Teachers and youth workers urged to use new resources to raise awareness of drug and alcohol issues among young people

People are being urged to take advantage of new resources created by a Cumbrian charity aimed at raising awareness of drug and alcohol issues among young people.

Cumbria Alcohol and Drug Advisory Service (CADAS) has created a digital drugs and alcohol awareness session aimed specifically at secondary school pupils. For sixth form and further education students and for apprentices there are three other digital sessions available - on alcohol; smoking and vaping; and drugs.

CADAS works with children and adults, with people in the midst of addiction and dependency and those in recovery and with those individuals’ parents, carers and other

family members. It also does a huge amount of preventative work by running education and awareness sessions to increase the knowledge of professionals, such as teachers, social workers and the police, about substances that can become addictive and harmful to health.

The charity has just appointed a new senior manager to run its services in the north and west of Cumbria. Emma Spedding, 37, of Carlisle, manages CADAS’s operations and she said CADAS had always interested her, ever since hearing a presentation about its work while she was still at school. In her new role, Ms Spedding has also taken countywide responsibility for CADAS’s young people’s services, including its support for young people aged up to 18 with a substance use dependency and for the educational work the charity does in schools, colleges and youth groups.

The 37-year-old said: “My vision is to completely embrace the new technologies at our fingertips to enhance our services so we can reach as many people as possible. The geography in Cumbria is a barrier and the digital transformation gives us a massive opportunity to reach so many more people. We also want to get back to face-to-face sessions when it is safe to do so because people are really missing that contact.”

She said another priority was to recruit more volunteers to help run the charity’s services.