HopeFM & The Bizhear Podcast
Hope FM Best Bis - CAN (July 2024)
You're listening to Community Now on Hope FM with Keith Jones Bookshop serving the community for over 50 years. Visit kefjones.co.uk Well it is the final Wednesday of the month here on Community Now which means of course we have a look at the work of the Community Action Network and also announce the community hero in the spotlight for July. Welcome Hannah. Thank you for having me. Yeah, welcome Babina. While since me and you have chatted, I don't think maybe we haven't even done it this year. So I'm delighted to have you on the show again today. You had a bit of time off. Every time I was doing a show you were off and vice versa and et cetera, et cetera. So yeah, welcome back. And we're going to get a little bit of an update on the work of Community Action Network. But first of all, and I'm sure everybody knows this, but in case there's anyone new listening this week, what is a Community Action Network? It is a wonderful charity which I work for and I've been with for about eight years. Our role is to support not-for-profit groups across the whole of Dorset, including BCP and the rural side of Dorset. So any not-for-profit groups, any charities registered or unregistered, we are here to support you, to help you to run effectively, to find volunteers, to find staff, to find funding, and we run lots of different types of free support or any group. So please do get in touch with us if we can help. Fantastic. And such a diverse array of different charities and not-for-profits that we've had here on Community Now over there. And he is a two or maybe even approaching three years that we've done these canned specials on the last Wednesday of every month. We've got a brand new organization that we're going to be talking about a little bit later on when we announced the Community Hero in the spotlight for the month of July. So each and every month shining the light on a different organization who's doing brilliant work to lift up our community and this month is no different. Before we get to that, though, Hannah, last time out, last month, with Blair, you were talking about a brand new project and you got an update on that for us. I do. We're really excited to receive some National Lottery funding for a three-year project for supporting ethnically diverse communities. It's two. There's a team of three wonderful women. I'll give them a shout-out, Maya, Tama and Katya, who are there to visit and get to know all the different community groups across the area who support people from a range of different ethnic backgrounds to get the support they need to run their groups as successfully as possible. They've got a big exciting launch event on Thursday this week. So that's Thursday, the 27th of June and it's down at Bournemouth Uni. You have to book your place. So I think the best thing to do would be to email hello@can100.org and just say that you're interested in the ethnically diverse communities event and see if you can get yourself a free ticket there. And it's out for people to come along and find out about the organisations or is that for organisations themselves to come and talk about what they do? At this point it's for the organisations themselves. So if you know anybody or you work in a group that's registered or unregistered that supports people from different backgrounds across the coal county then please find out about this event and come along and meet the team and see what supports available for you. So what charities and organisations have already signed up or already shown in interest in order to benefit from this new project? Well lots and lots which is really fantastic news but there's room for more. I've just had a quick look. We've got groups coming from the Jewish community. We have groups from it's all about culture who are a multi-ethnic support group. They run lots of different types of support. We've got Khushdi Bock who are a Gypsy Roma Traveller Support charity. They'll be coming and another one I just spotted was Dorset Interfaith Group. So a mixture of face working together there. So it's going to be a really vibrant community event. Perfect, perfect. Reiterate those dates for us then and where people can go if they're interested in coming along. Well the event taking place at Bournemouth Uni on Thursday the 27th of June in the evening. You do need to look at a ticket which is free The quickest way to do that now is to email hello@can100.org and to ask for the link to book tickets for the ethnically diverse communities project which we shorten to the EDC project. So you can just send off a quick email there to the team and they will get you sorted. And if you happen to be listening to Meine Hannah's conversation on Sunday and you're thinking the 27th well I can't travel back in time. Don't worry you can still find out all the information you need over I guess at the main website I'm can100.org. That's correct isn't it good okay. Information stations then for all the other work that Community Action Network do tell us about these information stations who are they for? Yes well we have another project which is ongoing now where members of our well-being team are out and about in the public view at different locations with a vast amount of knowledge inside their heads on leaflets and on a laptop or a PC which laptop which they'll have with them and it's for anyone who wants to find out ways to entertain themselves, lift their spirits, get support with particular health difficulties they might be having or are someone that they know and love. There's loads and loads of different community groups and events going on and if you go up to our members of the team the well-being collaborative they're called they will be in their logoed can logo outfits so you can find them and you can just say look I'm a bit of