Smashed launches new online alcohol education program
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The Smashed Project has launched its live performance as an online program, allowing students to learn about the dangers of peer pressure and underage drinking via an interactive cinematic experience accessed at smashedonline.com.au
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“We’ve been delivering the live performance in schools across Australia for the last four years, and there’s clearly been a huge demand for it. But geographically and budgetwise, we can only go so far. The online program allows us to deliver a similar experience to what we’ve been offering in schools, and it’s available to all schools across Australia, regardless of their location.”
“The program is a cinematic e-learning journey,” Watt explains. “You follow the story of three young people and their struggles in dealing with peer pressure, getting involved in underage drinking, and the consequences of this on their relationships, their schoolwork, their health and fitness, and their potential career opportunities.
“It’s also interactive, and you can listen to phone calls with the different characters and choose what you want to ask them. We also provide follow-on materials that teachers can use to go into those issues in a bit more detail.”
Smashed is an award-winning alcohol awareness program for young people that is sponsored by Diageo, a global beverage company with a collection of over 200 alcohol brands. Through dramatic theatrical lessons and interactive activities, the Smashed program aims to help young people increase their social awareness and decision-making skills and to empower them to make responsible choices about alcohol when they reach legal drinking age.
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“You follow the story of three young people and their struggles in dealing with peer pressure, getting involved in underage drinking, and the consequences of this on their relationships, schoolwork, health and fitness, and potential career opportunities”
Tim Watt,
Gibber
“Alcohol education is part of the curriculum, and we bring that to life in a way that teachers can’t always do. It’s a really fantastic aid for them to back up the things they’re already teaching and to put it into a real-life context”
Tim Watt,
Gibber
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UNDERAGE DRINKING in Australia is on the decline. However, while nationwide statistics show that the figures are dropping consistently, there is still a long way to go before they hit zero.
The 2017 Australian School Students Alcohol and Drug (ASSAD) Survey saw the lowest rates of alcohol use in teenagers of the past three decades. The proportion of students who reported having a drink in the last 12 months had declined from 79.8% in 1984 to 41% in 2017. The figures also showed a decline over that period for students drinking in the last month from 50% to 23.3%, and in the last week from 33.5% to 14.5%.
The Smashed Project has been running in Australia since 2018 and is delivered by educational theatre company Gibber Australia. Gibber has educated over 104,000 students across 563 live performances in 474 schools nationwide. There is now also an online rendition of the program, which allows students anywhere to follow the journey of three characters and observe the consequences of their drinking on various aspects of their lives.
Gibber director Tim Watt, who manages the live version of Smashed in Australia, says that while the statistics are encouraging, there is more progress to be made, and that's why the online version of Smashed is so important.
“Smashed Online is an extension of the Smashed Live global preventative program that aims to arm young people with the facts, knowledge and skills to make informed decisions when it comes to underage drinking,” Watt says.
The program is aimed at teenagers aged 13–15, and Watt says it has been deliberately designed as a preventative measure. He notes that the average age when young people start drinking is going up, but there is still a perception that it’s more widespread than it really is – an issue he says the program also aims to address.
“The average age that young people start drinking in Australia is 16, so we’re aiming to get in before that age and show them the dangers and consequences before they start doing it,” Watt says.
“The statistics tell us that the age that young people are starting to drink is going up, which is a good trend – but 16 is clearly still underage, so there's still a long way to go.
“In fact, around 80% of young people aged 12–17 say that they abstain from drinking alcohol, so there is a misconception that everyone is out there doing it, and that’s another thing that we wanted to address in the program,” he adds.
“The norm is that most young people aren’t drinking. It’s about making them aware of that and looking at what influenced those who are drinking, whether that’s peer pressure, stress at school, or personal situations at home.”
The Smashed Project’s live performance has gathered some outstanding feedback over the four years it's been running, and 98% of students surveyed said they were less likely to drink alcohol underage after taking part.
Teachers have also praised the initiative and its design, with 100% saying the program was well produced and presented, and helped their students understand more about the dangers of underage drinking.
Tim Watt says the visual learning experience has been a particular draw for the students, as it allows them to learn in a way that they wouldn’t normally do in a classroom.
“We’ve developed the online version because of the success of the live performance and the feedback that it’s received from the students and the teachers,” he says.
“Alcohol education is part of the curriculum, and we bring that to life in a way that teachers can’t always do. It’s a really fantastic aid for them to back up the things they’re already teaching and to put it into a real-life context.
“From the student’s perspective, it’s a different way of learning, and they respond really well to it,” Watts adds. “It’s fully evaluated, and on our last evaluation almost 100% of the young people surveyed said they were less likely to drink underage as a result of taking part in Smashed. You really can’t do much better than that!”
The Smashed Project originated in the UK and is funded by Diageo. It is currently active in 25 countries. Each version takes the students through the same story and provides additional resources, but these are also adapted culturally to resonate with the students in each country.
Watt says that with the launch of the online program Smashed is hoping to reach even more young people over the next year.
“Our target for Australia in the next 10 years is to reach 750,000 young people,” he says.
“This is our first year rolling out the online program, and we’re aiming to get 50,000 students through the program. It is a fairly ambitious target, but we think this is something very unique and different, and it’s certainly resonated with everyone who has completed it so far.”
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Colombia
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Mexico
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Italy
Hungary
Greece
United Kingdom
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Uganda
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Impact of Smashed Project Australia
Similarly, the 2019 National Drug Strategy Household Survey reported that the average (mean) age at which 14–24-year-olds first consumed their full serve of alcohol was 16.2 years.
One organisation that's determined to see these numbers continue along a positive trajectory is the Smashed Project. Smashed is a global in-school education program dedicated to reducing underage alcohol consumption by helping Australian teens avoid risky behaviours and understand the dangers of underage drinking.