A group of teenage girls have helped launch a new campaign to highlight the dangers of drink spiking and how they can keep other women safe.
There has been an increase in reports of drink spiking across Northern Ireland in recent months with a number of people becoming very sick as a result of something being put in their drink to harm them.
It is something that can be very hard to detect, especially after consuming alcohol, and is a big worry for women in particular when they go on a night out and fear they could be left in a very vulnerable state through no fault of their own.
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In Belfast a group of teenagers working with Active Communities Network have helped launch the EmpowHer campaign that aims to spread awareness around the dangers of drink spiking and how you can protect and look after yourself or a friend if you believe they have been spiked.
Speaking to Belfast Live, Nadia Boudhaim-Maguire, a 16-year-old from West Belfast, spoke about how working on the campaign has opened up her eyes to the threat of drink spiking and needle spiking, where people have been spiked by someone injecting a substance into their arms.
She also highlighted how men need to be thoroughly educated about the harms of spiking as it is primarily women who are the victims.
Nadia said: "Drink spiking is something that has been around for a long time and never really spoken about enough. It is only recently since there has been more of an outcry about it that many people have become aware of the dangers.
"Most women will already have a list that they go through in their head before heading out for the night in order to make sure that we are not vulnerable, saying to ourselves don't wear this, watch out for that and don't go out at this time, because of the worries we have and this is just another factor on top of that.
"We are still younger and a lot of my friends would go out drinking and socialising and as much as they have not had a personal experience, I don’t think that we realised the effect that spiking can have on you.
"It is not just drink spiking that is an issue, there is also needle spiking where someone sticks something in your arm and spikes you which can be very instantaneous and harmful.
"We are not the ones who are doing the spiking, but we are primarily the victims and until more is done to stop the problem, all we can do is educate ourselves on how we can protect and look after each other."
The EmpowHer campaign is one way that the teens hope that they can spread awareness about spiking and hope that it can be promoted in bars, restaurants, universities and colleges across Belfast.
Nadia continued: "With Active Communities we helped develop the EmpowHer campaign which aims to educate people about the dangers of drink spiking and how to protect yourself from it.
"We have learned about the signs of spiking, such as having a drink and the ice in it is no longer floating, as well as the symptoms like slurring your speech or feeling dizzy when you think that you shouldn't. We also learned what we should do if we or a friend have been spiked and how we can look after them until proper help arrives.
"We have also developed small packs that come with a small card highlighting the signs and symptoms of spiking, information about support apps you can use and an emergency alarm. However we have done these in a way that don't stand out, for example the alarm is a heart shaped keyring that is quite cute and any girl could wear with their outfit and won't attract attention.
"It can be a hard thing to talk about, because why should we have to carry alarms around with us and take these precautions?
"More needs to be done to educate the perpetrators of spiking about the harm they are doing and how they can destroy someone's life for something they might think is a bit of fun. It is not just the physical effects of spiking that have an impact, the mental ones can be long lasting and cause even more problems for someone who has been a victim of it."
Clare Wallace, a youth worker at Active Communities said that the teens had developed the idea for the campaign themselves as it was one of the biggest concerns they had with regards to their safety.
She has helped take the project into universities and colleges where they had a unique method of helping people to understand how easy it is for their drink to be spiked.
Clare said: "We have taken the EmpowHer campaign into colleges and universities and hope to take it to schools across Belfast too.
"We have held sessions with students where we would give them a mocktail as we talk to them about the dangers of spiking, but while doing so we spiked their drink with a mint and told them about it later. This really hit home with people once they realised that anyone could tamper with your drink and you won't realise until it is too late.
"As part of the campaign we have also teamed up with two male football teams in Belfast, Tullycarnet FC and Cumann Spoirt An Phobail, who have agreed to let us sponsor their shirts so we can further spread the message. It is important that we reach out to men and educate them too as they will have friends, sisters or girlfriends who could be at risk, along with themselves.
"We are also reaching out to bars across the city and will be asking them to put up our posters raising awareness about drink spiking, which also include a QR code that when scanned offers advice and support on how to help someone who has been spiked."
Video by Belfast Live videographer Harry Bateman.
Read more: Needle spiking in Omagh: PSNI review CCTV after alleged incident
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