a loss on a Wednesday I'm really interested in bird watching what is there and you can bet your bottom dollar that somewhere there'll be a community group well I know there are who will offer free bird walks and you know advice and cuts of tea a range of different locations across the whole county so they're going to be regular points so I'll tell you where they are. They're going to be in castle point libraries each Monday in June or July which from 11 till 1 so that's castle point on Mondays and then on Tuesdays the team will be in Christchurch library from 2 till 4 and there'll be another member of the team over in Boscombe at the digital skills hub which is on the high street and they'll also be there from 2 till 4 and these are absolutely free to drop in to just go in and ask them to help you find something that you're interested in and they will be able to provide that information for you I'm sure. Perfect and such an array such a vast amount of organizations and charities aren't there connected to cannons ever growing yeah yeah as well there's definitely bird watching ones in there I don't think we've had a bird watching charity organization in our community here in the spotlight like yeah have we we need to find them yeah we need to have a wildlife thing don't we? That's the next there we go sorted. 90.1 Hopefam and Hopefam.com The community here in the spotlight for the month of July I better play our little trumpet fanfare here we go. Okay Hannah who is it? Talk about trust. That's trust isn't it not trust. No trust. T-R-U-S-T. Talk about trust. Yeah tell us about them then Hannah. They're an alcohol education charity they've been going for the last 15 years they do wonderful work and the reason we've chosen them to be our heroes for July is it's Alcohol Awareness Week from the first to the seventh of July so these are a great organization to find out more about. Fantastic well I'm going to be speaking to Helena from the talk about trust very very shortly but just to reiterate one more time for us Hannah and those contact details for our can and maybe there's those dates again for where people can pop in for those information stations. Sure the information stations are taking place every Monday in July at Castle Point Library from 11 to 1 and Christ Church Library every Tuesday in July from 2 till 4 and lastly Boscombe Digital Skills Hub in the High Street every Tuesday in July from 2 till 4. To find out more you can go on our website www.can100.org you can email us at hello@can100.org we have a phone number 01202 466 130. You're listening to Community Now on Hope FM with Keith Jones Bookshop serving the community for over 50 years visit kefjones.co.uk So here's a community now here on Hope FM and as you were hearing just before the break there with Hannah Reese from Community Action Network, Cairns Community Hero in the spotlight for the month of July just in time for Alcohol Awareness Week is the talk about trust and I'm delighted to welcome to Hope FM to talk about the charity today. Helena Conibear founder and CEO of the Talk About Trust welcome to Hope FM Helena. Thank you so much Dan what a pleasure to be here and thank you for choosing our charity. Listen absolute pleasure like I say very timely for this alcohol awareness week before we get into talking about the work that the charity does specifically with children and young people and tell us how the charity started and your involvement as well. Sure yes so we were founded 15 years ago and I'm pleased to say we're Dorset Born and Bread and we started as a group of teachers and health professionals who came together because there was nothing in schools at the time to what we call sort of do preventative work to actually sort of give children the skills and the information and the knowledge to be able to make safer choices around alcohol it was at the time just alcohol although now we've moved into vaping in cannabis and other substances and there was a lot of evidence from other countries of sort of what works and what we could do so we asked permission from a program in Australia and another one that had been trialled in Europe if we could adapt it for English schools and something that could be delivered in health education lessons and that's how we started just around a kitchen table initially and then a year later in 2010 we established ourselves as a charity and we were already in something like a hundred schools. So how does how does this compare maybe with I mean when I was at school like campaigns I just say no and and campaigns of that ill account how do you differ from those sort of like messages because it doesn't work just saying no to teenagers is like red rag to the bulls I'm sure you can remember so what was interesting about being able to look at what was happening in other countries is that if you use scare tactics or what we call fear arousal or just concentrate on giving facts it just doesn't work you know kids sort of switch off and they oh you know who's this old fogey to tell me what to do in this and the other so what we do is we sort of use games we use discussion based activities we use pictures we use stories we could an online nightclub we've got sort of testimonial you know sort of films by young people about what's happened to them so it really really brings it to life so when we go into schools we have about 15 minutes of sort of information and facts and then a good 20 minutes of a fun activity that makes the facts make sense and then about 10 minutes of discussion about what you've learned you know how your perceptions might have changed and those sorts of things so it's really engaging it's discussion based and actually in many cases what we do is we actually train teachers to deliver our resources because what we also know is just say somebody like me parachuting in the kids really