Avondale a virtual campus of drug and alcohol coalition
Brenton Stacey
Public relations officer
Avondale College of Higher Education
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia
Avondale College of Higher Education has become the first higher education provider in Australia to partner with alcohol and drug education coalition Dalgarno Institute.
Dalgarno executive director Shane Varcoe: “We need to empower young adults to make better choices.”
Credit: Brenton Stacey.
Avondale is now a virtual campus of Dalgarno, which brings together people to move attitudes about alcohol and other drugs “away from the cultural expectation of participation to consider the option of ‘not having to.’”
“We’re perfect partners,” says Dr Wayne Miller, a senior lecturer in health and outdoor education in the School of Education at Avondale.
He is reflecting on Avondale’s commitment to values such as balance, nurture and spirituality and on the temperance work of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, of which Avondale is an entity.
“I haven’t heard the prevention message, as opposed to the harm minimisation message, for a long time. And that’s not a good thing because I feel young adults are more inclined to be sympathetic to the idea that alcohol in moderation is OK.”
The partnership will see Dalgarno’s executive director Shane Varcoe guest lecturing and speaking on campus—he did both this past year. Avondale will most likely assist with research.
“Young adults need options about drug use and alcohol consumption,” says Shane, “but they don’t have many at the moment. The culture in Australia is one-dimensional. Yes, young adults are making choices—they still have the power to choose—but the options are narrowing. We need to give them other options and empower them to make better choices.”