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Alcohol & Other Drug Education

Since 2000, Encounter Youth has provided Alcohol & Other Drug education to students, parents and teachers. We are the largest provider of school Alcohol & Other Drug education to South Australian secondary students, educating over 30,000 young people, parents and teachers last year.

We aim to alert, inform and empower young people to bring about safer, more meaningful celebration. We adopt a harm-minimisation approach and encourage students to ‘look after themselves and their mates’. Our program aims to reduce and prevent alcohol & other drug-related harm among young people.

Our Alcohol & Other Drug education program is available in both in-person and online formats.

Why over 90 schools Chose Us Last Year

Holistic APPROACH

We are committed to a best-practice approach to Alcohol & Other Drug education. Our program is designed to be delivered to students each successive year through high school, building on the knowledge from the previous year. Our whole-of-school approach involves students, parents and teachers assisting in building relationships and credibility with students and supporting schools in providing a consistent approach to Alcohol & Other Drug education.

POSITIVE & INTERACTIVE

We take a positive, fact-based approach to Alcohol & Other Drug education, avoiding scare tactics and sensationalism. Our program is engaging and highly interactive, providing structured activities for students to express their questions, thoughts and opinions. This allows our presenters to provide students with credible and practical information around alcohol & other drugs during each education seminar.

EVIDENCE BASED

Supported by up-to-date research, we provide students with fact-based information that focuses on the growing number of students who are choosing not to drink alcohol or take other drugs. On this foundation, we address the realities that some students choose to drink at risky levels or engage with drugs, and we discuss strategies to reduce harm and to look after a mate if a night doesn’t go according to plan.

CURRICULUM ALIGNED

Our school program is designed by teachers, mapped to the Australian Curriculum (V 9.0) and Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum (2023), and delivered by trained education professionals to ensure its alignment and consistency with the school curriculum. We are committed to supporting and enhancing your school’s existing education and pastoral care programs. (See our full program curriculum links and program inclusions here.)

CUSTOMISABLE

Our educational program can be customised to cater for specific situations or the needs of the young people, parents and staff at your school. Whether your school has booked our Seminars or Workshops, get in touch today to discuss how we can customise our program for your community.

Empower Education Program Offerings

Seminars

Explore all the packages and seminars we offer today!

This will give you all the details you need to know to make an informed decision about which packages and seminars are best suited for your community.

Online Learning

Our entire Alcohol & Other Drug education program is available online via our secure learning platform called Empower Oz.

Whether your students are attending school or staying at home, we provide online education mapped to the Australian Curriculum and the Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum.

Resources

Tackling these topics is challenging. For this reason, we have prepared resources for teachers, young people, Year 12s and parents. We also have specific resources on vaping and e-cigarettes.

FAQs

Finding the right information you need for your community can sometimes be a little tricky.

Check out our frequently asked questions today.

Empower Education

Why Choose Us?

What sets us apart from other education providers? We have educated communities for over 23 years. Our content is designed by teachers and mapped to the Australian Curriculum. It’s engaging, relevant and research based.

An independent evaluation of our program found that 100% of educators said our presenters were good communicators and knowledgeable on the topic, and stated that they would recommend the program to other teachers.

See student, teacher and parent reviews on our Why Choose Us? page.

FEATURED IN

Book Today

We educate over 30,000 young people, parents and teachers each year. Together, let’s support your students and give them the best Alcohol & Other Drug education on offer.

Ready to book? We look forward to serving you and your students.

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We are supported by the Department for Education, Variety – The Children’s Charity, Flinders University and Morialta Charitable Trust.

These partnerships offer subsidised fees and travel for South Australian school communities.

Department for Education

Our Alcohol & Other Drug education program is proudly supported by the South Australian Government through the Department for Education. This partnership supports our goal to help every SA secondary school community access affordable preventative AOD education, delivered by trained education professionals. We are very appreciative for the program subsidies provided by the State Government that assist in removing the financial barrier that some schools face in taking a whole of school approach to AOD education.

Variety – the Children’s Charity

Variety – the Children’s Charity partner with us to ensure that a student’s location or economic status does not hold them back from receiving high-quality, effective alcohol and other drug education, all thanks to the generosity of Variety – the Children’s Charity of South Australia. We are very grateful for their support and commitment to supporting disadvantaged young people in our state.

Flinders University

We’re proud to have Flinders University as the Principal Partner of our Empower Education program, reflecting our shared commitment to supporting young people to make safer, informed choices. Their support enhances our ability to deliver evidence-based alcohol and other drug education across South Australia, while also encouraging students to see positive pathways for their future. We value Flinders University’s ongoing commitment to young people and the impact we can create together.

Morialta Charitable Trust

We are grateful to Morialta Charitable Trust for their generous support through a 2026 grant enabling the development of our new Digital Wellbeing session for young people, parents and educators. Their commitment to creating lasting opportunity and wellbeing for South Australia’s children and youth means we can expand our reach and deliver accessible, high-quality digital resources for mental health, resilience and online safety.