There is much that a local church can do to engage with drug and alcohol issues in the community as part of its social action programme.  Prevention often has a lower priority than helping people with problems and yet it remains true that ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’.

The Church section of our website offers a one-stop resource that includes activities for Sundays, mid-week meetings, children, young people and parents. In addition, there is plenty of information and advice about what to do when you when someone in your church needs help.

Churches are all-age organisations and Hope UK Educators offer a wide range of presentations and training courses for different groups, including the opportunity to invite an Educator for a service or mid-week meeting. As an organisation with a Christian foundation, Hope UK has a special interest in resourcing the UK Church.

Churches can support Hope UK with prayer or gifts. We are always looking for churches willing to provide individual members who can be trained as Voluntary Drug Educators.

Churches could also host a Drug Proof Your Kids® Parents’ course or send someone on the Life for the World training course which equips individuals to help people with addiction problems in the community.

Prayer support is important for Hope UK’s work and prayer notes are available.

Youth Workers can be provided with customised training ranging from 3 hours to 2-day long courses. This includes an Open College Network Accredited course ’Young People, Drugs and the Role of the Youth Worker’.

Furthermore, ‘family sessions’ offer opportunities where parents can be given drug awareness sessions alongside young people.

Youth workers can benefit from the activity downloads, alcohol and drug information and alcohol-free drinks info. Christian youth leaders can also find information about Hope UK’s services to the church by clicking here.

If you need to seek help for a young person using drugs or alcohol, visit the Find Help section.

Finally, you can always contact Hope UK’s headquarters for advice.

Hope UK’s voluntary Drug Educators are trained to a high standard with a 120-hour course accredited with the Open College Network.  They can visit schools to provide interactive alcohol and drug awareness sessions with the flexibility to ensure that they fit within a school’s drug syllabus and policy. 

Hope UK is a member of the Drug Education Forum and Drug Education Practitioners Forum and follows best practice in drug and alcohol education with an emphasis on lifeskills development.

Alcohol-free drinks suggestions and  Activity Downloads may also be of interest. Information about alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs is available.

Hope UK’s training, most of which is accredited with the Open College Network, can be customised to suit the needs of teachers and others working in the Education sector.  Charges apply.

I am a parent…

Parents are often unsure about what to do to prevent the harm related to drinking, smoking or illegal drug use. Hope UK’s resources will help dispel myths and provide strategies which parents can use as their children grow up.

Parents could suggest to schools, churches or other community groups that they invite a Hope UK Educator to run a parents’ awareness session.

The Hope UK’s Parents Action Plan is available free in single copies and other information about drugs can be found in the resources section. If help is required, the useful links and general advice in the Find Help section should be of assistance.

The Drug Proof Your Kids® Course which is run by Care for the Family, offers a 12 hour (broken into six sessions) course which focuses on helping parents to be aware of drug issues by learning from the experience of other parents as to what works best. The course is very practical and will be of assistance to any parent.

Church workers will also find the Church section of Hope UK’s website helpful.

Hope UK offers a variety of options for those doing voluntary or paid children’s work – all designed to help them include alcohol and drug prevention work within their programme. Drug Educators can provide fun sessions and interactive presentations for children and their leaders. Our preference is always to enable children’s leaders to do their own drug awareness work throughout the year. Single sessions with children by Hope UK Educators can be fitted into an overall programme.

Hope UK can train children’s workers with customised sessions ranging from 3 hours to day-long courses. There is also a 2-day course for Family Workers.

Children’s workers can also benefit from the activity downloads, alcohol and drug information and alcohol-free drinks info. Christian children’s leaders will also find the content of the Church section of the website of interest.

Finally, you can always contact Hope UK’s headquarters for advice.