Description
The project addresses the need to provide parents of drug addicts in 4 Bulgarian cities with opportunities for self-help. The project aims at providing parents with information and raising the awareness of institutions. First, preliminary meetings with parents, teachers, students and institutions will be organized in the towns of Smolyan, Kardzhali, Kazanluk and Asenovgrad. Second, meetings will be held with the parents, local authorities and students in these towns to discuss 3 main topics, i.e. the family and drugs, drug addiction as an illness and how to build motivation. In addition weekly meetings with the parents of drug addicted persons will be held in the city of Plovdiv to provide them with support. The project will benefit drug addicts and their parents, teachers, students, local authorities, experts and the community in general.
Summary of project results
Mothers against Drugs Association raises awareness among young people and their parents as well as civil servants from the institutions responsible for the target group about the risks of drug abuse. Some of the target cities are confronted with this issue and there are hardly any specialists in drug abuse prevention. Thus the project met the urgent need of more knowledge about the new drugs that are most popular among teenagers. The project helped the Association build further on its long-lasting efforts and resulted in the organization of self-help groups in the cities and the recruitment of volunteers for the cause. The following events took place: • 8 meetings in Smolyan, Kardzhali, Kazanlak and Pavlikeni with parents, teachers, representatives of the institutions and the local authorities; • 8 meetings with students from universities and secondary schools in Plovdiv; • 3 seminars with students from the Department of Psychology of Plovdiv University; • 24 weekly meetings with parents in Plovdiv which were attended by 60 people; • 40-minute-long live TV broadcast about the project and two recordings of the coverage were aired; • a documentary was created and aired on TV and online about the work of Mothers Against Drugs Association; • a Leaflet on designer drugs based on the presentation of the consultant Dr. Ivan Dobrinov was published and disseminated during all meetings. The project achieved its impact with regard to awareness raising and involvement. In addition, partnership was established with the municipalities of the visited cities and contracts were arranged for the future. Knowledge and information was delivered in a user-friendly manner to the school and university students who have a choice and a model of behaviour compared with their peers. The documentary and the TV programme expanded the audience of the project with people from different age groups and professions who received more information straight from the horse’s mouth and learned how to act in such situations. These activities directly counteracted hate speech and the stigma imposed which are obstacles to the solution of the issue.
Summary of bilateral results