Highland is piloting the Planet Youth model, in partnership with Winning Scotland. Highland are one local authority area included in the Scottish pilot, and currently there are five Highland secondary schools involved: Thurso High School, Wick High School, Golspie High School, Dornoch Academy, and Tain Royal Academy.
The Planet Youth, Icelandic Prevention Model, originated in Iceland. In the 1990s, Iceland had the highest rates of teen smoking, alcohol and drug use across Europe. Now they have the lowest.
To address the situation, they looked at the risk and protective factors for alcohol, tobacco and other drug use in young people, across four areas of young peoples’ lives: family, peers, school and leisure time. They used local, anonymous, survey information from young people to increase protective factors, and reduce risk factors.
This evidence-based, international programme, has now been adopted in many other countries around the world.
There are other benefits associated with this approach, including that it can improve the mental and physical wellbeing of young people.
The programme will aim to:
- increase opportunities for young people, this will include many different activities such as sport, music, art, dance and others.
- work with communities, including parental involvement, to ensure local ownership and a proactive approach to address local issues.
- apply evidence based practice, implementing interventions based on data from local communities, which will be collected from an anonymous school survey.
This short video gives an overview of the model:
Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs: A Parent’s Guide. Practical advice to help parents communicate with their child about alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.
Our full Planet Youth in Highland report is provides insights of both the strengths and weakness of growing up in Highland. To find out more read the full report.
Two of our Planet Youth in Highland Local Coalition Group members attended the Planet Youth 2022 Conference.
Four members of the Local Coalition Group attended the Planet Youth Conference 2023, and presented about the experience in Highland so far. This video summaries the conference.
Local Coalition Groups are set up in the areas of the programme. This presentation shares more information about the Planet Youth approach and the role of local coalition groups.
Connect with Planet Youth in Highland, including your local coalition group, through our Facebook page: Planet Youth in Highland | Facebook
Our Planet Youth in Highland was a great success with a great success with a range of speakers talking about how this model will work in Highland. Below are the links to the presentations and transcripts (transcripts can be loaded into the videos to provide subtitles).
Earlier this year we hosted our Planet Youth in Highland Event to showcase how this work has been progressing. To view all the presentations by our speakers, please visit the Planet Youth in Highland Event page.