Scotland: Booze counselling for primary pupils

Link:http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Booze-counselling-for--primary.5813041.jp
By SCOTT McANGUS and SUE GYFORD
AT LEAST two primary school children are among dozens in the Lothians who have been sent to alcohol counselling after being caught drinking on the street.

The ten-year-olds were the youngest to be picked up by police in a crackdown on child drinkers in West Lothian.

Two 11-year-olds were also counselled as part of Operation Floorsweep, which refers young drinkers and their families for counselling and education.

A youth worker is now to be placed in the A&E department at Livingston's St John's Hospital on Saturday nights to ensure children who are brought in drunk can be referred for counselling.

The operation, which was highly commended at this year's Scottish Policing Awards, has picked up 185 under-16s and has been credited with cutting the number of calls to police on youth and alcohol-related disorder by 38 per cent.

Community police inspector Greg Forbes said: "The very young children are a minority, but it does happen. That's why we're going into primary and secondary schools now and trying to educate kids to the dangers of alcohol. If you can do anything to help kids at that age you have to do it."

Under-16s who are referred to the scheme receive help from West Lothian Drug and Alcohol Services (WLDAS) and the county's Youth Action Project (YAP).

Youth workers offer counselling, support and alternative activities for children and families, as well as child protection referrals where necessary.

Heather Watson, deputy manager at WLDAS, said: "We talk to a lot of young people who are alcohol dependent and the average age of those we speak to are between 13 and 14, but we have had younger. There are all sorts of reasons for this, like being bullied at school or unhappy home lives.

"There is not a lot between the amount of boys and girls we see, but there (are] slightly more boys."

Other police forces throughout Britain are now following West Lothian's lead, with Edinburgh and Fife constabularies considering using the approach.

Insp Forbes added: "Getting A&E involved is a big step forward – we're doing all this work at street level and about 60 (children] a year were going into A&E and being missed out of the process." He said he interviewed the first 100 children to go through the scheme. "It did work. With the kids that had been through the counselling there was reduced drinking."