A Worthing mum whose son died after taking MDMA, has set up a Community Interest Company (CIC) to help educate children on the dangers of drugs.
Nicci Parish set up Billy & Beyond, a CIC that has started with a pop-up 'drug awareness' stall and will be going on to hold drug education workshops in schools.
She set it up following the loss of her eldest son Billy in November 2020 after he took MDMA recreationally.
Since then she has been awarded a Worthing Community Chest Grassroots Grant which was matched by South Downs Leisure, enabling her to set up a pop up drug awareness stall, which will be having its first outing this Saturday (March 19th) at a Worthing Thunders basketball game at Worthing leisure centre.
With her CIC going "from strength to strength" she says she has also just received a National Lottery grant to start drug education workshops in local schools "which is so amazing and well needed".
The workshops are for year 6 and above and are tailored to each age group and run by a charity called Daniel Spargo-Mabbs foundation and, again, "totally funded by Billy & Beyond, so schools have nothing to pay out for these amazing sessions!"
Nicci said:
"We really feel like we want to shout about all the things we are doing for our local community!
"We would really love to get Billy's story out there and get parents and young people talking about drugs openly."
If you'd like to book the pop-up stall for your event or have Nicci come into your school for a workshop, email: billyandbeyondcic@gmail.com
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