Dr Emily Deans presented at the NDARC Webinar Series on Thursday, 16, March 2023.

This webinar looked at the contexts of young offenders’ alcohol and other drug use and the implications for harm reduction strategies. The importance of multi-level interventions that move beyond ‘victim blaming’ and ‘individual responsibility’ were discussed and the importance of including consumer perspectives in framing AoD discourses more broadly was explored.

About the speaker

Emily’s experience lies within qualitative inquiry and her research focus is on understanding the environmental/structural influences on risk decisions and health behaviours. Over the last five years, Emily has worked in the not-for-profit sector to build the capacity of smaller community organisations to conduct research to inform service practice. Emily is passionate about using research as a medium to advocate for the needs of client groups, using focus groups and interviews as a platform to hear others’ perspectives and experiences. Emily is grateful to have learnt from population groups that have endured significant strains including young people in contact with the justice system and young people with significant and complex AoD / mental health needs.