Five cities sign up to take part in city-wide pilot projects into student drug and alcohol use!

It’s almost 12 months post-UUK report “Enabling Student Health and Success” and we’ve been working behind the scenes to support the shift towards a harm reduction approach to student drug and alcohol use as supported in the guidance. One of the key recommendations was to set-up a small number of pilot groups, led by universities and students’ unions working closely with local partners, to test out the approach outlined in the report.

We’ve been reaching out to universities, and we’re happy to announce that we’ll be piloting a city-wide approach to student drug and alcohol use in 5 cities, aiming to begin in Autumn 2025. We look forward to seeing how this project develops in our pilot cities; Manchester, Brighton, Bristol, Newcastle and Cardiff!

The aim of the project is to build new city-wide partnerships to improve prevention and early intervention for students in Further Education and Higher Education. These partnerships will include universities, students’ unions, colleges, accommodation providers, public health, local authorities, police, NHS services, the night-time economy and drug and alcohol services. We will support these partnerships to connect and strengthen existing work by supporting shared data, joint messaging and more efficient use of resources. The pilot will work with all students, from those not using substances to those at risk, dependent, or in recovery.  This will ensure a consistent and effective harm reduction approach across the city and embed this work beyond campus, where many harms are likely to arise.

We recognise that each city may have different priorities and challenges when it comes to student drug and alcohol use, and so we’re hosting a theory of change workshop in July to support each city to shape their approach. There will also be opportunities to share good practice, learning, and challenges across the pilot cities, helping build insight and improve delivery.

We’re looking forward to seeing this project develop and supporting young people in and outside of higher education!

If you’re in one of our initial pilot cities and want to be involved, please contact either tracy.lumb@sos-uk.org or fiona.murray@sos-uk.org - we’d love to hear from you.  If you like the sound of the city-wide approach and are interested in joining the second cohort of city-wide partnerships, please reach out.

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