Youth pilot next generation of alcohol treatment

Youth pilot provides next generation of alcohol and drug treatment specialists

A new training pilot to educate secondary school students in alcohol and drug addictions awareness is underway. The pilot is a shared initiative between National Addiction Workforce Development Centre, Matua Raki and WelTec; a long standing provider of tertiary education in the field of addictions.

The youth pilot, Mana Arahi, provides secondary school students who have an interest in health with online studies in addiction and the option to go on to undergraduate study at WelTec once finishing secondary school.

The pilot was initiated over concerns of an aging workforce in the area of addictions treatment and prevention, with less than 3% of New Zealand’s addiction workforce younger than 30 years old. The statistic poses a potential drop in treatment and prevention services once the baby boomer generation begins to retire.

According to Raine Berry, Director of Matua Raki, an ongoing specialist workforce in the area of addictions will be in demand. “Among the next generation of health professionals, we need people coming through who have a deeper understanding and passion for the specialist field of addictions.”

“So far we’ve had some amazing feedback from the first cohort of students who are due to graduate from the programme, a very positive start.”

WelTec Executive Dean, Julia Hennessy also believes the training programme has wider benefits for secondary schools students. “Irrespective of their chosen career destination, an exposure to drug and alcohol addictions and health and culture studies will be useful whatever field they decide to go into. Those students who have become interested in the field of addictions will have a clear career pathway before them.”

While for Kalameli Silo, part of the pilot group of secondary students, the opportunity to gain credits, meet new people and utilise new technologies was also part of the attraction. “I liked learning about culture and health and was surprised to find out how high our alcohol and drug statistics are. It was also pretty cool using the webcam to talk to tutors and chat with other students around the country.”

ENDS

© Scoop Media