Reporters and Road Shows

This morning I arrived at work to find a BBC Tees van outside the building and a reporter inside interviewing Jessie our CEO. Slightly curious I found out what was going on...

You may have seen on the news and in the papers today, the reports that more and more teenagers are choosing to go teetotal. The NHS Information Centre will be publishing the results of an annual survey in a couple of weeks, revealing that figures for teetotal teenagers have risen to 49%. This morning the BBC was at A Way Out to find out Jessie’s response to this news and you will be able to hear sound bites from that interview today on BBC Tees Radio.

Daniel Radcliffe, Fearne Cotton and Jessie J, role models for
young people, have all made the move to teetotal.

We’re so excited about these figures that show more and more young people are choosing healthier lifestyles and getting fulfilment from taking part in drama, sport or other activities rather than binge drinking. Education also plays a really key part in informing teenagers of the dangers of alcohol so they can make healthy lifestyle decisions now that will impact their futures.

A Way Out plays its own significant part in providing alternative activities and education for young people. We have several outreach projects which include detached outreach, holiday activities and road shows to promote healthy lifestyles through interactive activities. For example, young people may invent their own smoothies and try non-alcoholic cocktails as an introduction to talking about the dangers of alcohol abuse.

Our outreach team have found that young people engage really easily with topics such as alcohol awareness through these road shows and they always come with lots of questions. What we have heard in the news today reflects what we see in the schools and estates in Stockton. We are encouraged to keep going as what we do has a very real impact on teenagers' lives both now and in the future.

Love from A Way Out x

p.s. this blog was written together with Niomi, one of our volunteers, who will be taking over blogging for a couple of weeks in August while I'm on holiday!