enjoy it but actually it's the youth leaders and the teachers and the people who work day to day with children who are trusted and known by them and know what the issues are going on perhaps at home or in their community who are more effective at building up what we call spirals of knowledge and decision-making skills and resilience I always found those just like just say no campaigns and they might have been effective for some people but I always found that oh I haven't said no in an occasion or somebody hasn't said no and then it's automatic failure then isn't it it's like there's almost like what we've been told there's no coming back from that we didn't say no now what well I think that's what you have to be very careful of if you just concentrate on all the negatives and then you know somebody's friend has tried something and they're fine then suddenly you've lost all trust because they said well you know so-and-so you know had this law as a party and this happened and they're fine so you have to be very very careful so by giving facts and we do a lot of work around what we call social norms where a lot of teenagers but also parents and teachers overestimate the number of older teenagers who are getting drunk or smoking or whatever it is so we do a lot of just sort of what we call reverse questioning but you know why do you think most teenagers choose not to get drunk and just by saying that kids come up with answers such as because it's against the law that parents don't like it they're getting into trouble at school and and they've come up with the answers rather than you saying you know if you drink or break the law this will happen do you see what I mean so it's much more trusting and inclusively and everybody has a chance to talk about the issues important to them but in a safe and controlled way so when you go into a school then or maybe a sports club or a youth club I know there's not many as many youth clubs around these days that's a different conversation to have what do you do when you first go in for a session in a school specifically to talk about alcohol okay well the first thing we do before we go which I think is really important is we always ask the school to ask what the young people want to know about so say it's sick formers things that might come back would be things like around drink spiking first festivals gap years traveling abroad with year nine for example it might mean more around units or what the law is or so that's the first thing is what I call the politeness of actually finding out what's important to the young people themselves and we always start with what I call an icebreaker which will be something like you will have some questions like is there the same amount or do you think there's the same amount of nicotine in a disposable fate as cigarettes and you say stand up if you think that's true or sit down you think it's not true and you immediately get them engaged but also through an activity like that you can see what the misconceptions are what or what perhaps attitudes or wrong opinions might be so always a nice breaker to start with and then we'll always have a few slides we have a discussion cards or traffic light scenarios we use in modes we have something called the alcohol clock game where they plan an 18th birthday party you know according to the time what happens when and do they eat and have they had any water and how do they get home safely what would happen if they had to drive to work the next day with what we call rehearsal strategy so we make things fun but also very informative because I love this saying which is tell me and I forget show me and I remember involve me and I understand and I just think that's so true you know if they remember that that game they played around you know planning an 18th birthday party you know and they do they absolutely remember it and then they remember what you know because we say all today we do units and guidelines and the law you know everybody's all yorms and things oh you know how boring but if you turn it into a game and rather than a unit being just a certain amount of alcohol they realize that one tiny shot of vodka is the same as a half pint of cider or beer and you've poured that as a or they come up and pour what they think a unit is and using colored water of course or juice rather than alcohol you know it just brings it to life and makes it relevant to them and what they will encounter in their social lives and that's what it's all about again then what are some of those misconceptions and you just mentioned obviously maybe not having a full understanding of the equivalence of units between spirits and something like cider or lager what's up with some of these other misconceptions you you come across when you speak to the kids well it's not only kids such it's if I'm honest if I did the game of um do equivalent units of cider or vodka I'd probably be getting it wrong as well yeah so of course there's never a a completely right answer because say a bottle of wine you know that can vary from say 10% to 14% how big's your glass how full are you filling it how quickly are you drinking it and all these things can come into a discussion but something like a spirit so like a double vodka that's the equivalent of a of a whole pint of beer you know a standard strength pint of beer I mean again beer can vary from say 3.2% up to say 8% you know what's some of the stronger ones so you have to sort of uh we always say turn around and look at the label at the back and in most cases it'll tell you how many units are in that bottle or can or whatever it is um so yeah just so by making it engaging so on the whole I mean a glass of wine is another one that especially when we talk to parents so oh yeah it's a small glass of wine it's just one unit isn't it well you know if you've got what I call