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Ealing Drug Education Project (EDEP) provides
drug education to all the communities in the London Borough of Ealing.
The project works in a focussed way with the African, Caribbean,
Somali and South Asian communities in Southall and other parts of
Ealing. This is to ensure that the range of cultural and language
needs are met appropriately and that we use relevant drug education
resources.
We work with individuals, families and organisations to increase
their knowledge about drug issues as they affect the local communities.
We also enable people to access relevant services. We believe that
community cohesion is essential in empowering the communities to
tackle the issue of increasing drug use and to tackle the notion
of ‘it can’t happen to us’.
Ealing Drug Education Project provides the following:
1. Drug education in appropriate languages to parents, young
people and organisations.
Both officers and volunteers can provide drug sessions in Gurmukhi
Punjabi, Mirpuri Punjabi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujrati, Somali, English
and Farsi.
2. Training local volunteers to disseminate drug
education
The project has twenty volunteers who are trained in drug and equality
and diversity issues. The volunteers can work with different language
and cultural groups.
3. Enabling drug users and their families to access
appropriate services
We work with a number of local and national drug agencies and refer
people to appropriate provision.
4. Working with young people from all communities
to enhance community cohesion
The project has set up a Young People’s Council to help young
people to present their own issues around their lives. We also have
targeted sessions for young Asian and Somali women and young men
who are drug users.
5. Work with schools
One aspect of our work with young people is in schools. We provide
professional input and support for school based culturally appropriate
drug education to meet the diverse needs of the communities in Ealing.
We provide education in primary and secondary prevention and refer
young people to appropriate organisations.
We offer a number of options to schools:
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Facilitating drug awareness sessions for young people at different
key stages
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Working with groups of young people as identified by the school
to meet a specific need (for example working with young people
from the Somali community to raise awareness about Khat and
illegal drugs)
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Facilitating self development sessions with young people deemed
to have a problem around drugs (for example those young people
who have been in trouble for possessing, using or selling drugs
and may have been subject to the school’s disciplinary
procedures). This we do by providing specially designed sessions
to meet the appropriate need for each group. We also enable
young people to continue to access appropriate information and
services as well as to continue their self-development by engaging
in community and training opportunities available through the
EDEP. These opportunities include becoming involved in the Young
People’s Council and in training as peer educators.
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Facilitating drug education sessions for parents by tailoring
the sessions according to their cultural and language needs.
6. Training young people as peer educators.
7. Working with local drug services to develop culturally
sensitive services.
8. Undertaking appropriate research to highlight good practice as
well as gaps in education and service delivery.
9. Undertaking appropriate research to develop and
produce resources in the appropriate language.
10. Supporting local community by working with religious,
business, statutory and voluntary organisations to engage with community
development and support issues to mitigate the impact of drug use.
For any information about these activities please contact DAAP on
Tel: 020 8843 0945 or email [email protected]
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