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Staying Safe This Festive Season

Monday 16-12-2024 - 10:22

Staying Safe This Festive Season

By Your SU

As we come to the end of term and the festive period nears, we know that many of you will have a great night out (or two!) planned to celebrate. As well as having a good time, it’s important that we look out for each other and stay safe. So here’s a reminder of some tools in place at the University to support you and some tips on how to enjoy yourself safely when you’re out and about.

Three students with their backs to camera overlooking St Peter's Campus at night

On Campus Security

If you are staying in halls or the City Centre, you can contact the University’s team 24/7.

In an emergency, make sure you always call 999.

Report and Support

The University’s Report + Support platform is here to help keep our community safe.

This platform empowers staff, students and visitors to report harassment, discrimination, or gender-based violence. This could include experiences of sexual violence, domestic abuse, hate, or bullying.

Report + Support allows our university community to:

  • Report an incident that happened to you directly.
  • Report an incident on behalf of someone else: Offer support to a colleague, student, or friend by reporting an incident on their behalf (with their consent).
  • Report a witnessed incident: Help create a safer community by reporting incidents you witness on campus.

Report and Support is open to every member of our university community, and allows you to report an incident anonymously or leaving your contact details.

Spiking

Spiking is when someone puts alcohol or drugs into another person’s drink or body without their consent or knowledge. People can also be a victim of ‘needle spiking’, which is injecting someone with drugs without their consent, or vape spiking, putting drugs in their vape or cigarette.

Spiking can happen to anyone, anywhere and can be carried out by strangers or people you know.

Signs and symptoms:

  • feeling drunk, woozy or drowsy
  • feeling “out of it” or drunker than expected
  • mental confusion
  • speech difficulties (such as slurring)
  • memory loss
  • loss of inhibitions
  • nausea and vomiting
  • breathing problems
  • muscle spasms or seizures
  • loss of consciousness
  • an unusually long hangover
  • a severe hangover after drinking little or no alcohol

First aid advice:

  • Stay together when you're out with friends
  • Pace yourself. Keep an eye on how much you and your friends are drinking
  • Many bars and nightclubs (and many universities) offer bottle ‘bungs’ like a cork which can prevent drinks being spiked – ask for one
  • Don’t accept drinks from strangers, especially after you have had a few drinks
  • Plan your route home—book taxis if trains or buses are not running

If you think your friend has been spiked:

  • Alert bar or event staff and the police, including reporting any suspicious behaviour
  • Do not let them continue to drink alcohol
  • Do not try to "flush out" what they might have ingested by over-drinking. Instead, keep them hydrated by encouraging them to drink water little and often
  • Try to get them to a safe place and make sure someone always stays with them
  • If they become unresponsive, put them in the recovery position, call 999 and get medical help
  • If they stop breathing, be prepared to do CPR
  • If you have used recreational drugs or drunk a lot of alcohol, it’s important to tell your friends what you have taken and when and get medical help from event staff if you need it
  • Most of all, look out for each other so you can end the night safely
  • If you would like to report any incident use Report and Support: https://reportandsupport.sunderland.ac.uk/
  • If you are in halls or in the city centre and have concerns that they or a friend has been spiked you can call the University's Security Team on 0191 515 2028, email security.dutymanagers@sunderland.ac.uk. Make an anonymous report online
  • In an emergency always call 999

Categories:

Featured, Lifestyle

Related Tags :

Festive Season, Staying Safe, Night Out, Spiking, Support,

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