the weather spoons 250 mill pore of like a big Australian sheriff's that will be three units for itself so so yeah we can have you know really bring it to life by uh you know just talking about it rather than saying a unit is you were with children and young people it's aged 11 to 25 isn't it predominantly yes it is what differences do you see between those different estrus because I mean there's a massive difference between a 11 year old that talking about alcohol or vaping or the rest of it compared to a 25 year old yeah so we have several different programs so not only the age difference so we sort of uh spiral what we call build up on knowledge and learning so at age 11 only 1% of 11 year olds will have really engaged with alcohol so it's a very very gentle approach um and then age 13 is what we call the tipping point when teenagers start to look towards older age groups you know sort of first relationships is the average age of a whole alcoholic drink in England believe it or not is age 13 so that is a really really key time to talk about the law and the effects of alcohol on both the body and brain and those sorts of things especially the maturing brain then by the time we get to sort of 16 it's much more about uh what we call harm minimization so talking about staying safer at parties looking out for each other keeping your phone charged staying with trusted friends and staying hydrated eating before you go out and then we prepare for what we call transition so that's you know thinking about gap years festivals going off to university leaving home and you've no longer got those trusted adults around you or the structure um so like one of the biggest issues for uh kids leaving home actually is loneliness which you know they're just not prepared for because they've lost those friends that they've been with since primary school for example so our approach and the information and what we talk about changes but then also by ability so one in five children have some level of additional learning needs so we also have a scheme of work using pictures and what we call distancing techniques and um traffic lights and colors which is specific for both children and young adults with additional learning needs who are particularly vulnerable to things like grooming and um uh sexual exploitation so uh an understanding issues around consent for example so it's quite interesting when we started you know all those years ago in 2009 we thought yeah just work in schools um all we need to do is train teachers and give them the resources bop your uncle will be done in five years and then we realized that the most vulnerable children may not be in school or they were in special schools um we needed to work in alternative education we needed to go to pupil referral units we needed to be at sports clubs and youth clubs in the summer holidays so what we thought would be quite a simple job has got more and more complex but very much believe in what I call a holistic approach and you have to involve parents you have to train teachers you have to talk to governors local counselors because you know especially you know problematic alcohol drinking or the antisocial behavior associated with it or um domestic violence all those different things it can affect every single sector of our community so it's our job to to be everywhere if you like 90.1 Hope FM and hope FM.com Helena Colibear founder and CEO of the talk about trust who our community action networks hero in the spotlight for the month of july um the hero in the spotlight every single month shining that lights on a organizational charity doing brilliant work um here in our community not just in bcp but a wide-adorset uh to um it's also alcohol awareness week um this week so a brilliant time to have um Helena um on to talk about the work they do with young people sort of 11 to 25 year olds isn't it uh predominantly it is although actually um i know we're going to talk about it a bit later with vaping we're moving into primary schools because unfortunately vaping starts at a earlier age so um but yes predominantly 811 up to age 25 so 15 years ago this charity was founded um going on what are the key differences then between 15 years ago and today because certainly 15 years ago you weren't talking or even thinking about vaping were you weren't no and it's so important that we do react as to you know what the what young people are are doing so 15 years ago what i call that vertical drinking culture was really at its peak you know huge converted banks as as bars and um you know had a real issue with binge drinking especially women's binge drinking was growing and you know all the trends really were in the wrong direction um and since then you know since 2003 in fact um underage drinking has been falling so it used to be that you know one in two 15 year olds were you know regularly getting drunk um and you know that's fallen quite significantly but for example one in 10 15 year old boys now have been drunk in the last month it's still quite high for girls it's quite different between girls and boys so one in three so 30 percent um or actually the most latest figures were one in four 25 percent of girls have actually been drunk in the last month um but if we look at what i call sort of serious levels of harm so that's under 18s who um seek uh treatment or or help for their substance use um still 46 percent of of those young people asking for help and support are there predominantly for alcohol the biggest is actually cannabis um and then it's it's nicotine after that so alcohol is still you know with those 12 000 young people a year who are seeking help and support half of them are there because they have problems with alcohol because you see on the news or at least as a casual observer um of the news and that you know that the odd newspaper headline that