City of Edmonton hosted a launch to show off the new toolkit. There were a number of great speakers representing the City of Edmonton, Edmonton Police Service, Alberta Health Services, the Family Centre and the Multicultural Health Brokers.
A local School Resource Officer explained the content of the toolkit page by page and shared some of his experiences working with youth in high school. It was definitely eye-opening to hear about how he has found drugs stashed in highlighters or even cases for glasses.
Hip Hop Artist Conway Kootenay of Red Power Squad performed an emotional spoken word piece about addiction. He spoke as a parent and also as a young man from an aboriginal community, stressing the need to help youth to live healthy lifestyles.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7Dek8Dwo5I&rel=0]
To wrap up the launch four young men took the podium with a special message for parents. I have to say that this was my favorite part of the event – but I am certainly biased! Matthew, Logan, David and Taskheer are part of Youth Action on Addiction, a group that was recently formed that I coordinate to look at addictions issues affecting youth in Edmonton (that’s a whole other entry for another day!). They kicked off their speech with a joke, told some stories about how drugs and alcohol have affected their lives, and then wrapped up with some tips to parents about having “the talk”. They also pointed out that it’s never too early to talk about drugs and alcohol with your kids, but that it’s also never too late. Sound advice right from the youth.
A hard copy of the toolkit is available by calling 311 or you can find it online at Edmonton.ca/safedmonton. It is a free resource, and is useful not just for parents but for anyone who is a trusted figure in the life of a young person: older siblings, aunts, uncles, guardians, teachers… the list goes on. No matter who you are, it’s never too early to start the conversation.
