WHAT IS DARE (UK)?

      

Background

 

DARE (UK) is a British registered charity and part of a worldwide educational organisation, now taught in 55 countries, which provide recipients with the knowledge and life skills to resist harmful drugs, including alcohol and tobacco.  It shares with government the belief that an investment in successful preventative programmes – preventing drug abuse before it happens - is the most cost effective way of dealing with this growing problem.

 

DARE, first started in America in 1983, and is the most experienced and proactive drugs educational organisation of its kind. In its 22 years of existence, it has constantly updated and revised its teaching programmes as more information has been discovered. It achieves this “best practice” teaching by spending millions of dollars on research programmes to ensure that they are “cutting edge” and effective.

 

DARE (UK) is a national charity that operates across the UK, and is particularly strong in the East Midlands, the South West, London and Wales.  Our aim is to educate children about the dangers of the misuse of drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, and to provide them with the skills to avoid violence throughout their school years at both primary and secondary level.  DARE actively promotes the use of healthy sporting activities during and outside the school environment.  The key message is to promote healthy living and making positive life affirming choices. 

 

 

What does DARE do?

 

  • Provides drug education and prevention activities to help children to understand the dangers of the misuse of drugs
  • Teaches about the harmful effects of drugs, providing information that is appropriate to the age group to which it is delivered
  • Develops the life skills to resist peer pressure and personal pressure, and to avoid the misuse of drugs. Prevention is better than intervention. DARE educates primary and secondary school children, therefore preventing many of them from misusing drugs.

 

 Aims and Objectives

 

D.A.R.E aspires to prevent drug misuse by young people, but recognises that this cannot be done with class-taught and sports-based preventative education alone. Our mission is therefore more simple: it is to provide young people with the skills and knowledge to make their own informed choices about drugs, alcohol and tobacco instead of succumbing to peer pressure. In addition, it also teaches them how to lead healthy lives and give them coping skills to avoid violent behaviour. 

 

Our objectives are:

 

  • To teach young people the skills to deal successfully with peer pressure by developing and building  their self-confidence;
  • To educate young people with accurate facts about drugs, including tobacco and alcohol;
  • To build trust and understanding between the Police and young people so that they will come to see the Police as someone who will help and support them;
  • To promote the Police, parents and teachers as positive role models;
  • To unite communities, including children, parents, teachers and the community at large, in the fight against drug abuse;
  • To work with other agencies to comply with the Government’s drug prevention policy and the PHSE and Citizenship syllabi;
  • To ensure that D.A.R.E lessons are a valuable, enjoyable and effective learning experience, employing best class room practice;
  • To engage young people in healthy activity and provide information on healthy living;
  • To offer young people the opportunity to engage in activity outside of the classroom- activity that will reinforce our key messages previously  taught in the classroom;
  • To offer parents and carers the opportunity to learn about the pressures and pitfalls of childhood whilst providing accurate key facts and telltale signs of drugs and drug abusers;

DARE offers programmes which are research led from evidence based practice. This includes research independently conducted by DARE, as well as Government reports and other academic work.

 

 

Programmes

 

DARE (UK) aims to achieve its goals by expanding upon its already varied programmes and by constantly monitoring and evolving its current courses.

 

Primary school course: Taught by DARE trained police officers in primary schools, this 11 week course is designed to equip children with the life skills to avoid the misuse of drugs, alcohol, tobacco and violent behaviour.

 

Secondary school course: Based on a proven programme from the US, which takes into account a comprehensive study of drug education and approaches which are shown to be effective. This course uses these successful methods and adapts them to fit the UK model of education. It also builds onto the already successful Primary School course. It is a major research based, multi-component drug education project. It will provide evidence of what succeeds in educating 11–13 year olds about the risks of drug use and, in the longer term, provide research-based information in order to reduce the number of young people who become involved in using drugs of all kinds.

 

Stronger Families (Parenting Course): A short 2 session programme which equips parents with the skills and knowledge to understand the difficulties and pressures that adolescents experience, and to help them to help children avoid the dangers of drugs and other harmful substances. It is now widely recognised that parents are powerful role models in the lives of children, and given the necessary information, can help guide and advise young adults through the turbulent years of adolescence.

 

Workplace programme: A programme which aims to help employers produce a comprehensive Drug Abuse Policy whilst ensuring both employees and employers are equipped with the correct information to both help and deal with drug issues in the workplace.

 

DARE Plus: An after-school and holiday programme which aims to keep children active in positive activities at those times when there is a lot of youth crime and disorder. Reinforcing the positive DARE message, this programme is being piloted in Nottinghamshire, and will be rolled out to other areas in the near future.

 

DARE Sport: The DARE Sport programme is a project aimed at working to extend the values of the DARE Primary and Secondary curriculum through a variety of sports, including cycling, football and basketball.  Dare have, in consultation with educationalists and professional sports people over a 6 month pilot period, developed a choice of programmes. These aim to teach children to focus on issues such as health and wellbeing, team interaction and personal goals.  These values which build upon our Primary course achievements will help to encourage children to make the right decisions throughout adolescence and for the rest of their lives.  Using a mobile unit and a small number of static sites we can tailor the programme to best suit the school’s and the children’s needs.

 

 

 

DARE are partners in:

 

Project Respect: Encourages young people to respect themselves, other people and the environment. In so doing they will develop life skills, which enable them to raise their own self esteem. Secondary school teachers deliver a series of lessons, which are based on subject areas such as smoking, Drugs, Alcohol, Conflict, Violent Behaviour & sex and Relationships. Respect fits in well with PSHE & Citizenship requirements.

 

On Track: is a life skills programme for 6 and 7 year olds in Primary Schools, providing them with the confidence, knowledge and responsibility, to be healthy and sure about what they do and what they know, whilst growing up in a drug using world.

 

 

Partners, Supporters and Sponsorship

 

DARE partners include local and regional government, health authorities, Local Education Authorities, schools, Police Forces, Drug & Alcohol Action Teams.

 

DARE is supported by private donors, corporate sponsors, local, regional and national government.