comes up from some of the tabloids um you'd think that underage drinking isn't the problem any more um people underage teenagers not having sex anymore um it's all vaping and nitrous oxide that's that's the focus that's not strictly true is it no it's not in fact uh we do ask uh 18 year olds what is most available to them vaping is top of the tree actually for last year that was for the first time um then it's alcohol very close close to no over 90 percent of kids so they have availability of vaping and alcohol and cannabis and then further down is NOS and then things like ketamine and mgma which is molly and mandy but much much lower than those three top substances which are alcohol cannabis and i don't just want to say vaping actually because you know nicotine pouches are becoming an issue really and for the first year and the first time amongst girls we've actually got sort of cigarette use increasing as well so nicotine as a as a whole topic is is rising i'm very sad to say um on on our agenda because of course when vaping came in we haven't got time to talk about obviously the the whole impact of vaping and stuff but i mean vaping came in and it's for some people who are addicted to cigarettes is um it's a good way to stop smoking and you've got something to have its role as you know i'm sure you would have heard of the of the campaign swap to stop for anybody who is a a smoker vaping is a a much better alternative because it's not burnt tobacco so you're not inhaling the carcinogens or the carbon monoxide but it doesn't mean vaping safe i'm afraid by any means and the be very sad thing about particularly disposable vapes that are you know colored highly colored and fruit flavors they're very appealing to young people who wouldn't have dreamed of smoking so we've got a they're recruiting a sort of a new generation at a young age who are experimenting with nicotine products because the numbers i mean we said 15 years ago certainly weren't thinking about vaping but um just some figures here are talking predominantly a pre-covid the first covid lockdown and up to a june of last year was a report put together by action on smoking and health it said in 2023 20.5 percent of children who tried vaping up from 15.8 in 22 and 13.9 in 2020 so in the space of three years um it's gone from around about 13 percent uh over 20 percent i mean these were last year's figures are you expecting the next report to report an even higher um increase of that's 11 to 17 year olds a class of children bracket you expect and actually if you take 17 year olds out on their own 38 percent of 17 year olds are vaping so if you look at that you know move with age um and the thing we're worried about too is that by the time you get 17 and you're looking at 13 year olds vaping you then don't think vaping so cool so there's a move to tobacco based products so will it increase what i'm pleased about is um obviously everybody was scrambling including ourselves to create uh lessons and resources for young people to talk about uh vaping and so youngsters have a better understanding of the levels of nicotine in vase for example and you know something that's a melon or strawberry flavor is not uh you know is not safe you know being able to understand what's in it is very very important so our teenagers are being much better informed in schools and in other settings which wasn't the case even 18 months ago yeah so hopefully that will help and also schools are putting in things like vape detectors in lose for example they are having things like patrols at lunch time um you know to help sort of stamp out spike um vaping for example uh with boys we've got a rise in these little nicotine pouches that just go under the the gum and i i'm we're expecting a rise in that for example and also because it's so discreet it's very easy to hide so hard yeah many many challenges yeah it's certainly not going to go down but let's hope um as all our awareness and education increases that we can stop the rise at least and and start to really make a difference let's talk about where we are right now like i say that the summer that the sun is out and the euros are on olympics just around the corner festival season is on the way especially for those young people maybe going to their first class degree is that this weekend or is it the weekend it's coming but it's coming very soon also the reading leaves at the end of august and everything else um in between i remember when i was in that age bracket looking forward to my first reading festival all those years ago and everything else that came with it um not just young people but people of all age who are are going to be enjoying the weather the football and the and the music let's speak about mindful drinking then what some um as chips because people are going to going to drink are they going to want to have a good time or what should they be aware of what should they look out for how they keep themselves safe i think we have a mantra which is yeah we should eat pace hydrate so if you remember that alcohol is dehydrated it's what we call a georetic so it makes you you know lose water so it's really really important to stay hydrated especially if you're in the sunshine so also wear a hat plenty of sun cream um and you know just remind yourself to take an empty container for example if you're going to a festival um or we always say tape some frozen water with you you know take something like a wheelbarrow or a shopping trolley and take frozen drinks and things like you know juice and stuff with you because drinks are expensive when you're there and often the free water which is at festivals now that's why it's good to have an empty container but often it's surrounded by mud or it's very busy or it's not very hygienic so in the case of some festivals last year i know download festival last year