New meth workshops announced for the South West

Mental Health Minister Andrea Mitchell announced on Thursday that the School Drug Education and Road Aware (SDERA) workshops would support teachers, parents and others wanting more information about meth and its potential harms.

"Through these workshops, parents and teachers in the community who have a concern or interest will be able to obtain accurate information about meth, the possible consequences of its use and what can be done to reduce harm and prevent use by students," Ms Mitchell said.

"The new workshops are based on SDERA's successful Talking Drugs workshops, which have already been delivered to staff and parents at four locations in the South-West this year."

The announcement comes a month after Ms Mitchell announced a free around-the-clock Meth Helpline to expand the fight against methamphetamine use in Western Australia.

SDERA received $500,000 to develop and deliver the new meth-focused workshops and other school resources as a key initiative of the $14.9 million Western Australian Meth Strategy 2016 announced by the State Government in the May State Budget.

The funding will enable the workshops and targeted professional development for school support staff to be delivered across the State over two years.

Six of SDERA's Talking Drugs workshops have already been held in Busselton, Manjimup, Bunbury and Dalyellup, with a total of 59 school staff and 103 parents participating.

More than 100 parents and teachers have already registered an interest in attending the first of the new meth-focused workshops to be held in Collie in January 2017.

The complete calendar of workshops for 2017 is currently being finalised.

This SDERA initiative forms part of the Western Australian Meth Strategy 2016 and complements other work currently being delivered in the South-West region by the South West Community Drug Service Team, Meth Helpline and Drug Aware methamphetamine campaign.