On April 27 Vidzeme Concert Hall “Cēsis” welcomed the alcohol dependence prevention event “Be Independent!” organized by “Cēsu alus” and the Youth Council of Cēsis Region, where almost 100 young people from 8-12th forms of schools of Vidzeme Region took part. “Be Independent!” is a social project with the aim of educating youth on prevention of alcohol abuse, as well as inspiring and supporting the motivation of young people to make responsible choices.

The master class “Planning Successful Future” was hosted by Reinis Širokovs, personal growth coach, who shared his personal experience and told about the formation of a strong personality and the road to success and achieving the goals. Psychologist Inga Dreimane in her lecture “Addiction” asked young people essential questions about emotions, experiences and mistakes, shared stories from her work practice with the addicted young adults. The young people spent the second part of the event in interactive and educational stations – accompanied by the musician  Reinis Reķis they united in a joint percussion performance, improvisor Pēteris Kļaviņš lead them in creating sketches about dependencies in the everyday life situations, making informative posters about addictions, they participated in the conversation-discussion, moderated by Iveta Jermolājeva, certified art therapist and supervisor, as well as they had to fill in an interactive test answering various questions about the influence of the alcohol and the consequences of the abuse. “Be Independent!” was concluded by an inspiring lecture by the musician Reinis Reķis – it was an open conversation with young people about life, how to take responsible decisions and to move towards your goals step by step. Throughout the day young people could try on drunk goggles and anonymously answer the question: “Why are you abusing?”.

Agita Kārkliņa, Communications Manager at “Cēsu alus”: The aim of the project “Be Independent!” is to educate young adults on the alcohol dependence prevention in an interesting and captivating way. Therefore, this year we expanded the topic even further – not only we talked on the influence of alcohol and addictions, but we were inspiring youth and telling how to make the right choices in life and sharing life stories of the publicly known personalities. We are satisfied by the great interest and involvement of the young people.”

The author and organizer of the initiative of the project on alcohol dependence prevention among young people “Be Independent!” is the brewery “Cēsu alus”, the project has been organized since 2012. In the framework of the project there were educated more than 1400 young people, by organizing discussions, physical entertainment activities and practical workshops at schools, as well as communicating on the Facebook page of the project www.facebook.com/EsiNeatkarigs. The event in Сēsis was organized in cooperation with the “Youth Council of Cēsis Region”.