they ran out of water for instance so absolutely absolutely look after yourself yeah and try and be mindful of you know single use plastic waste so you know that's why it's good to take something like a bottle with you and some soft drinks and eating before or while drinking is really really important because if you eat what happens is the alcohol can stay in your stomach and it gives your liver more of a chance to break down the alcohol so if you can remember that your liver can only break down about one unit of alcohol an hour so that's half a pint or a single shot and nothing can speed that up but if you eat the alcohol sits in your stomach and doesn't rush straight into your bloodstream and straight to your brain and to your heart and your other organs so it gives your liver more of a chance to break down that so there is there is truth when when someone's eating a kebab before they go on a night out they say i'm lining my stomach there's some truth to that there is some truth in that that is um also finish you know i think it's very small sitting out having a barbecue or you're watching the football it can be very tempting just keep topping up a glass and you you can actually lose track of how much you're drinking if you finish one drink before you have another one you can keep more more of a track of how much you're consuming and if you alternate a soft drink in an alcoholic drink that can be a really really good way of pacing your drinking and the other thing is there's some really good non-alcoholic or low alcohol drinks up there as well so some really good low alcohol siders and beers not so keen on the wines yet i think i'll get there um so you know if you're like me and don't like sweet drinks then uh you know something like a low or no alcohol beer is a you know really good choice if you you are you know out in the sunshine for a whole afternoon um and with festivals just be mindful that you know the the party isn't stopping in a sense if you think of all those hours and how the units and the drinking can can accumulate so maybe set yourself some targets about you know i won't actually have my first drink until such and such a time or i'll finish it such and such a time where if i'm dancing i'd be really careful to stay hydrated because i'm going to be hot and you know all those different things so just a bit of pre-planning also staying in touch through something like you know find my friends or Snapchat at festivals is really important if you get separated from your mates or you can't find your way back to your tent and you know the stories we hear of people who've been who've had you know too much to drink they're very disorientated get very upset and then you can actually get into some very awkward situations with people they don't know very well and things like that for example or maybe tempted to try something that they're offered because you know they they've had too much to drink all these things but those three main things you know eat paste hydrate always plan how you're going to get home whether you know that's an uber or i know knowing what public transport is or somebody coming to collect you and never be tempted take a lift from somebody who has either i know drunk or or or taken a substance you know we've got as many prosecutions now for drug driving as we do for drink driving so just a little bit of thought a little bit of i'd really like the phrase mindful drinking because it's not saying they don't have a good time it's just be a bit more thoughtful about it and and you'll feel better you know you won't have that hangover you'll enjoy it more yeah and you made a really good point earlier about um keeping your mobile phone charge as well there's some really inexpensive um power banks available to keep your phone topped out i know if you're in the middle of in the in the middle of a field in the hamster or wherever in summer set are you not exactly going to be able to find the charging point very easily so these little charging banks that you can uh yeah so so useful and look out for one another as well i think um certainly um they're looking out for your friends and other people um yeah and have taken a meet-ups and you know if somebody oh no it does seem to be going off with somebody they don't know very well you know you just you just just be vigilant because called spiking is uh a summer issue that happens and not only for drinks i might add but we've also got an issue with vapes being spiked as well so even be careful you you know if somebody says or try this or have one of these things yeah yeah okay um yeah so so much good advice in there not just for young people but for every one of of any age i i think if people listening are concerned then about um their kid um is vaping they're concerned about that vaping too much or drinking too much what advice can you give to give to parents or all guardians listening right now um please please do contact us so uh we have a really good uh website that's young people facing one for younger ones called uh talk about alcohol.com and a really good one for older teenagers called life-stuff.org and we have a parental area on our website talkabouttrust.org but you can just email me actually so it's Helena at talkabouttrust.org and we've got i can send you a whole list of organizations to contact when i understand what the issue is that you would like more help with or we are here very much to have a confidential um conversation or just a reassuring chat and if someone someone's involved in a school or youth club or sports clubs listening to this thing actually a session with you guys for our young people they can contact you as well. Absolutely so whether it's training of staff or whether it's talking to the young people themselves or a parent or character then uh yeah again please do get in touch we'd love to hear