ADEPIS

The Alcohol and Drug Education and Prevention Information Service (ADEPIS) is a partnership project between Mentor UK, DrugScope and Adfam which provides practical support and guidance to schools and others involved in the delivery of alcohol and drug education.

Commissioned by the Department for Education the partnership aims to:

• Develop high quality information and advice for practitioners; and
• Support the development of local capacity by promoting evidence based programmes and approaches.
  

To achieve these aims ADEPIS will:

• Make available differentiated support to practitioners building on their needs, emerging trends and evidence of impact;
• Provide a two-way channel between policy makers and practitioners; and
• Use the best national and international evidence to inform all work.
  

Since being commissioned ADEPIS has undertaken a scoping exercise with the field which has led to the development of a range of tools for institutions and practitioners. These include:

• Quality standards for alcohol and drug education
• A toolkit for reviewing school drug and alcohol policies
• A resource to engage governors about the importance of effective school policy and practice on drugs and alcohol
  

Regular half day conferences for practitioners have been organised often accompanied by briefings on issues of importance to the field. The briefings include:

• ‘Legal Highs’ and Novel Psychoactive Substances
• Efficient needs assessment in schools
• E-cigarettes and nicotine containing products (NCPs)
• Identifying and supporting children affected by parental substance use
• Caffeine and energy drinks

For further information please visit the ADEPIS website.

ADEPIS resources

The project has produced a range of tools for the field. These include:

Quality standards for effective alcohol and drug education

Reviewing your drug and alcohol policy: A toolkit for schools

Tools for engaging school governors in delivering of effective school policy and practice on drugs and alcohol

ADEPIS has also produced briefings on issues of importance for practitioners.

These have included:

• ‘Legal Highs’ and Novel Psychoactive Substances
• Efficient needs assessment in schools
• E-cigarettes and nicotine containing products (NCPs)
• Identifying and supporting children affected by parental substance use
• Caffeine and energy drinks
• A presentation for school governors about the importance of effective school policy and practice on drugs and alcohol
• Four questions to ask as school governors- a briefing paper listing the most important questions that governors should be asking head teachers

Drug Education Forum briefing papers

• The principles of good drug education
• Principles for supporting school drug education
• Beyond the lesson plan: Drug prevention and early intervention
• Engaging parents in drug education
• Learning from life skills programmes in drug education
• Legal highs

All free to download from http://mentor-adepis.org/resources/adepis/

ADEPIS seminar series

• ‘Legal Highs’, NPS, or ‘New Drugs’: What do we need to know?
• Understanding your pupils’ needs
• Drug education and prevention: a primary school perspective
• Risky behaviours and multiple substance use among young people
• Identifying and supporting pupils affected by parental substance misuse
• Quality standards for drug education – consultation and survey findings

Contact details:

adepis@mentoruk.org