When Shuan Kulupach spoke at Hunter New England Health’s Pit Stop for Youth forum the small group of year nine Singleton High Students at his station listened.
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They hung on his every word as he spoke about the consequences of smashing his head into a cement pipe after coming off a motorbike when he was a teenager.
The thirty year old admitted to having a few beers before jumping on his motorbike without a helmet and taking a risk that left him with permanent brain damage.
And this was just one of the facets of risk-taking in your teens addressed at the annual forum, a day designed to discuss risk taking behaviour and the consequences.
The consequences of actions like using drugs or alcohol, not eating properly, not practicing safe sex and so on.
The majority of the program is delivered by health professionals who give up their time to address the big issues in relaxed and engaging manner.
The year nine students are separated into small single-sex groups to discuss a range of issues using real life examples and hands-on experiences like wearing goggles that simulate the effects of alcohol.
Singleton High School acting head of welfare Dayna Cowmeadow says the program has been extremely successful and engages the students.
“It gives them an opportunity to discuss relevant health topics in an open and relaxed forum in an engaging way,” she said.
“They take away a lot from the experience. It is a non-threatening environment, a place where they can have those hard to have conversations. The ones they may not be able to have at home with Mum and Dad.”
She said only two students from the whole year elected not to participate in the program.
The analogy of maintaining a push bike is used to cover the range of delicate subjects, for example the chassis station is where eating a well-balanced diet is addressed and the air pressure stop covers the dangers of smoking.
Mr Kulupach says if he can stop one teenager making the same mistake he did telling his story is worth it.
“I had to learn to walk, talk and learn my ABC’s all over again. I was very angry and contemplated suicide. I had to undergo months of rehab including physiotherapy, occupational and speech therapy. Then my mother had to take me to the gym and my dad had to stop working for three-and –a half years,” he said shaking his head.
“My memory is still crappy.”
Mr Kulupach wants to make sure other don’t have to “go through what he did”.