Youth workers across Caerphilly County Borough have taken part in a training day to help them tackle the problem of alcohol misuse among young people.
Fourteen youth workers, working with young people aged 11 to 25, took part in an Alcohol Brief Intervention Training day provided by Public Health Wales as part of a national scheme to reduce the harm caused by alcohol use.
Held at the Caerphilly Youth Service base at Crumlin Institute, youth workers were taught how to look for a range of triggers that could indicate young people were misusing alcohol.
Darren Williams, Senior Youth and Community Health Inclusion Worker, said: “This has been a valuable opportunity to expand on the work that we are currently undertaking with young people across the Caerphilly Borough.
“The issue of problematic drinking among young people is one which we are consistently working hard to tackle, we welcome this training opportunity and we look forward to implementing the skills we have learned today in our everyday work.”
Public Health Wales hopes to expand the training offering it to any professional groups who may have the opportunity to give advice about sensible drinking and to anyone who could be misusing alcohol.
Craig Jones, Senior Health Promotion Practitioner for Public Health Wales, said: “Although tackling alcohol misuse can be considered a very medically orientated behaviour change we are seeing more and more the need to work together with groups like youth workers who are well known and trusted, really know their local communities and are a valuable part of this process.”