Taking drugs? New outreach campaign in university halls of residence

University is a time for self-discovery and experiencing the world away from the eyes of parental figures. For many, this means indulging in the nightlife and party scene of a new city and potentially experimenting with alcohol and other drugs. Most often, this leads to minimal harm except a hungover lecture and a greasy takeaway the next day, but for some, alcohol and other drugs can have a range of negative effects on an individual’s life.

Our service The Drop is specifically aimed at students and others that attend club nights and festivals. The Drop is a harm reduction service that provides a variety of interventions to advise and support people around their alcohol and other drug use through informational campaigns and direct engagement at universities and venues.

Our latest campaign has just been rolled out into halls of residence around Bristol via digital display boards in communal areas. This campaign is tailored to engage with new students and let them know where they can find advice and support from a member of The Drop team. We are very grateful to Target Students, the company that manages the panels, for the opportunity to advertise our services and messages directly to students in their accommodation and for offering us an advertising spot free of charge. The beauty of these digital boards is that we can swap out campaign materials as we wish so we can develop our messaging as the university year progresses, targeting times of the year where alcohol and other drug use might be higher.

This campaign builds on BDP’s ongoing campaign of supporting students in Bristol, including access to free reagent drug testing kits to University of Bristol students and having our outreach team and materials at club nights and festivals throughout the city.