AFTER four successful years, the Straight-Line Project has received national support for its work of tackling under-age drinking in Hartlepool.

Following a recent visit to The Alcohol and Young People Summit in London, Straight-Line’s team of dedicated staff were astonished to find that they were the only support team in the country providing their unique service for educating youngsters and parents about the effects of alcohol.

The London based event was aimed at providing support teams from around the country with advice and recommendations on new ways of tackling under-age and binge drinking however, due to the success of their work, the Straight-Line team were unable to escape the frenzy surrounding the interest for their project.

Straight-Line Project worker, Terry Lahney, said: “We are absolutely amazed by the levels of interest we have received, even on the tube home from London we were still being asked questions about the Project.”

Due to the levels of encouragement shown from up and down the country, Straight-Line which was implemented as a Safer Hartlepool Partnership initiative in 2004, has been given the go ahead to stage their own event for providing advice to other support teams about the programme.

What makes the Straight-Line Project stand out from the crowd is its ability to communicate on a personal level to both youngsters between 11-17 and their parents, who gain specialist advice and support on the effects of alcohol through personal home visits and workshops.

Sharon Robson, Drug Prevention Co-ordinator of the Health Development Team at Hartlepool PCT, said: “Parents are now finding the confidence to be involved in the work we are doing and together we can make the difference.”

Youngsters who are found to be drinking or regularly consuming alcohol, are referred to the Straight-Line programme where they are given support and made aware of the risks created by under age drinking including health, personal safety, anti-social behaviour and committing crime whilst under the influence.

Referrals to Straight-Line had previously only been made by the police, the anti-social behaviour unit and A & E however, these services have been extended with great success to both parental and self-referrals and other statutory agencies, with less than 10% of youngsters involved in the Project re-offending.

The project is now looking to extend its workshops for the future and hopes to release further details on its proposed event very soon. For further information on Straight-Line or if you are in need of support yourself, please call Terry on 01429 523986 or Sharon on 01429 285782.