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Last week some of our Year 11 students participated in the Prevention of Alcohol and Risk Related Trauma in Youths (P.A.R.T.Y.) program. Run by health professionals at the Royal Darwin Hospital, the program is an injury awareness and prevention initiative that exposes teenagers to the tragic consequences of dangerous risk-taking behaviour.

P.A.R.T.Y. is a licensed program, first developed in Canada in 1986, aimed at 15-24 year olds. In the Northern Territory, P.A.R.T.Y. is an initiative of the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre (NCCTRC) and the Northern Territory Government (NTG). Together, NCCTRC and NTG are working to minimise alcohol and risk related trauma in youth.

Students arrive at the hospital and follow the journey of a trauma patient. As they walk through the Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit, students are asked to consider their own risk-taking behaviour and the possible consequences. They also experience medical simulations based on real-life trauma, and hear from doctors, nurses, police officers and paramedics who have been involved with treating preventable, life-threatening injuries.

Our students engaged well with the program, and left with a renewed sense of the consequences that can occur as a result of dangerous risk-taking behaviour.

For more information regarding the program, visit the P.A.R.T.Y. website .