The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) recently launched its Community Drug Awareness Training program with the help of the staff at Jemrok.
Lloyd Brooks, Alcohol & Other Drugs at the RFDS, said the idea of the new training program is to have a flexible basic training package to help raise awareness and develop harm minimisation strategies of drugs in the wider community.
“The Community Drug Awareness Training Program is based around information on illegal and harmful drugs that are found in the wider community and has been developed to use in mainstream workplaces, Men’s Shed, teachers’ and sporting groups, farming organisations, or any concerned community group,” Mr Brooks said.
“Members of Jemrok’s workforce attended and I’m pleased to say, there was positive feedback from everyone who came along.”
The program aims to offer the following information: to show how drugs work in the body; explain the four major harmful and illegal drug groups; what are the signs and symptoms of drug use; first aid for people who have overdosed on harmful or illegal drugs; strategies for drug-proofing your children; and where to seek support or help for people with drug issues.
“This is non accredited training, and is designed purely to raise harmful and illegal drug awareness in the wider community with ‘knowledge being power’,” Mr Brooks said.
“This training is designed to fill a gap in remote services around community development in raising harmful and illegal awareness in the wider community.
“The package can be redesigned quickly to support any request from any groups, to cover their primary concerns or time frames within reason.
“We’re looking forward to spreading the word and doing more of this training with interested community groups in the future,” Mr Brooks said.
