DIXIT Lleida Social Services Documentation Center offered on October 6 the conference “The Planet Youth model of community prevention of drug use among adolescents: the application in the city of Lleida. In Catalonia, Planet Youth has partnered with the municipalities of Tarragona, Castellar del Vallès, Reus, Amposta, and Lleida.

Planet Youth’s application is long-term and includes the collection and analysis of high school students’ data on drug use and other health and well-being issues. Once the diagnosis is made, work is done to involve all the actors surrounding the adolescents from different areas so that they share the pending challenges in drug prevention and collaborate daily in the prevention and eradication of risk factors, as well as the empowerment of the protective factors of its consumption.

In the initial part of the conference – which was presented by Glòria Mor, technician of the Territorial Coordination of Youth in Lleida -, the regional director of Planet Youth for Spain and Latin America, Patricia Ros, gave a general introduction about this method. Ros, clinical psychologist, and psychotherapist, applied the Planet Youth model in the city of Tarragona as head of the city council’s Addiction Prevention Service.

Next, Luisa Conejos explained the Lleida City Council’s commitment to the Planet Youth model. Conejos, a clinical psychologist with a master’s degree in addictions, directs the Paeria’s Sectoral Programs Service, which was responsible for drug prevention actions.

Finally, the social educator Marta Escolà, responsible for the Prevention and Intervention in Addictions Area of Lleida, detailed the steps taken in its application in the capital of Segrià, as well as the work that remains pending.