Crime Reduction - Helping to Reduce Crime in Your Area

This report updates and reviews the changes in policy, in commissioning, design and delivery of services, and in our knowledge of the effectiveness of prevention and treatment interventions since 1996. The scope of the review covers tobacco, alcohol and drugs of potential misuse in young people up to the age of 19 years of age.

Substance use, and especially misuse, occurs in a developmental and environmental context. Many children and young people who misuse substances have multiple antecedent and co-occurring mental health, social and educational problems. Often these may date from the pre-school years, occur against even generations of adversity, occur in individuals with vulnerabilities such as learning and other developmental problems, and are deeply entrenched. Consequently any successful assessment and intervention service must be capable of recognising and adequately addressing potentially a wide range of predicaments and vulnerabilities. For these reasons it is crucial that drug and alcohol services concerned with children and young people - paediatrics, social services, education, child and adolescent mental health services and those in the non-statutory sector involved with young people, show a momentum towards integrated planning and response.

The principles that emerge in the report indicate that services should

• be child and young person centred

• be socially inclusive

• demonstrate effective communication within and between organisations and government departments

• be capable of seamless responses

• demonstrate accountability

• deliver evidence based interventions

Comprehensive services should be characterised also by a balance of health promotion, education and prevention, early identification and intervention and universal access to high quality care. Staffing of services should take into account the balance and mix of skills required to respond to the sometimes complex needs of some young people. A key ingredient in the success of services is the competence of the practitioners. Therefore of strategic importance is the delivery of a human resource strategy that encourages the development and maintenance of skills to agreed competency levels and retention of practitioners in the field.

Practical advice on implementing these principles is outlined in 7 action steps that are discussed in detail in the plan

1. Promote public awareness of substance use and misuse

2. Develop, disseminate and implement evidence based education and prevention programmes

3. Promote and improve the screening and assessment of substance use and misuse in children and young people

4. Develop, disseminate and implement evidence based interventions

5. Ensure equality of access to services for all racial/ethnic and socioeconomic and disadvantaged groups

6. Develop and implement a tiered model of services

7. Develop and implement a plan of integration

The Substance of Young People’s Needs (2001) PDF 464Kb is available from the Drugs website.