Tue 11th November

I’m not sure I’ve ever had my two minutes silence for Remembrance Day on a train before, but after an eye wateringly early (and wet!) start, stuffed on a packed train to Leeds it was. Presenting to a packed room of student nurses, teachers, PSHE leads and alcohol harm reduction officers when you’ve been travelling for six hours and have five minutes to catch your breath is not ideal, but it was well worth it.

Mentor Adepis is a Department for Education funded outreach which brings together best practice for schools around drugs and alcohol. We were looking at how to involve parents via school – which is certainly the hardest part of the AET’s work – lots of engagement in primary school, but sooo difficult from Year 9 onwards. We’ve learnt lots of tips along the way – tea and cake being one of them and was happy to share our findings, as in terms of alcohol, parents are the main suppliers to those under 18 and having a ‘tough love’ approach basically delays the age that youngsters start drinking – parents are key as role models and boundary setters! Tipple of the day? Quite revolting chicken and stuffing curled edge sandwich with luke warm tea.. worst alcohol free moment yet!.