A project has recently been undertaken jointly with Wirral Health developing on from work begun by Healthwise in St Helens and Knowsley. Hairdressers are an interesting setting for health promotion work and the dissemination of health information. Links have been made by Healthwise staff with a series of hairdressers in the district who now carry health information. Their appointment cards have been redesigned and they now carry appoint information about the individual hairdressers on one side and information about the Healthwise helpine on the other. For more information about 'Healthy Hairdresser' initiatives contact Pam Wilson at Healthwise.
Community approaches to drug, alcohol and tobacco prevention.
School based education on drugs, alcohol and tobacco has received a lot of attention in recent years. The Healthwise School Support unit has worked with the local education authorities and many hundreds of schools across the region on these issues. Less well developed are approaches to community based prevention. During 1995 Healthwise undertook a review of community based approaches to the prevention of problems associated with drugs, alcohol and tobacco for teenagers in Sefton. The review was commisioned for Sefton Health and presented to the newly formed Drug Action Team late in 1995.