Heidi Berry says the way you talk to young people at school about substances like drugs and alcohol really matters.
âOne in four young people in Australia struggle with their mental health, and around the same number experiment with alcohol or drugs during their teenage years,â Heidi says, âso itâs all about choosing your words, and your approach, carefully.â
A member of the Youth Advisory Board at the University of Sydneyâs Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, Heidi says that for too long, the approach was either silence or scare campaigns.
âEveryone meant well, but there was no language to truly reflect what students were going through,â Heidi says. âThatâs why the OurFutures programsÌęwere created â with students, for ČőłÙłÜ»ć±đČÔłÙČő.â
âOurFutures is about education without fear tactics,â explains Professor Nicola Newton, the Director of Prevention Research, at The Matilda Centre. âWhat makes our approach different is that students see themselves in the program. The characters are their age, the language makes sense, and every lesson is grounded in evidence.â
The OurFutures model was conceived by Professor Newton with the Matilda Centreâs Director, Professor Maree Teesson â building on more than 20 years of research and co-design with students and teachers.
The series of online modules delivered in high schools feature cartoon storylines with relatable characters to share information about alcohol, drugs and mental health. Students can also engage in activities with their teachers, such as role-playing real-life scenarios and class discussions.
âItâs not just delivering information; itâs giving students the tools they need to make better decisions,â Nicola says.
Clinical trials have found the OurFutures programs are more effective in preventing the use of alcohol, cannabis, MDMA, vaping, and improving mental health, than standard health education programs. It has also been proven to have long-lasting benefits â reducing risky drinking and related harms well into adulthood.
âIt's been trialled in 290 schools with over 26,000 students showing reductions in alcohol, cannabis, MDMA use and vaping, so it works,â Nicola says.
âBy getting in early and preventing these problems from developing, we can change the life trajectories of our young people.â
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For young advisors like Heidi Berry and Thomas Wedding, being part of the Matilda Centre Youth Advisory Board (YAB) means having a real voice.
The YAB is made up of a diverse group of young Australians, aged 16 to 25, from across Australia, who contribute their expertise to guide youth programs and mental health research.
âWe use our lived experience to shape programs like OurFutures,â Thomas says, âfrom the structure of education modules to the exact wording used. Weâre brought in from the start and are able to influence the tone, the key insights, the way it all comes together.
âItâs not about saying âdonât do drugsâ, itâs about giving young people the knowledge to stay safe. Everyone will make their own choices; we just want them to be informed when they do.â
OurFutures is continually evolving. A new module on vaping â highly addictive and popular with teens right now â has shown powerful results. Students who completed the module were found to have increased knowledge about vaping and wereÌę65 percent less likely to vapeÌęthan their peers in a control group.
Four out of five students who completed the program felt the skills and information they learnt would help them in the future and 90 percent of teachers said the program was easy to implement in their classrooms.
The program has been hailed as one of the most successful school-based strategies in the world for curbing youth e-cigarette use in a study published by theÌę
âWith support from the Paul Ramsey Foundation, we have now established theÌęÌęNicola says, âa joint venture not-for-profit spin-out company with the University of Sydney, to drive large-scale implementation of these effective programs in schools.
âOur goal is to reach all Australian high schools by 2030,â she says.
Itâs not just delivering information; itâs giving students the tools they need to make better decisions.
Heidi knows what itâs like to grow up in a regional area with limited support.
âThe best education didnât always reach the people who needed it,â Heidi says. âWhen we talk about accessibility, itâs not just a nice-to-have. Itâs the difference between someone getting help or not even knowing itâs there.â
âAccessibility means plain language. It means visuals and online resources, not just handouts. It means co-designing programs with everyone in mind.
âEvery young person deserves the chance to make informed choices.â Heidi says. âBut first, they need to understand what those choices are.â
Header photo credit:ÌęAlan Richardson