College brings a lot of new experiences and plenty of late nights out. These are my top tips for staying safe.
- Make sure your phone is fully charged and has credit. It might be worth investigating in a power battery pack. You can get decent ones in Argos. Nothing worse than your phone dying when you really need to get in touch with your friends!
- Let someone know where you are going & when you will be home. That way, if you do get lost or your phone battery dies, they will know where you were going for the night. This will put a lot of worried heads to rest if you tell them where you’re going and when you’ll be home.
- Keep your drink with you at all times, if it looks or tastes suspicious don’t drink it. ‘Spiking your drink’ is a term used when someone puts drugs in your drink which causes you to become weak, drunk very quickly or sometimes even unconscious. Always watch your drink and never put it down!
- Keep the money you need to get home separate, so that you don’t spend it. It can be so easy to do this, especially when you’re at the bar having a good night out. Hide your taxi money somewhere in your bag or wallet/purse, just make sure you can find it when you need to get home!
- Don’t leave a friend alone, look out for each other. This is so important, strength in numbers! Take care of each other throughout the year, swap phone numbers and arrange a meeting point at the end of each night.
- Consent is always mandatory. You wouldn’t make someone a cup of tea without asking them right? So why would you not ask someone if they want to have sex? If someone wanted tea in your place last Saturday night, that doesn’t mean they want tea again this Saturday night. Always ask, never assume anything.
