Published on: 15 March 2013

Last week, boys from Years 10 to 12 had an opportunity to hear from expert in drug and alcohol education Paul Dillon. Next week, Years 9 and 10 parents are invited to hear Mr Dillon present an update on teenagers, drugs and alcohol in 2013.

With more than 25 years’ experience in drug education, Mr Dillon works with the Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia. He has been coming to Christ Church for the past nine years to speak with students and parents, thanks to a financial contribution from the Parents’ Association. Director of Planning and Co-curricular Mark Morrissy said Mr Dillon’s engaging and direct style was well received by boys. “I think the boys appreciate that Paul’s sessions are about making their experiences safer rather than a ‘don’t do’ talk,” he said. Mr Morrissy said the Year 10 talk focused on alcohol, marijuana and the dangers. Mr Dillon, whose motto is ‘avoid a dangerous time – not good time’, said boys their age had less life experience than older students and were at a greater risk of not knowing what they were doing. “Paul talked about how alcohol made them more vulnerable, reduced their inhibitions and turned their ‘on-off switch’ to off, affecting their judgement and making them a target for assault,” Mr Morrissy said. For Years 11 and 12 students, he reviewed alcohol and marijuana again but spoke in more detail about ecstasy and LSD. In Term 4, Mr Dillon will return to Christ Church to speak to Year 12 boys ahead of Leavers’ Week. “Paul will talk to the boys about the Leavers’ experience and arm them with some harm minimisation strategies,” Mr Morrissy said. All Years 9 and 10 parents are invited to hear Mr Dillon speak on the topic ‘Teenagers, alcohol and drugs 2013: an update’ in the School Chapel, on Thursday 21 March, at 7.30pm. Please RSVP your interest to Christy Dangerfield at cdangerfield@ccgs.wa.edu.au.