Youth leadership on alcohol

In recent months, alcohol and young people have featured prominently in the news. There have been a number of liquorrelated deaths and injuries, controversies over afterball parties and much debate about drinking and purchasing ages.

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But what hasn’t made the news is the significant number of young people around the country who have become active in their communities, working towards change and greater awareness about excessive drinking.

During Youth Week (22–30 May), more than 50 activities took place around New Zealand addressing alcohol harm. Young people of all ages participated in these activities, with many taking on leadership roles. They were sponsored by ALAC and coordinated by New Zealand Aotearoa Adolescent Health and Development (NZAAHD).

Here are profiles of just a few.

Tairawhiti youth masquerade ball
Youth worker Jimi Hills organised an official masquerade school ball in Ruatoria for students from all over the Central East Coast. He spent more than 12 months putting it together, but reckons it was a great success.

“Young people here don’t really get much formal stuff like this, so the idea was to bring the party to the rural kids. We had a swanky four-course meal with a band and a DJ. But it was more than just an evening of fine dining. There was some fine information, too.

“We had a performance from ‘2.0’, one of New Zealand’s best and youngest hip-hop groups, who then spoke to us about their personal experience as young performers when it came to drugs and alcohol. It was good for the kids to hear from role models who were not much older than themselves.

“After the dinner, a number of guests spoke to the kids about their personal experience growing up in New Zealand and about alcohol. We had Monty Soutar, who served in New Zealand’s 28th Mäori Battalion during World War II, and Rua Tipoki, who used to play rugby for the Canterbury Crusaders and the New Zealand Mäori.

“We had more than 200 kids come, and they all stayed the night, so the next day we put on a breakfast for everyone. We ran a few workshops on health and youth attitudes and heard from other speakers about methamphetamine, addiction and gang culture.

“It was all about giving these kids a chance. They were inspired by some pretty important and influential people. Some of them were a bit surprised because they turned up expecting a dance, but they all had a pretty good time.”

Northland youth health expo
Rina Hudson is a Whangarei careers consultant with a passion for guiding young people to success within their communities. During Youth Week, she facilitated a mini expo where public health and social services professionals spoke to youth and members of the community about education, health and social support services available in Whangarei.

“The purpose of the expo was to get older and younger people communicating on these important issues. It was an opportunity for the young people to hear about the harm alcohol can do to individuals, to families and to our entire community.

“The motivation behind the expo was the losses caused by alcohol, including loss of lives through alcohol-related diseases and car accidents, but also the repercussions on our community and whänau of alcohol-related crime and violence.

“About 35 young people from the community organised the whole event. They were handing out flyers weeks before and spent ages advertising the expo. They provided the morning and afternoon tea, coordinated the speakers, acted as MCs and even helped people in the car park!

“You always read negative stuff in the papers about our teenagers, so it was really nice to finally hear some positive things being said.

“They all really enjoyed organising and coordinating everything, so they’re planning to continue by holding some after-school health workshops. But I think their next plan is to have a disco. Watch this space!”

Tauranga photography workshop
Lizzie Macrae, a Community Youth Worker at the Merivale Community Centre in Tauranga, organised a photography workshop for young people in the area.

“Every night over Youth Week, we got a professional photographer to come and teach the youth the basics of photography and about lighting and angles. We only had about six kids, but they were all really keen to learn.

“After the lessons, we sent the students out into the community and told them to use their new skills to create photos that were related to alcohol and the harm it does to families and the community.

“We are just a small community; we only have one set of shops and one place that sells liquor, but, unfortunately, there are lots of people in our community that use alcohol for selfmedication.

“All of the young people had been affected by alcohol-related harm, and some have family who struggle with alcohol, so it’s something that has had a significant impact on their lives and something that we really wanted to address.

“They took some great photos. They all symbolised the problems people and communities face when alcohol is abused. There were photos of money falling from a bottle down a drain, a family seated around a table with nothing but bottles on their plates and a glass bottle gradually smashing as it got emptier.

“The photos are all exhibited at our community centre so the community can see and experience the great work of our young people.”

Coming together in Invercargill
Rhonda Hoffman, a Child Advocate for children affected by family violence, wanted to organise an event that would allow both young and old to share their thoughts and experiences regarding alcohol.

“We ran a discussion group at our local marae. The event was called Whänau Ora – Coming Together – Connecting Youth and Family. The idea was to get young people talking about their opinions and experiences with alcohol, and about 25 people from the community came, as well as people from Barnados, Family Violence focus groups, the Southern District Health Board, Adventure Development and the YMCA.

“We started by presenting scenarios to do with alcohol, and people ranked them either low, medium or high, depending on the amount of risk they felt in each situation. For example, in one scenario, we asked how people would feel if someone they didn’t know was pouring and mixing their drinks. The discussions really showed how different attitudes can be between younger and older people.

“We then started four main areas of discussion led by Adventure Development. The first was advice for the adults given by the youth, who asked that their parents communicate better instead of hassling them when it came to alcohol. They felt this would promote honesty.

“Then the adults gave advice to the youth. They also asked for better communication and honesty but also for the youth to take responsibility for their actions and to question themselves as to the motivation behind their drinking.

“We moved on to discussing the self-harm that drinking does and also the harm to others. Nearly everyone present had a friend or family member who had been injured or killed in an alcohol-related incident.

“Lastly, we talked about our responsibility as a community to take action against alcohol misuse. It’s not just a family issue anymore; it’s to do with our whole community.”