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Feature Article
Bronwyn Crosby Deputy Director of the Alcohol & Drug Service at St Vincent’s Hospital and co-creator of the new website Your Room www.yourroom.com.au
“ Alcohol & drug education is a vital public health issue, and as basic in many cases as getting access to clean water.” Bronwyn Crosby, Deputy Director of the Alcohol & Drug Service at St Vincent’s Hospital.
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What is www.yourroom.com.au? Your Room is a one-stop website incorporating more than 100 pages of drug and alcohol education, information on prevention of drug use, support for individuals and their family or supporters, as well as treatment service options. The site provides information on the harms associated with drug and alcohol use. The part of the site that is supported by NSW Health provides information on community action teams and community resources.
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Is it only for young people? It’s not geared at any particular age group, instead we hope all groups would at least have a look. It’s a little bit of fun. For older people there are tools that are engaging, because we wanted to try to encourage people who don’t necessarily spend a lot of time at the computer to visit us. What sort of information will I find there? We try not to use too many professional terms and instead talk more about the impacts of mood altering substances on your body, health and life. The ADIS also has a huge database of alcohol and drug services, more than 2,000 entries from around the state, so we have a lot of information for people about where else they can go for help.
Will there be changes to the website? We have been working out the bugs and are going to modify and start to broaden our information base. Our amazing team have fantastic specific alcohol and drug knowledge, but we would love ideas from anyone else about how we can make our message more approachable and relevant.
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How important is being educated and informed? Education is important in so many ways. It helps people recognise that they may be getting into bad habits, and if you look at legal drugs they tend to cause problems when bad habits have been well entrenched into lifestyles. The other important thing is that it’s vital for parents to have the right answers – or know where to go if their children ask them questions about drugs.
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How has alcohol and drug use changed since appointment to your role in 1995? Drug use hasn’t really changed, the types of drugs used might be slightly different but mood altering substances have been used by humankind for thousands of years. People are now living longer so the effects of bad lifestyle choices are more evident than before.
How was the website created? Yourroom.com.au is a joint venture between the ADIS at St Vincent’s Hospital and the NSW Department of Health. We worked together on the look and how to get our messages across.
What are the most popular parts of the website? Illicit drugs are the most commonly researched items. Cocaine and heroin are the most popular groups still, but methamphetamine has experienced a fast growth in use and interest.
Why was the website created? Your Room is a private place for people to ask questions without any fear. It’s an extension of the Alcohol and Drug Information Services (ADIS) call centre. With technology being what it is, phone calls are becoming an increasingly small part of how we communicate. The advantage of the call centre is that people can ring up when they are alone and nobody need know that they need a little help. So after 28 years of operating public support and information in one medium, we expanded into new technologies. The first natural step to increase our reach was the website.
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What is the number one challenge for ADIS? To spread the messages of awareness of the potential impacts of drug use on our bodies, on our lifestyles. Often people are unaware of whether or not their drug and alcohol use is problematic, until it really is. We want to get people to know that earlier and prevent problems arising.
Over 70%
of people with drug and alcohol problems will not see a clinician in the next 12 months, yet many of these people will get better without treatment.
Annual Review 2010/11
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