Ready Kids › On Your Own, Out There › Badge 2 › Lesson 2.3
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When a friend is in trouble
Call for help when a friend is unwell after drinking or taking something, without first deciding whether it is serious enough.
1Watch
The sofa
The sofa
A house party, music, low light. A girl on the sofa with her eyes shut. Her friends laugh at first, then one shakes her shoulder and she does not wake properly. The film ends on a boy with his phone out and two people saying, don't, her mum will kill her.
28 secondsIt ends there. The next thing that happens is up to you.
2The idea
You are not the one who decides if it is serious
You have no idea whether it is serious. Neither does anybody telling you not to call. It is not knowable from a sofa, by anybody, and the people saying wait are guessing too. You call. The person who answers decides. Deciding is their whole job, and they are good at it.
Two things to know before it happens. Nobody who rings for a friend gets in trouble for ringing; the person who answers is not the police, and your parents will say the same tonight. And a person who will not wake properly does not get better by being left for twenty minutes. Waiting is not a plan.
3The idea
The Emergency Order, on a sofa
Am I safe? Yes, you are in a house. Fine.
Call. 911, or 999, whichever is yours. Loud, so the room knows it is happening.
Do what they say. They will ask, and you answer honestly.
Write it down. What she took, roughly when.
What they will ask, in roughly this order: where you are, exactly. Whether she is breathing. What she took and when, and you tell the truth, because the answer changes what they do. Whether you have been drinking as well, because they need to know who can help. Nobody asks whose idea it was.
4The idea
Watch it work once
She will not wake up properly. You say, loud: I’m calling, somebody get the front door open. You ring and give the address. Is she breathing? You look: yes. What did she have? Vodka, maybe a lot, about an hour ago. You say it straight.
They tell you to turn her on her side and stay with her, and they talk you through it. You do not need to know how now. You need to do what they say. Then you write down what she took and when, because the next person will ask. Her mum is angry about the party for a week. That is the good ending.
5Say it
Stop the room
Say it in the voice you use to stop a room
“I'm calling. Somebody get the front door open.”
Be loud is one of the Four Moves for a reason. A room full of people who do not know what to do will do what the loudest person says.
6Decide
Your mate says calling will get her in trouble.
Pick one to carry on.
7Build it
Three scenes, one answer
Three scenes
Three scenes: a friend who will not wake properly after drinking; a friend who took a pill and is now sweating, scared and cannot stand; a friend who is being sick and getting drowsy. Each time you tap what to do. Each time the right answer is the same, and the game plays the first thirty seconds of the call so you hear what they ask.
It is meant to be repetitive. That is the point of it.
8Find them
What does the person who answers actually need from you?
Tap the ones that count.
Find all 4.
9Look
What the call will look like
On the floor by the sofa
A phone on speaker on the carpet next to a girl lying on her side. A kid kneels beside her with a hand on her shoulder, looking at her face.
If she is breathing but will not wake, they will talk you through turning her on her side and staying with her. You do not need to learn that now. You need to call, do what they say, and write down what she took and when.
10Do it
Before you leave this page
Say this to a parent tonight: if I ever call you from somewhere I am not meant to be because somebody is hurt, will you come and get me and ask about it tomorrow? Get the yes out loud. That is the no-questions call, and now you both know it exists.
Tick it when you have done it.
Lesson done.
You call. The person who answers decides if it is serious. You do not get in trouble for calling.
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