Want to know more about how vaping and other substance use might be impacting your teen’s health?
The Burnaby district parent advisory council is hosting a parent information session at Burnaby Central Secondary next Wednesday (Nov. 6).
The event will feature speakers from the school district’s safe and caring schools and counselling departments as well as a Burnaby RCMP school liaison officer, a Fraser Health Authority nurse and Odyssey, a program that provides services to youth and families affected by substance abuse.
Participants will hear information about how to talk to kids about substance use, current substance-use trends, how vaping can impact health, how to help youth recognize and respond to an overdose, and more.
Burnaby RCMP school liaison officer Const. Frank Tarape will be there to touch on the Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act, which protects people calling 911 to report an overdose from facing drug charges of their own.
Even aside from the law, however, Tarape said it’s important to impress on young people the importance of just being “good citizens” in those situations.
“It’s a hard sell with young people afraid to be exposed as a snitch or a rat, but we’re trying to remind them that, at the end of the day, if you were in a bad situation, you would want someone to call for help for you,” Tarape said. “As unpopular as you may be in that moment, just call.”
The parent information session runs from 7 to 9 p.m. in the main hall.
Burnaby Central Secondary is at 6611 Deer Lake Pkwy.
