Campaign

Action Groups [ Action:process of doing or acting. Group: number of people working together]

What are they?

Anti-Tobacco Youth Campaign (ATYC) Groups are run by young people for young people. They aim to give young people a voice, an opportunity to express their opinions and ideas and make a positive contribution to the development and management of local and national projects on youth smoking prevention and cessation. It aims to enthuse young people and get them active about issues of concern to them or directly affecting them, such as exploitative advertising tactics by the Tobacco Industry, tobacco smuggling and smoking in public places.

How do I set one up?

Anybody can set up an ATYC group. If you have a group of friends from your youth club, school, college, sports club, church, Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme or anywhere else for that matter, and are all concerned about second-hand tobacco smoke, the exploitative nature of the tobacco industry in their production of tobacco or their manipulative advertising tactics aimed at youth, then get them together to form an ATYC group – as large or small a group as you choose!

Your group can be as formal or informal as you choose. You may decide to have a formal committee, with members being voted into positions of responsibility, as in the case of Ashley School, Widnes (see directory below). Alternatively, members of your group may decide to volunteer for certain responsibilities i.e. texting/emailing date and time of meetings, media contact or organising food and drinks.

You will need to decide how often you want to meet and where. If you’re in regular contact with members of the group you may be able to meet more often, maybe once a week or fortnight. Think about where you’re going to meet; at your youth club, after school, perhaps rotate meeting at member’s houses.

You may want to take total responsibility for the group yourselves or you may want to involve your youth worker, learning mentor or even a parent for bit of extra support. (you can also get on-line support with running your group)

You can also look through the directory of existing groups in your area, contact the group directly and TAG along with them. Once you become a member, you can get involved in activities to encourage others to TAG along. Use some of the hard-hitting tobacco facts to make your point and encourage others to get involved. Email the facts to your contact list and gain the interest of others that way as well as raising their awareness.

For your group to be successful, you need to have enthusiastic [strong interest in or admiration of, great eagerness], energetic [full of energy], innovative [bring in new methods, ideas etc; make changes] and committed [dedicated] members.

You will need to commit time to the campaign but in return you will gain

• knowledge and skills to affect change at a local, national and international level
• a sense of achievement and ownership by making a positive contribution to a local, national and international campaign affecting change
• make new friends and contacts, both locally and nationally, which could increase self-confidence
• develop new skills in communication, team work, IT and citizenship
• increased self-confidence and self-esteem by mixing with new people (both peers as well as other adults)
• increased knowledge around smoking prevention and cessation as well as wider tobacco and general health issues
• developed citizenship awareness and responsibilities – having a say, being involved, making things happen and actively taking part in decision-making.

However you decide to set up and run your group, always remember that it’s A GROUP RUN BY YOU FOR YOU!!!

If you have any queries, questions or concerns about setting up an ATYC group, then please feel free to contact Lisa on 0871 220 5398 or atyc@roycastle.org

Please take a few moments to register your ATYC group’s details below. This will allow us to monitor campaign activity regionally and nationally and with your permission, register your groups’ details in the directory so we can share good practice.

Ref: Want to cut smoking out? Support 2006