Stand Up! is a school-based youth development Programme for young people whose lives are influenced by alcohol and other drug use.

With the aim of supporting young people to reduce the impact of alcohol and other drugs, Stand Up!:

• Develops the resiliency of young people and their connections with their families/whānau, school and communities
• Empowers young people to be proud of who they are by setting personal goals and progressively evaluating their own progress
• Enables young people to recognise and build upon their personal strengths and achievements
• Provides opportunities for young people to form and experience pro-social relationships with other young people and adults

Rather than waiting for alcohol and other drugs to become a big problem in a young person’s life(for example by getting to the point where a young person may be at risk of being stood down or excluded from school), Stand Up! encourages and supports young people to make positive changes much earlier on. This means positively engaging and connecting with young people before they think that their alcohol or other drug use is an issue. In order to achieve this, Stand Up! is promoted in schools as a Youth Development Programme rather than an ‘alcohol and other drug’ programme. In this way, young people are empowered to make positive choices about their alcohol and other drug use as just one amongst many important aspects of their lives. This approach also helps to avoid the stigma that can come from being involved in an alcohol and other drug programme, fear of which can sometimes discourage young people from seeking help even when they recognise they need it.    

Reflecting this, Stand Up! is founded on principles of positive youth development and reflects the Te Whare Tapa Wha and Fonofale models of health and wellbeing. It also draws on national and international research evidence of ‘what works’ for young people, both in relation to their overcoming AOD-related problems as well as their personal and social development. 

However, Stand Up! is also a new and innovative model of service for young people that is characterised by the fact that it is both tailored to and integrated within the unique community of each participating school. This means that, rather than having to visit an external service, young people are able to access the confidential advice and support they need from specially trained practitioners within their own school, with the guidance of the Student Support Service.

Stand Up! is being developed and piloted in partnership by 11 lower decile schools in South Auckland, Counties Manukau District Health Board, Odyssey House Auckland and every young person who participates in the Programme! 

Counties Manukau DHB’s decision to develop and pilot a school-based AOD service in partnership with Odyssey House and local schools was initially informed by its already existing partnership with local lower decile schools to develop and implement school-based health services for young people.

Beginning initially in December 2006 in six lower decile schools, the Programme was extended into a further 5 schools in January 2009 following the very positive findings of an independent evaluation. After the success of this evaluation, Counties Manukau District Health Board decided to further expand Stand Up!. Youthline Auckland Charitable Trust was the successful tendering organisation, and will be providing Stand Up! services from Term Two 2011. This will raise the total number of schools involved with Stand Up! to thirteen.

Two trained alcohol and other drug youth practitioners, one male and one female, work as members of the multidisciplinary Student Support Service team of each participating school. This means they are able to decide what kind of support would be best for each student in partnership with other members this team. It also means that the specialist support of the Stand Up! practitioners is then provided as part of this team alongside other specialist contributions from school counselors, social workers and nurses whenever necessary.

In a nutshell, being involved in the Stand Up! Programme means that young people have access to tailored support that might include a combination of one-to-one counseling, group activities, peer support and family meetings. The main steps that a young person involved in Stand Up! is likely to go through are:

• Referral
  Young people can be referred to meet the practitioners through several pathways. These include:
  • Referring themselves, which the majority of young people do.
  • Being strongly encouraged  by others such as friends and school counselors.
  • As a result of Board of Trustees action as an alternative to being excluded or expelled from school.
  Because Stand Up! practitioners work as members of Student Support Services team there is no formal referral process or forms to be filled out - the key liaison person within each school simply passes a young person’s name to the Stand Up! practitioners when they’re in school.
• Individual 'Catch-Up' Session
  The first step after this is a meeting between a practitioner and the young person. The primary purpose of this meeting is to build relationship. In addition, the practitioner will support the young person to identify a purpose for being involved in the programme and how the hope to achieve this.
  This first meeting is guided by the HEEADSSS psychosocial assessment tool. However, the assessment also involves the Substances and Choices Scale, and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, both of which can be completed during subsequent meetings.
• Small Group Work
  Most of the programme is delivered in the form of small groups. The activities delivered in these groups help each young person to explore different areas of their life. Creative youth-friendly methods (such as drawing and song writing) are blended with evidence-based approaches (such as narrative therapy, motivational interviewing, and cognitive behavioural therapy) to help young people challenge themselves in a non-threatening manner.
  The group environment offers several benefits. These include:
  • Giving the young people positive experiences of relationship formation and role-modeling within a group.
  • Allowing the practitioners and young people to identify existing patterns of behaviour within a group and to learn new patterns of behaviour.
  • Helping young people to practice setting and evaluating their progress towards goals together with their peer group.
  • Enabling group members to witness and affirm the positive changes their peers are making, making it is easier for them to keep these changes outside the group.
• One to One Work
  Rather than participating in a group, some young people will see a practitioner on a one-to-one basis. This option will determined by the young person together with the practitioner at their first meeting and progressively reviewed throughout the young person’s involvement in the programme.
  
  All young people are able to ask for additional one-to-one sessions regardless of whether they are involved in a group or not. Occasional one-to-ones are also available for young people who have left or completed their group work or are no longer seeing a practitioner on a regular basis. 
• Other Involvement in the School Community
  Each school has a unique culture and way of working. The practitioners have been involved in other aspects of a school community which include:
  • Attending school events to support students, and to maintain an understanding of the school culture.
  • Training school peer support leaders or peer mediators on the effects of alcohol and other drugs and on communication skills.
  • Presentations for school health days.
  • Small workshops.
• Family Meetings
  If a young person and the practitioners decide that it would be helpful for the practitioners to meet their family, this can be arranged. This can help the young person to make changes in their family. These meetings usually involve other school staff such as the school counselor or social worker.
  Due to the integrated team approach, when other school staff are already involved in family work the Stand Up! practitioners will work alongside them in order to ensure that the young person’s work in the Stand Up! Programme is aligned with the work that happening in family meetings.
  The practitioners try to ensure that each young person will miss a maximum of one period a week.

The practitioners want to respect everyone’s story. In order to achieve this, they let young people know that what they talk about remains private and isn’t shared with others. However, the practitioners also let young people know that they work in a team with the student support staff, such as the school counselor, and that sometimes they may need to share information with other members of this team. This is especially the case if they are worried that a young person could be harmed by someone, or perhaps harm themselves or another person.

Each young person is encouraged to let the practitioners know if they are especially keen for something that they’d like to share to remain just between them.

Absolutely! Young people are always asked when they join Stand Up! if they’re already involved with other services and, if they say they are, whether they’d like these to be linked in with the work they’ll be doing in the Programme.

In addition, as a young person’s needs emerge and change whilst their involved in Stand Up! other services may also become involved if the young person, Stand Up! practitioners and other involved members of the Student Support Service team agree that this would be helpful. Often, in this event, a member of the Student Support Services team will make the referral

If you are interested in setting up a closer working relationship with the Stand Up! Programme, get in touch with us here.

If you would like further information please email us.