NONSTOP P.A.R.T.Y. PHASE IV - 2011

Alcohol: Toward a Culture of Moderation - AHS Community Prevention Fund

This phase of the Nonstop P.A.R.T.Y. project had 3 components. The first targeted youth 10-19 years old with a campaign designed to address the culture of intoxication in our province, and tip the balance toward a culture of moderation through in-class sessions that involved considering assets and risk/protective factors along with training in healthy leisure skills. The project also included distributing help resources, including contact information for community resources on a host of issues such as FASD, addiction, emergencies, etc.

The school sessions were very successful, and demand was high. Owing to people spreading the word at in-services and a lot of volunteer help, 22 groups were reached, compared to the intended 15. Teachers were phenomenal not only in being very active during the in-class sessions, but also in making the goals real in their schools. Indeed, the project arose because of requests from teachers and continues to develop with their very important guidance, including leadership from a few key individuals.

The second component of the project targeted parents to garner their support as well as prepare them to help achieve our goals. In this regard, parents participated in 6 Kids and Drugs workshops, exceeding the project's goal of 4. Community support was very high in general for this part of the project, and the workshops were done through a variety of venues (library, recreation centre, friendship centre, block P.A.R.T.Y.), targeting a variety of groups ranging from larger, mixed groups to very small dedicated sessions. Participants gained short- and long-term benefits, and appreciated gaining new perspectives and empowerment on the issue of a culture of intoxication vs a culture of moderation. Several months after participating in the workshops, parents continued really putting to use the resources and strategies they gained at the workshops, enacting long-range plans to take charge of this issue. Perhaps most exciting are the informal results in the community such as actually seeing youth and parents putting into practise skills learned through the project, making choices, and using resources to engage in deliberately alcohol free fun! Awesome!

The third part of the project was broader and integrated the first two. It involved working toward raising general awareness with displays, flyers, discussions with local businesses, etc. The community embraced the goals of the project and showed awesome support for replacing a culture of intoxication with a culture of moderation, not only by taking time to ponder the issues and agreeing that change is needed but also through actively giving volunteer hours as well as in making many different kinds of caring and generous donations. What a beautiful place to live!

This project was made possible by a grant from the Alberta Health Services Community Prevention Fund and our many community supporters.