Guest speaker at Downpatrick on dangers of drugs
De La Salle High School, Downpatrick, recently had a guest speaker Paul McArdle (Off Your Head Podcast) into our school to chat and tell his story of his ongoing journey to recovery from a Drug Addiction.
Statistics show young men tend to struggle with mental health and we wanted to try our best to avoid any of our pupils becoming a statistic. Like all young people, our students have been affected by the global COVID pandemic. Throughout the recent Lockdown two staff members had listened to the ‘Off your head’ podcast. They were so impressed with Paul’s open and honest account of his personal struggles and how he eventually overcame them, that they felt it would be beneficial for our pupils to listen to his story first-hand.
Paul’s journey really made us think that our group of young boys at different stages in their lives would benefit to hear what Paul had to say and hear his story. Our Year 14 students are due to leave school in June, they will be leaving our supportive and secure school setting to face the big adventures of the “real world” in an array of settings including, Further Education, working life, University either home or away and possibly even living away from the support of the family home.
As a result of recent lockdowns, our students were faced with many challenges, including less interaction with friends they see in school every day, their sports cancelled, driving lesson/tests cancelled and all things that brought joy and laughter to their lives were all put on hold. We knew it was time to reach out and provide that extra support to those who were finding life tough.
We felt pupils would benefit to hear first-hand the devastation that comes with making the wrong choices in life and not being brave enough to say no or reaching out to someone to ask for help. We wanted to put some support in place for this group of young boys going forward and to make them aware that there is support available out there, and that no matter how big the problem may seem, there is always a ‘light at the end of the tunnel’. We wanted to encourage them to reach out and help each other, while also raising awareness about the effects and dangers of drug use.
During the talk Paul explained how and where support was available if ever they find themselves in a situation where they may need help. Paul has benefitted from lots of services and the fact they are local services in our local area makes it even more important that the boys know all about them. Paul made the boys aware what those services are, what they can do and how to make contact with them if ever they feel they need to.
This talk was presented to:
Post 16 (aged 16-19)
(Separate session) Year 11 group had this talk from Paul to cover a Unit in their Religion GCSE Course on Addictions.
Clare Hynds-Post 16 Supervisor
Tara Herron- RE Teacher
De La Salle High School Downpatrick
