Youth Drug and Alcohol Clinical Service sign The National Communications Charter

The Newcastle Youth, Drug and Alcohol Clinical Service has pledged their commitment to the National Communications Charter to help reduce stigma and promote the use of safe and strengths based language around mental health, mental illness and suicide.

Held on Tuesday, 17th September as part of their six-monthly planning meeting, clinicians from the Youth Drug and Alcohol Clinical Service attended a Life in Mind presentation on the National Communications Charter and received a copy of The Charter booklet before the signing.

During the session, attendees reflected on the importance of delivering consistent messages and language in the work they do, and provided feedback that they are excited to be able to utilise this unifying resource and make a formal commitment to implementing the principles in collaboration with the sector.

Melinda Benson, Clinical Coordinator of the Youth Drug and Alcohol Clinical Service, said of The Charter, “The Youth Drug and Alcohol Service (YDACS) were excited to sign The Charter, as a way to demonstrate our teams pledge to work collaboratively with other services, ensuring we are better able to support the young people we work with."

"Stigma remains a major barrier to young people accessing Mental Health and Drug and Alcohol services, so the more we can break down this barrier, the more likely we will be able to have meaningful, long term positive outcomes for young people who need these service. YDACS looks forward to implementing The Charter, and sharing with other organisations to increase understanding of how we can make a difference when we have a unified voice".

With all members signing as individuals and Melinda signing on behalf of the Youth Drug and Alcohol Clinical Services, the team hope that other health services will follow suit. 

By using The Charter to guide their clinical work the YDACS team are optimistic that it will have a positive impact for their clients, other services in the health sector, as well as the wider community.

Find out more on The Charter and sign today.