CAMPUS NEWS
NWU Vaal Library
KICKS a habit
T
Poppy Narenti
The South African National Council
on Alcoholism and drug dependency’s National Drug Awareness Week
is an annual campaign that undertakes to highlight the substance
abuse problem in South Africa.
The campaign is designed to create
awareness and understanding about
substance abuse and its dangers,
to educate and assist those affected
by drugs, by giving them information
about where to get help, and to put
a stop to the abuse of both drugs
and alcohol.
This youth month SANCA invited
departments to support this annual campaign by creating drug
awareness campaigns. In honour
of SANCA week the Learning and
Research Commons of the Vaal
Campus held a campaign in which
the staff and students were randomly picked from the library
and challenged to identify
items or habits they would
give up for week. This
campaign was created to
generate awareness on how
difficult it is for people with
addictions to quit and to also
show support.
Louise Harmse, from the Vaal Campus library worked on the campaign
from 23 - 27 June. “I designed the
forms, and approached the students
using the Library facilities randomly.
I then promptly informed them
about the campaign, and asked
them to identify one habit that would
be extremely difficult to quit for one
week. I did the same with the Library
staff” she said. The habits were
pinned on an exhibition unit for the
week to create further awareness.
The fight against drugs is an ongoing battle that continues long after
the end of the awareness week.
On the Monday, Louise handed out
oranges with a note attached to quit
8 - Student 24/7
junk food, as an extra gesture for
students and staff to take up as a
challenge.
SANCA aims to ensure that young
people at risk of drug misuse or who
are experimenting with drugs have
access to a range of testing, advice,
counselling, treatment, rehabilitation
and after care service. As well as to
raise awareness among communities and the youth in particular about
the negative effects of abusing
drugs. It encourages any affected by
drug abuse to seek help.
How to Break a Habit
1. Admit that you have a problem.
Acknowledging that you have a
habit you’d like to
break
is vital. Consider the ways that the
habit alters or affects your life, and
accept that you’d like to change
this. Ask yourself these questions.
Why is this habit bad? What’s holding me back from getting rid of it?
What things or people stop me from
breaking the habit?
2. Change your environment. Research suggests that sometimes our
environments can cue us to perform
certain behaviours, even if we’re
actively trying to stop. Find a way to
change your scenery and see if your
bad habit becomes less tempting.
For instance, if you like to smoke
out on your patio, remove the chair
you sit in and replace it with a plant.
If you tend to overeat at the same
location at the dining room table,
move to a different seat or rearrange
your furniture such that you’re facing
a different direction than usual when
you eat. Subtle changes to the environment can make a habit less
rote and force your mind
to reassess what’s
happening.