Starting Point Recruitment

August 2004 saw the merging of Sandwell’s Young Peoples Drug Education and Treatment Teams to create DECCA, ‘Drug Education, Counselling and Confidential, Advice’. The DECCA Team provide services for young people in Sandwell from basic drug education, to brief intervention, harm reduction and treatment.

Before their merge the Drug Education Team had worked with schools within Sandwell for over 4 years supporting them in the delivery of drug education devised by young people, for young people. It has been nearly 4 years since the original Drugs in School Pack was created. July 7th saw the launch of the new, updated resources for schools and we were lucky enough to receive an invite.

Margaret Storrie, Project Manager, opened the proceedings whilst Jon Bull, Drug Education and Co-Treatment Co-ordinator, led the schools through the new resources. When it comes to educating children and young people about drugs ‘Just Say No’ and scare tactics do not work. DECCA believes that we should be equipping young people with the skills to make informed decisions and their Drugs in School Pack does just that.

They have developed comprehensive resources for years 1-10 designed to educate children and young people through various mediums. They use circle time, interactive games, discussion and group work, their website (www.ukdrugzone.com) and leaflets to get children and young people thinking about the consequences around drug use. DECCA also has, as part of their resources for schools, their very own peer educators. These are young people trained to communicate with their peers and to whom young people can relate.

As we all know education does not stop at the school gate and more recently DECCA launched their very own text service for young people. The ‘Just say Woh!’ campaign, promoted through the use of green and purple wrist bands, available to the young people of Sandwell, were embossed with a number they could text for objective and accurate advice on all issues around drugs.

Over the years the team behind DECCA has grown immeasurably. We are extremely proud to have been able to play a part in that growth. Working in partnership with DECCA we have been able to accurately identify their requirements, advertise their positions and attract potential candidates. As experts in our field we have been able to successfully appoint several members to their team with the necessary specialist skills and experience that they require.

Two of those workers were at the launch, Lauren Booker and Anthony Byrne. Both Lauren and Anthony have since become senior members of the team since their initial appointment and are responsible for implementing a number of DECCA’s initiatives. Lauren is responsible for the co-ordination of education in schools and engaging with parents/guardians. Anthony is the lead for educating children and young people outside of a main stream school setting.

As a service educating and supporting children and young people DECCA has adapted to meet the changing needs of their audience with great success. They are proactive and up to date in their approach and delivery and it has been an honour to have been given the opportunity to recruit the dynamic and specialist individuals who have gone on to become an integral part of the team and their successes.