Laurine Thillen has been a student at UNamur for almost two years and president of the Medicine Circle. She has been confronted with situations of abuse and damage caused by alcohol to students. The student wanted to react: this was the starting point for the implementation of this alcohol awareness week in the Faculty of Medicine. "The aim is not to condemn students who drink, but to raise awareness of this problem and why not open the eyes of certain people who abuse alcohol but who do not always realise it", explain the members of the Medicine Circle.

To design this action, the students were in contact with Marie-Anne Meulders, an alcoholologist who participates in the project of the ASBL Patchwork, a support and prevention service against addiction. It offers individual and group follow-ups through therapeutic creative expression workshops (theatre, painting and psycho-corporal) and discussion groups based on life stories.

Labyrinthe médecine 1
Labyrinthe médecine 2

And so it was through a series of activities centred on creative expression that the students of the Medicine Circle, with the help of the ASBL Patchwork, developed the programme for this awareness-raising week.

We hope that this project will help more than one student and that it will make some realise that their drinking is not normal. Everyone knows that alcoholism is a real danger, but we really need to make people aware that "no" it doesn't just happen to others and that "yes" this disease affects us at our age and often much more than we think.

The programme

Throughout the week, the exhibition "The Labyrinth of Addiction" will be installed in the hall of the Faculty of Medicine. This is an opportunity to discover works created by patients who have painted their emotions and feelings about what they have experienced on wooden boards. These boards will take the form of a labyrinth and screens will be embedded on which testimonies will scroll.

On Monday, we'll be on the stage! A play is being organised in the Adam Smith auditorium at 8pm. The play, called "To Be Or Not to Bet", is about gambling addiction and at the end of the performance, professionals will make the link with alcohol addiction. In addition, two patients will talk about their experiences and life paths. On Tuesday, there will be a debate in connection with the play.  On Wednesday, the circle invites the students to watch the feature film "drunk", in which four friends decide to put into practice the theory of a Norwegian psychologist that man has a deficit of alcohol in his blood. With scientific rigour, each of them takes up the challenge, hoping that their lives will be better for it! The results were initially encouraging, but the situation quickly spiralled out of control. That day, the medicine circle will only serve soft drinks to the students.  On Thursday, there will be a large awareness-raising session in the hall of the Faculty of Medicine, with stands set up to discover awareness-raising activities, including Alcovision glasses that demonstrate the real effects of alcohol on vision. And for the thrill-seekers, there will be a rollover car!

Semaine sensibilisation alcool

Recap of the week

  •     From 13 to 16/03/2023: Exhibition "The labyrinth of addiction
  •     13/03/2023: Theatre "To Bet Or Not To Bet
  •     14/03/2023 : Debate on the play "To Bet Or Not To Bet
  •     15/03/2023: Alcohol Free Day at the Medicine Circle and screening of the film "Drunk
  •     16/03/2023 : Stands on student alcoholism in the Faculty of Medicine