SWEEP YOUTH PERFORM FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL KIDS

On Friday, April 20, youth members of Students Wanting to Encourage
Education and Prevention on Drugs and Alcohol (SWEEP) performed
theatrical skits for their younger peers at Sechelt and Gibsons
elementary schools. In collaboration with guest prevention worker from
Squamish, Leanna Buffie, these youth are spreading the message that
knowledge is power.

Acting as peer leaders, SWEEP youth trained in theatre, communication
with compassion, ensemble and capacity building skills for two months
to prepare for this day. Children in the audience participated by
sharing their feelings that were then "played back" through sound and
movement. A true story where an anonymous youth experiments with
Ritalin is performed as the audience yells out "stop" and students
offer an alternative choice to what the actor is doing in the scene.

Buffie guides the discussion by answering questions and inviting
students to share what they know about healthy choices. The
performance ends with the actors creating freeze frames of any changes
in feelings from the children after experiencing the show.

This interactive show empowers the younger children to speak out, use
critical thinking and learn the facts before they move on to higher
grades where they are likely to encounter substance use in youth culture.

Sechelt and Gibsons elementary schools have both been lobbying for
years for a permanent education-based prevention worker who visits
schools regularly on the Sunshine Coast and teaches students about the
effects of drugs and alcohol. As a pilot project funded by Health
Canada, SWEEP has participated in realizing this need, as well as
connecting community services, such as Vancouver Coastal Health, the
Needle Exchange, Addiction Services and programs with youth. A
strategy manual has been developed in a user-friendly website format
for youth and adults to access as a template for creating a SWEEP
program in their community.