SSMART ANSWERS CONFERENCE

SSMART Answers Community Conference

Background:

Strengthening Generations is a City of Ballarat program that is committed to using evidence to inform and implement programs that focus on prevention of risks and harms to youg people. Local research conducted in Ballarat discovered the following information:

• There is a significant increase in binge drinking from young people aged around 12 (Year 7) to when they are about 14 or 15 (Year 9)
• The increase in young people drinking so much that they are drunk, sick and even pass out is also significant for these age groups
• That young people will use a substance (alcohol included in this) if they don't think it is risky

What Strengthening Generations has done with this information is to form a Network call SSMART (Surviving Substance Misuse & Alcohol Risk Taking). The SSMART Network is a collaboration of local government with health, welfare, community, education and justice organisations and young people, brought together to tackle the issues of binge drinking and unsafe party behaviour. It is not about telling young people not to drink or party, it is about giving them the information and knowledge they need to reduce the risks  to themselves and their mates.

The SSMART ANSWERS Conference - Young People involved in positive change

The SSMART Network successfully gained funding for two SSMART Answers conferences held in 2007 and 2009. Young people from a variety of schools across Ballarat were involved in the planning and organisation of pre conference workshops and the two day conference.

Statement 2d. "The conference really did provide me with some
SSMART Answers"

The second SSMART Answers conference 2009 - ‘How we can talk about Alcohol' allowed young people to explore the key issues identified at the previous conference and introduced new issues which had previously not been addressed. During SSMART ANSWERS 2 young people, parents, sector workers and community members participated in a variety of workshops using theatre, graphic art, film, music and forum theatre, panel sessions and action planning workshops to examine the key issues.

The second day of the conference culminated in an action planning session during which students were invited to focus on a strategy within their school community and then within the local community where they lived to tackle binge drinking.

Evaluation Report 2009 p 16 Alison Ollerenshaw & Angela Murphy Uni of Ballarat

The next stage in the SSMART ANSWERS project is to work with the SSMART Network and the Taskforce of young people being established to progress the strategies put forward. Use of the latest evidence will be aligned with those strategies to ensure their implementation is effective and worthwhile.

• SSMART Conference Report_28 Oct09_final.pdf
• SSMART Answers Report 09.pdf
• SSMART ANSWERS - 07 Conference rep and evaluation. pdf