Positive Choices

Positive Choices is an online portal to help school communities access accurate, up-to-date drug education resources and prevention programs. Research suggests the teenage years are when alcohol and other drug use are first initiated. This highlights the importance of intervening early with young people to prevent drug use uptake and associated harms. School staff and parents can play an important role in protecting young people from drug-related harms and empowering them to make positive choices. Teachers, school counsellors and parents are also the primary sources of contact for young people seeking advice or help for drug use issues, thus it is crucial they are equipped with accurate information and evidence-based harm prevention strategies. To meet this need, the Australian Government Department of Health funded the development of Positive Choices, an online portal that recognises cultural diversity and provides access to interactive evidence-based drug education resources for school communities. Positive Choices was informed by input from teachers, parents and students across Australia, and was developed in collaboration by researchers from: • Centre of Research Excellence in Mental Health and Substance Use (CREMS) • National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), University of New South Wales • National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University