2 minute read
Alex’s Adventure
ALEX’S ADVENTURE
A brand new programme will empower teachers and people in the community to replicate the work of Alex’s Adventure founder Nicole Ryan, with a virtual tutor
Alex’s Adventure provides a complete end-to-end solution that addresses the entire range of needs associated with drug education. Founder Nicole Ryan is both an addiction counsellor and a business owner as well as a business development advisor for Social Impact Ireland.
Nicole’s story began in January 2016 when her younger brother Alex went to a house party in the Greenmount area of Cork City and ingested a synthetic substance believing it to be a less potent drug called 2-CP. Alex had thought he had done his research on the substance he was trying, but in fact he ended up taking a huge dose of the lethal drug known as N-bomb, with catastrophic results. He was brought to Cork University Hospital, but never regained consciousness, and was subsequently pronounced brain dead. Four days after that fateful night, Alex sadly passed away, aged just 18.
SCHOOLS WORKSHOP From this life changing experience Alex’s Adventure, the drug education programme was born. His devastated sister Nicole gave up her career as a Marine & Plant Engineer to build Alex’s Adventure in his memory. Over the last six years she has travelled the length and breadth of the country visiting schools and delivering the ‘Drug Talk’ workshop educating young people and sharing her experience of how our choices can impact our lives forever. To date Nicole has visited over 70 schools, colleges, youth clubs and businesses and delivered this workshop to nearly 10,000 students nationwide.
Over the last three years Alex’s Adventure has been developing a brandnew programme that aims to not only help students learn more about substance misuse but also to upskill people in the community and empower them to be able to replicate what Nicole does.
The new programme costs less than the price of a schoolbook per year to give a child lifesaving education that is
fun, interactive and delivers a crucial message that will stay with them forever. The innovation behind the ‘Build your own Ed-Venture’ programme makes Alex’s Adventure the first drug education programme in Ireland to have a virtual tutor. Each lesson is animated, interactive, and guided by Nicole, meaning that all the teacher has to do is log in and press play.
OPEN THE CONVERSATION “Alex’s Adventure is rooted on the principals of Harm Reduction which is part of Ireland’s National Drug & Alcohol Strategy 2017-2025. This innovative new process allows us to understand that when Nicole Ryan, Founder, Alex’s Adventure
THE NEW PROGRAMME COSTS LESS THAN THE PRICE OF A SCHOOLBOOK PER YEAR TO GIVE A CHILD LIFESAVING EDUCATION THAT IS FUN, INTERACTIVE AND DELIVERS A CRUCIAL MESSAGE THAT WILL STAY WITH THEM FOREVER
it comes to drug education we can offer more than the ‘just say no’ approach because it also provides teenagers with information on how to keep themselves and their friends safe if and when they encounter substances,” explains Nicole.
The programme aligns with the Junior SPHE Curriculum, hitting many of its learning objectives, meaning that this programme is of massive value to both students, teachers, and the school. This service helps both the teacher and student open the conversation and learn about substance misuse which is an evergrowing issue in all communities and towns across Ireland.
