Leading Drug Education Charities, Angelus and Mentor to Merge

LONDON, September 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Two of the UK's leading drugs education charities have announced they are to merge.

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Angelus is the only UK charity dedicated to raising awareness of the risks from new psychoactive substances (also known as 'legal highs'). Mentor UK is the UK's leading charity working to prevent the misuse of alcohol and drugs among children and young people. They will merge on 1 October 2016 and operate under the Mentor UK name.

Together, they have a shared ambition to see a considerably increased provision of preventative education delivered to young people so that every young person in the UK can assess the risks that drugs present. They have already worked together in lobbying the Government to help educate young people in the wake of the New Psychoactive Substances Act.

Angelus was founded by Maryon Stewart, whose daughter Hester died in 2009 after taking a legal high. Mentor UK was founded in 1998 and is part of the group of charities affiliated with the Mentor International Foundation. The organisations recognise that the range of pressures facing young people is continually growing. The numbers of substances available to young people has continued to add to the rapidly evolving situation. The merger is an opportunity to demonstrate their dual leadership in the sector, enhancing their capacity to support educational delivery and to involve Government in finding solutions.

Both organisations recognise close parallels in their work objectives to develop greater external profile and stronger influence so as to achieve common objectives of preventing harm to young people by building their resilience to the myriad of pressures on them.

Mentor's Chief Executive, Michael O' Toole said, "This merger is a great match of expertise - it is going to give fresh impetus to the prevention agenda. Mentor and Angelus working together will certainly enhance our capability to deliver on the full range of issues affecting young people. Angelus has shown it is the lead voice in educating young people and the public about the new phenomenon of new psychoactives. Together we will be a stronger force to ensure we build even more young people's resilience to the wide range of pressures they face."

Chief Executive of Angelus, Jan King said, "We are absolutely delighted to be announcing this merger today. We are determined to continue to work to protect young people from the harms of new psychoactives - it is clear to us that joining forces with Mentor UK is the best way of achieving that. There is no organisation in the sector which is more respected than Mentor and they have a very strong track record of delivering high quality prevention programmes. We look forward to reaching more young people and enabling them and their parents to be better equipped to cope with the risks that drugs present."

Notes to editors:

1. Angelus is the only drugs charity dedicated to combating 'legal highs' and club drugs. Angelus raises awareness around these substances through films and information in schools and universities and through the Whynotfindout website http://www.wnfo.org.uk. There is also a website for families http://www.angelusfoundation.org.uk.

2. Mentor is the UK's leading voice in drug and alcohol prevention. They run evidence-based programmes in a variety of settings for different groups of young people, as well as the adults in their lives. They run programmes both independently and in partnership with organisations across England and Scotland. Mentor developed ADEPIS, the leading source of alcohol and drug education resources for schools, and now maintains the CAYT repository of impact studies of evidence-based programmes.