Wednesday evening March 30 saw Mr Paul Dillon, Director of Drug an Alcohol Research and Training Australia, present a very informative talk to a large crowd in the Leslie Hall. Mr Heath welcomed Paul as 'rockstar' who could entertain and engage any audience, and we were certainly not disappointed. Mr Heath the several times he had seen and heard Paul present in other educational forums.
Paul Dillon recounted the history of the teenager group in 1941, drawing on the history of many famous identities including Shirley Temple and James Deen, combined with the influence of pool halls, Rock'n'Roll and the media over the past 60-70 years on the formation of teenager culture.
Through the sharing of many stories, real-life anecdotes and the exploration of recent data, he outlined the issues associated with drug and alcohol use amongst teenagers and the way this has been shaped across the Australian landscape.
He shared many pearls of wisdom about managing adolescents in then teenage years fact sheets and the parents and broader community valued his honesty and amazing depth of knowledge and experience. We thank him for taking the time to share his evening at the Barker Institute amidst his busy schedule. His presentation is here for download. We look to sharing our next presentation with Craig Hamilton in Term 2.