A brief study visit to Denmark earlier this year illustrated ways in which a multi-agency approach operates in the classroom. Each local authority in Denmark has a youth service and a substance misuse service, the latter funded by the health service. Much, but not all, of the face-to-face work with young people takes place in schools. I sat in on one lesson for 13- and 14-year-olds on drug education which was about alcohol use. That evening, the pupils' parents were invited to a linked session to introduce and explain what their children were doing, and importantly to point out to parents that much alcohol use amongst young people derives from parental role-modelling. The concept of 'values conflict' was both acknowledged and confronted.
At the same time, work in youth clubs and centres focused on the links between excessive alcohol use and violence, and was supported by a peer-educator from a project in Copenhagen, Stop-Void (Stop Violence).
