P.A.R.T.Y. (Prevent Alcohol and Risk-Related Trauma in Youth) Program

P.A.R.T.Y. (Prevent Alcohol and Risk-related Trauma in Youth) Program

A partnership with Latrobe Regional Health (LRH) which commenced in 2021 has established the P.A.R.T.Y. program in the Latrobe Valley. This interactive, one-day program educates students aged 15 onwards about how to recognise risks, make informed choices and look after your mates. Held in a clinical setting, it exposes teens to reenacted scenarios of traumatic injuries, such as from car accidents, or when using alcohol and other drugs, with presentations by health and emergency services workers.

More than 350 students from seven local schools have participated in the program since it began, including two outreach programs held during 2024 to engage at-risk young people in their own communities.

Student surveys following the program indicated a shift in awareness about risk-taking behaviours and positive feedback indicating the program would influence their decisions in the future.

Foster Secondary College was one of the schools to participate in P.A.R.T.Y. and said the students and staff had a “great experience.”

“The hands-on nature of the course and lived experience by the staff and presenters was invaluable. This has made an impact on the group, and they thoroughly enjoyed the program,” Foster Secondary College school nurse Emma Hughes said.

We have extended our partnership with LRH to continue to support and grow P.A.R.T.Y. for a further three years from July 2024.

Foster Secondary College students re-enact an emergency event, simulating what would happen to a person taken to the emergency department after a car crash or drug overdose.

Foster Secondary College students participate in the P.A.R.T.Y. program under the guidance of program coordinators Janet May, Andrew Simmons and Clinical Nurse Educator Sarah McKie.