Child Safety Practice Manual

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Working with young people

Naming or revealing the problem

Once rapport is built, you can explore the following questions with young people. If they answer yes to any of the following questions, it is a signal that they may have problematic alcohol and other drugs use:

Do you drink because you have problems or to relax?
Do you drink when you get mad at other people, including your friends or parents?
Do you prefer to drink alone rather than with other people?
Is your work or education suffering as a result of your drinking?
Have you ever tried to stop drinking or to drink less and found that you can’t?
Do you drink in the morning, before school or work?
Do you gulp your drinks?
Do you ever have loss of memory due to your drinking?
Do you lie about how much or how often you drink?
Do you ever get into trouble when you’re drinking?
Do you get drunk when you drink, even when you don't mean to?
Do other people comment about your drinking and think it’s a problem?

Source: Signs you might have a drinking problem

Explaining harm from alcohol and cannabis to a young person

The following, highly acclaimed animations discuss adolescent brain development and the effects of alcohol and cannabis on different brain regions and on behaviour. They present complex and up-to-date neurobiological research in a way that is engaging and relevant for teenagers.

Under Construction: Alcohol and the Teenage Brain

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adolescence is the transition from

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childhood to adulthood

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encompassing a period of major physical

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emotional intellectual and social change

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our brains also change considerably

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during this time the developing brain is

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a learning machine and from when we're

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born

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it grows enormous ly as we learn more

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and more about the world

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this means we end up with billions of

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connections in our brains but many of

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these pathways are either too slow or

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not needed it's during the teenage years

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that our brains are renovated whereby

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most of these unnecessary connections

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are removed or pruned away at the same

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time the connections that are kept are

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insulated to allow for faster

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communication across the brain a process

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called myelination pruning and

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myelination occurred gradually over the

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teenage years and are greatly influenced

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by our experiences and interactions with

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the outside world including the alcohol

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and drugs we choose to take let's take a

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closer look inside the brain the frontal

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lobes take the longest to develop by

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about 25 they've become your Center for

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decision making helping you to plan and

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organize focus your attention control

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your mood and behavior and solve

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day-to-day problems the temporal lobes

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are like an information processing

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center that builds your library for

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sounds speech learning and memories the

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cerebellum integrates your senses

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helping you to balance control and

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fine-tune your movements the

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hypothalamus is involved in many

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functions including the release of

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hormones that help regulate your

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temperature hunger thirst and sexual

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development and the brainstem is like

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the final checkpoint for information

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going to the body from the brain and

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vice versa

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alcohol affects the teenage brain

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differently to the adult brain because

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it's still developing and not all areas

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are fully operational how you feel when

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you drink alcohol can be an indication

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of the damage it's doing to different

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areas in your brain alcohol affects the

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frontal lobes first making you feel

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relaxed and reducing your inhibitions

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this means you may talk more freely Axl

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out or rowdy or do foolish things you

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later regret

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as you continue drinking your brain

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starts slowing down reducing your

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ability to concentrate make good

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decisions and control your emotions and

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impulses this means you might do things

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you otherwise wouldn't in the

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hypothalamus alcohol blocks the hormone

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that tells the kidneys to reabsorb water

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this means more water is lost as waste

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reducing the amount of water available

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to the brain makes you dehydrated which

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explains the headaches and body aches

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you may experience the next day

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otherwise known as a hangover alcohols

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effect on your cerebellum is evident

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when you lose your balance and fall over

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or have difficulties with standing and

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walking this is why injuries are so

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common when people are intoxicated

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drinking alcohol particularly affects a

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part of the temporal lobe called the

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hippocampus which enables us to form new

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memories alcohol interferes with the

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transfer of information from short-term

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memory to long-term memory so if you

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drink heavily over a short period you

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may experience a blackout meaning the

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next day you can't remember what you

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said or did drinking at a level that

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causes blackouts means you're also much

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more likely to do something you wouldn't

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usually do and your friends may not be

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aware of how drunk you really are during

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your teenage years you need to look

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after your brain to keep it healthy just

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like other parts of your body our

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scientists are learning more about the

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brain all the time and research has

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shown that the damage alcohol does to

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the developing brain is not only

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short-term but may be permanent

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look after your brain it's the only one

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you've got

Effects of cannabis on the teenage brain NCPIC + Turning Point

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during our teenage years how we interact

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with the world changes we seek out new

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interests and experiences take more

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risks and spend more time with our

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friends and less with our family these

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behaviors have developed through

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evolution to make sure we push ourselves

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so that we learn to become independent

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from our parents by putting ourselves in

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new and challenging situations different

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parts of our brain learn to work

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together

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forming brain circuits that can

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communicate with each other rapidly to

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help us respond in different ways

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ensuring that our brain is wide in the

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right way during the teenage years with

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strong and healthy brain circuits is

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critical to our future and how we get

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the most out of life 3 the most

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important circuits that are developing

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during this period are those involved in

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learning and memory motivation and mood

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learning in memory circuits control our

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ability to receive store and recall

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information

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our motivation circuit is supported by

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an inbuilt reward system that helps us

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to decide if something is important and

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whether we should do something to get it

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our mood is shaped by emotional circuits

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that interpret how we experience and

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react to different situations and

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interactions making sure these

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particular circuits wire in the right

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way during our teenage years is the

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brain zone occupational health and

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safety team the endocannabinoid system

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the endocannabinoid system is a complex

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and delicate brain system which helps to

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fine-tune communication within these

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circuits ensuring the wiring is

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assembled correctly damaged cells are

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repaired and the right connections are

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strengthened for the future when looking

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into the effect of cannabis on the brain

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scientists found that we naturally

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produce a brain chemical called an and

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amide that is similar to cannabis

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concentrations of an and amide are

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delicately calibrated for it to

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accomplish its critical role within the

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endocannabinoid system this is why if we

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add cannabis into the brain it causes

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the endocannabinoid system to become

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flooded with cannabis chemicals it's a

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bit like dumping a bucket of salt on

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your chips instead of a pinch or like

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stadium speakers being plugged into your

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iPod constantly disrupting the

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endocannabinoid system with cannabis

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impacts how your brain develops and in

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particular how the mood motivation and

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learning and memory circuits get wired

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short-term memory loss is a common

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characteristic of long-term heavy

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cannabis use because when you use

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cannabis less information gets saved as

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memories this is why it's harder to

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learn and remember new information which

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can lead to significant drops in school

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grades cannabis can reduce your ability

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to focus attention to organize yourself

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and make decisions not just when you're

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using cannabis but for weeks afterwards

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cannabis use can also lead to loss of

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motivation heavy users can feel detached

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and disinterested in things they used to

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like such as sports hobbies and catching

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up with friends it can also lead to low

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self confidence that

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turn affects your mood making it more

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difficult to manage everyday stresses

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worries and frustrations which can

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result in prolonged low mood anxiety and

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depression while these effects are

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commonly experienced by people who use

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cannabis regularly new research suggests

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that these effects are worse and more

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permanent for people who start using

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cannabis while their brain is still

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developing this is because the

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endocannabinoid system plays a central

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role in the development of your neural

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circuitry during the teenage years the

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developing brain has a pretty good

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blueprint to work off but our

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experiences and interactions with the

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outside world also help to shape these

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neural circuits that we will rely on as

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adults your teenage years are an

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adventure that sets you up for life

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enjoy the ride and look up your brain

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it's the only one you've got

Responding

Conversation ideas for talking to young people

Published on: 4 March 2022

Last reviewed: 4 March 2022

Date: 4 March 2022
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Date: 9 December 2019
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Date: 5 December 2019
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