The H-SAT website contains a wide range of advice and information for young people, parents and carers as well as teachers and health professionals.

You might feel awkward. But there are ways you can make it easier:

1. Find a good time to start a conversation.
Your child should feel relaxed and confident they won’t be interrupted. You could try talking when you’re:

• on a walk together

• in the car (they might feel less pressure if you’re not looking directly at them)

• the only people at home.

2. Make the conversation relevant
That could be by using their experience of learning about sex and relationships in school or talking about couples in the media. Or if you've been watching a TV series or film together and one of the characters is in a relationship. Think of open-ended questions to ask, like:

• What do your friends think?

• What do you think?

• What do you think about the relationship?

• Do you think the relationship is healthy or unhealthy?

3. Don’t rush. Let your child take their time.
It can help to have a few short conversations rather than trying to cover everything at once. If your child feels uncomfortable, let them know that you’re there whenever they’re ready to talk.

Back to school 2024

Highland Sexual Health Service

Planet Youth Highland Event videos now available to watch on catch up!

Mental Health Training available

How does alcohol affect the adolescent brain?

Highlife Highland Activities

Sported- funding applications opening soon

• Planet Youth Update

• Discussing Drugs and Alcohol with Young People - new e-module available now

• Self Harm

• Smartphone Free Childhood pack

• ASH Scotland - Tobacco Free School Pack

• Highland Update

• Bullying Webinar on 30th October - Register now!

• Vaping Information e-booklet for Parents and Carers

• Social norms poster competition - closing 4th November

• Useful Resources

• Highland Update

• World Children's Day 2024

• Planet Youth article in The Herald

• Winners of our Social Norms Poster Competition

Discussing Drugs and Alcohol with Young People (DDAYP) is an approach based on the principles of Motivational Interviewing and Brief Interventions, providing structure to opportunistic, non-confrontational conversations to support young people to make healthy lifestyle choices around drugs and alcohol.

Aim

The aim of this module is to raise awareness and develop understanding of the impact of substance use on young people, and how to deliver a short, structured conversation in order to consider health behaviour change effectively. 

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, you will be able to: 

• Recognise own and young people’s attitudes, and how they may impact on practice.

• Recognise Basic Motivational Interviewing principles and key delivery skills for behaviour change.

• Demonstrate how to measure alcohol units and recognise the variability in strengths of other substances.

• Discuss how to raise the issue of drugs and alcohol, including identifying potential signs and situations.

• Apply the options for harm reduction, cutting down, and coping strategies.

Family Support

A strong family support system is one of the most influential protective factors. When children feel protected and supported by their family, they develop a sense of security and belonging. Positive family interactions such as quality time spent together, family meal times, encourage open and honest communication, trust and emotional bonding.

Key family related protective factors are:

• Parental involvement in education and activities.

• Consistent parenting with clear expectations and rules.

• Emotional warmth and acknowledging children's feelings.

• Planet Youth Highland Update

• The teenage brain and risk taking behaviours

• NEW We can now deliver 'Discussing Drugs and Alcohol with Young People' to your teams

• Sleep Day 2025 - Why do we need to help our young people prioritise their sleep?

• How can parents support young people who self-injure?

• Highland Youth Parliament Review Survey closes on 17th March

• Resources

• Contact us

• Highland Update

• Free online gaming and gambling awareness sessions for parents, carers and those working with young people.

• The Parent Hub - a place to have your say

• Putting Children’s Rights into Practice - 90 minute training sessions

• 3 Highland schools win the Substance Aware School Award 2025 🎉

• Child healthy weight programs

• Suicide Prevention - Let's continue the conversation

• Useful resources and training opportunities.

• Highland Update

• The adolescent brain and risk taking behaviours

• Working in partnership to increase protective factors in communities

• Talking to young people about suicide- A guide for parents and carers

• 15th - 21st of September is Sexual Health week

• Learning opportunities and resources

• Contact us

These sessions will be super informal, purely for parents and carers and be held in the evening to make it easier to attend.

We will look at issues affecting young people and how parents and carers can support their children around these issues.

Come along with a cuppa to a safe space where you can join in as much as you like or just sit and listen if you prefer.

The first session will be The adolescent brain and risk taking behaviour and we are holding this on Thursday 18th September from 6.30 to 8pm

You will need to create a free Turas account using this link :Turas | Sign up(External link)

After you have done that, you can register for the session using this link: Health improvement : speakeasy taster webinars | Turas | Learn(External link)

We will cap these sessions at 25 so that they are small groups. If there is a desire we will schedule more sessions.

We also have the following sessions coming in September and October:

• 25th September - Young People, relationships and the online world

• 2nd October - Healthy relationships, consent and the law.

We also provide support and information to friends, families and professionals. The ‘How We Can Help’ drop-down at the top of this page will take you to the resources you need. If you self-harm and need support, our live chat is available between 6pm – 10pm every evening. Alternatively, you can self-refer for one-to-one ongoing support via the ‘Contact Us’ page. 

You can register online to save your space (spaces are limited to 25 per session).

To do this, you must set up a FREE Turas Learn account here: Turas | Sign up.

Then register for the session/s you are interested in using this link: Health improvement : speakeasy - small group sessions for parents and carers | Turas | Learn

The session will be help on Wednesday 11^th March from 6.30pm to 7.30pm and parents and carers can register by scanning the QR code in the poster or using this registration link: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/0dc83b22-5d92-4d28-af01-fc6df6491ec9@10efe0bd-a030-4bca-809c-b5e6745e499a