The Bega Valley Local Drug Action Team recently discussed that its services would not stop the use of drugs or alcohol, but try to minimise its harmful effects particularly on young people.
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Gabrielle Powell, arts health project officer for SWELL, said a main problem with alcohol or other drug (AOD) use in the region included a disconnection from family and community.
She said it was important to note there were young people who did not use alcohol or drugs, but were impacted by the social modelling within families.
“The Local Drug Action Team program supports communities to work together to prevent and reduce the harmful effects of alcohol and other drugs,” Ms Powell said.
“Bega Valley community groups have a diverse range of skills and experience to drive community-based action to prevent alcohol and other drug-related harms.”
She said meeting’s conclusions included deciding on a need for continuous programming and collaboration between services around alcohol or drug issues. Also, local agencies had their specific skills so they needed to collaborate together to get better outcomes.
“LDAT is an opportunity to increase conversations around AOD use and to build better partnerships around these issues,” she said.
The organisations that attended the meeting included South East Arts, BVSC Brighter Futures, Fling Physical Theatre, FaCs, Headspace Grand Pacific Health, Southern NSW Health,CDAT, Juvenile Justice, Campbell Page, Eden Futures, Katungul, Far South Coast Family Support, NSW Police, PCYC NSW Police, Bega TAFE, Bournda EEC, BVSC and Redcross.
