Lumen Christi Catholic College principal Steve Centra has called for a whole of community approach to tackling the problem of youth substance abuse.
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This comes on the back of the discovery of cannabis on the school grounds last week.
Police attended the school at the end of last week to investigate and as a result the school enforced disciplinary action.
From what the Merimbula News Weekly can gather, a Year 11 student has been expelled from the school and a number of other students have been suspended.
Mr Centra said this is an issue the school cannot fix by itself.
“As a community we need to work towards ensuring our young people are not exposed to illicit substances,” Mr Centra said.
“I think it is more prevalent in our community than we perhaps thought and that we should destroy the myth that cannabis is a ‘soft drug’ which is only used ‘recreationally’.
“Research indicates that cannabis use is linked to a range of mental health problems and can be the ‘gateway’ drug to more serious drugs.”
Mr Centra said the staff at the school were just as concerned with the issue as local parents.
“Drug use also limits the person’s ability to be the best that they can be – which is what we should all want for our young people,” he said.
Mr Centra also reinforced the importance of the whole community coming together to have a conversation about adolescent mental health and the associated issues such as drug and alcohol abuse.
Mental Health Forum
Lumen Christi will be hosting a Community Mental Health Forum at Club Sapphire on September 14 with highly regarded adolescent psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg.
“The focus of this is adolescent mental health, but in any seminars that I have attended with Dr Carr-Gregg, he has always been quite outspoken about the harmful effects of drugs,” Mr Centra said.
Research shows that having a mental illness can make a person more likely to abuse drugs, to make their symptoms feel better in the short-term.
Mr Centra said suicide and mental health continue to have significant impact on our community.
“As such, we need to work together as a community to do what we can to address these issues, to assist those in need and to prevent any further tragic deaths,” he said.
“Our young people need our support. As a community, we are responsible for ensuring that this support is provided. Therefore, it is imperative that we join forces to see what can be done to improve the mental health of our young people.”
Mr Centra said the forum will be focusing on youth mental health and will look at how we can build the resilience of children; what can be done to improve the services offered to better manage mental health and how the community can better support the families experiencing the pressures associated with youth mental health.
“One death by suicide is one too many,” Mr Centra said.
“As the saying goes… ‘It takes a whole village to raise a child.’ We, the members of that village, need to put our heads together to see what we can do to help our kids enjoy life and to reach their vast potential. Anything less is not good enough.”
The Mental Health Forum will take place on Thursday, September 14 at Club Sapphire from 6pm to 9pm. This is a free event and the whole community is invited to attend.
