Underage Drinking and Substance Misuse in Teens
About
As the festive season approaches, the pressure to be sociable and take risks increases for teenagers and young adults. While it is normal for teens to experiment and test boundaries, for those who are experimenting to find relief from feelings of hopelessness, anxiety, irritability, and negative thoughts, it can lead to quicker addictions and worsening mental health over time, particularly because their brains are still developing.
We will be talking to Fiona Spargo-Mabbs about how to guide teens toward making safer and smarter decisions regarding their drug and alcohol choices.
Speaker
Fiona Spargo-Mabbs
OBE
Fiona Spargo-Mabbs is Director and Founder of drug education charity the Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation, and an award-winning author. Fiona co-founded the charity in 2014 in response to the death of her 16-year-old son Daniel having taken ecstasy. She brings to this work a wide range and depth of experience from more than two decades working in education at operational level as a teacher and manager, and at strategic levels locally and nationally. As well as working directly with young people and parents herself, Fiona is also regularly asked to speak on various national platforms and in the media, and is closely involved in policy work with government, police, academics and other agencies. Her book, I Wish I’d Known: Young People, Drugs and Decisions – A Guide for Parents and Carers (Sheldon Press, 2021) won the Gold Medal for Parents and Families in the Nautilus Book Awards 2022, and her most recent book for parents, Talking the Tough Stuff with Teens (Sheldon Press) will be published in December 2022. Her TEDx talk, ‘Why drugs education is vital’, can be seen here. Fiona’s passionate commitment to do all she can to prevent what happened to her son happening to anyone else drives everything she does. For more information about the DSM Foundation see www.dsmfoundation.org.uk
