Responding to the continuing national concerns and incidents around the issues of head shops and legal highs, the Learning Curve Institute has announced that its highly topical one day workshop entitled Legal Highs - A description of the available head shops substances and their effect - is now coming to the Hodson Bay Hotel, Athlone on Friday April 30.
The Learning Curve Institute is a registered FETAC provider of internationally recognised, fully accredited courses, and boasts a host of experts in the fields of drug awareness, addiction, and counselling. The first highly successful workshop took place on March 5 in Sligo to a full audience, with the second in Limerick on April 9, and has since been prominently featured on both RTE’s Morning Ireland and in the Irish Times.
The upcoming workshop in Athlone is ideal for any person involved with youth or community work who needs to quickly and comprehensively understand the effects of substances freely available to young adults. It will allow anyone concerned about the current media and political attention on the legal substances to gain a better understanding of the issues.
The workshop aims to help participants recognise the most commonly available substances and understand the affects and potential harms these substances may have. Attendees will be taught to identify and adopt strategies to work with people who are under the influence by experienced addiction counsellors and subject experts. Discussions on the legal status of these substances will be held along with information on harm reduction models of intervention and their application.
Commenting on the popularity of the course up and down the country, Learning Curve director Sean Foy said, “I am really pleased that the LCI has been in a position to take swift action and offer a thorough one day course on this emerging issue. I am not surprised by the level of interest in the topic as serious concerns have been raised about the availability of these substances in every corner of Ireland. It is imperative that professionals on the frontline are equipped to deal with situation and feel confident in their knowledge.
“A major selling point of the course has certainly been the availability in several counties as opposed to the familiar Dublin-based focus. Attendees have also appreciated the duration of the course; limiting it to one day has opened it up to people from several backgrounds which has really sparked debate,” concluded Mr Foy.
Course fee is €75 per person, two people attending from the same organisation costs €140, three people costs €200. The workshop will take place in the Hodson Bay Hotel, Athlone from 9.30am to 4.30pm on Friday April 30. For full details of the workshop and booking details see www.thelearningcurve.ie Alternatively send an email to [email protected] or call the course coordinator, Sean Foy, directly on (087 ) 7554307.
