Twenty-four per cent of deaths amongst people under 25 have drugs as the contributing or underlying cause of fatality1. In many cases these deaths were witnessed by a friend who could have helped if only they had the skills and knowledge.
Australian Red Cross will give young people the skills to help them save a friend’s life in an alcohol or drug-related emergency through the save-a-mate (SAM) peer education program. Red Cross is now offering the program to schools in North West Melbourne and Geelong.
SAM is a non-judgmental education program that teaches students how to recognise, prevent and respond to the emergencies that may arise as a result of alcohol and other drug use.
Since launching in NSW in 1999, the SAM program has also been successfully delivered in SA, Qld, the ACT and the NT, with highly trained young volunteers reaching more than 7000 young people in schools over the past year.
Twenty-six-year-old Callum McPherson volunteered with the program in South Australia before moving to Melbourne and joining the new Victorian program. He says the key to SAM’s success lies in the fact that it is built on the premise of young people working with young people.
“We had some authority figure come to my high school and give the same old ‘drugs are bad, don’t do them’ message - it didn’t really have a huge effect,” said Callum.
Callum said the SAM training took into account the fact that young people did use alcohol and drugs and they needed to know what to do if they saw someone get into trouble.
“The SAM training is brilliant, a friend of mine OD’d on sleeping pills and if it wasn’t for the training I wouldn’t have known what to do,” said Callum. “You can make a difference if you know what to do.”
The SAM program is underpinned by the message ‘look after your mates’, and encourages young people to take responsibility for themselves, their friends and others around them. Volunteer peer educators take the students through sessions which cover understanding what a drug is, classifying drugs according to their effects, understanding the risks, recognising an emergency and practical ways to reduce harm.
The program has been launched at a time when Victorian research indicates that a large percentage of young people are consuming alcohol at extreme and harmful levels2.
According to Molly O’Shaughnessy, officer for the SAM program in Victoria, binge drinking continued to be a major issue amongst students across the state.
“Even kids who don’t use alcohol or drugs are still likely to be around people who do, and will benefit from knowing how to respond if something goes wrong,” said Molly. “We think save-a-mate is a vital addition to any school’s resources.”
SAM promotes the principles of the Victorian Drug Strategy. It is consistent with the Department of Education and Training’s drug education messages, in particular the In Tune program.
For more information about holding a SAM training session at your school call Molly O’Shaughnessy 03 8327 7902 or email viccommunityprograms@redcross.org.au
1 Adolescent Health, Volume 160, Issues in Society, editor Justin Healey, The Spinney Press 2002
2 Victorian Youth Alcohol and Drug Survey 2004: Alcohol and Illicit Drugs Findings, Premier’s Drug Prevention Council
