How to Drug Proof Your Kids

First the good news: most young people are not doing illegal drugs. But say the word ‘drugs’ to any parent, and a shiver will pass through them. It’s a topic that worries them all.

The misuse of alcohol – most recently, binge drinking - by our young people is very worrying, too. One life and family being destroyed by drug or alcohol misuse is one too many.

Care for the Family wants to help you reach the parents and others in your community who are worried about the effect of drugs on their children, equipping them and empowering them to help their children make healthy lifestyle choices.

That’s why we launched How to Drug Proof Your Kids in 2003; since then, thousands of parents and other carers have attended a DPYK course run in their local community by one of the many people trained across the UK by Care for the Family.

For more details about this six-session course, which mixes positive parenting skills with drugs information, click here.

Consider:

• It is easier to get DPYK up and running if there are a small team of people available – for example, someone who can do the publicity, someone else who will look after admin, etc. Then the presenters can focus on running the actual sessions. (You may also find the Birkman Express report useful in helping to discover your strengths and motivations. Find out more at http://www.lookingatlife.org.uk/work_birkmanexpress).
• The course is most popular with parents of 11/13 year olds, as they transition between junior and secondary education. This makes it an ideal course for schools to offer parents as part of extended school provision.

One father explains why DPYK provides churches with a great opportunity to engage right at the heart of the big issues in their community:
Ivor Forrest first got involved with DPYK because of his own personal experience with his son, Craig, a heroin addict.

“I tried to find out why it had happened, and what I could do about it. I wanted help, to understand what was happening to our family,” says Ivor.

“I felt that running DPYK courses was something I could do. I went home and told my wife Denise about the course, and she wanted to attend as well.”

As a consequence of their experience, Ivor and Denise were asked to assist on future training courses for new DPYK presenters. Since then, they have been almost entirely responsible for training the 400 DPYK presenters who now run courses in Scotland.

“There are real benefits for churches in engaging with their community through courses like DPYK,” Ivor believes. “It makes the church relevant and opens doors for conversation – because just about every parent is worried about their kids taking drugs. It’s all about getting the church out in the community rather than waiting for the community to come in.

“If you start running DPYK, your church will also have an opportunity to engage with parents, youth, youth workers, schools, social workers, the police and community workers.”

Ivor and Denise have built a strong team over the past five years. From small beginnings, they now have the opportunity to make a real difference not just in their neighbourhood, but across Scotland.

“The opportunities are endless. We’ve found a real openness to this course in the community, particularly with the police. We have trained police officers in the Dumfries & Galloway and Strathclyde forces to deliver this course, with the blessing and encouragement of their chief constables. We’ve had policemen with years of experience in combating drugs say that this is the first time they’ve felt positive that they can actually make a difference.”

Last Updated 11 November 2008