Sexual health and relationship Education (SRE)*
We have been running sexual health and relationship workshops with the LLG crew – our regular group of young people aged 15+ for the last few weeks.
The programme was designed around them and their needs, so the first thing was to ask them what they wanted to learn more about. This (long) list might have come as a surprise to many as the expectation may be that young people people are more aware about sex education, due to the likes of the internet, but this is not always true. Friends are still the main source of information for young people when it comes to sex education with as little as 5% of young people being informed by their mum and only 1% through their dad.
Of course parents bring with them a certain level of embarrassment so schools is the obvious place to turn to.
However, about half of secondary school kids in the UK admit that the Sex and Relationship education in school does not cover what they really need to know and it’s only a handful of young people who actually attend these classes as just over a quarter of school kids get no SRE whatsoever.**
This makes the SRE sessions all the more important and no surprise then, that the list compiled by the LLG crew was vast and included things from STIs to contraception to simply the body.
Every week, in an open, comfortable and fun space, the young people have been uncovering a little bit more in an entertaining way (the STI super puzzle for example) to these quite serious issues – (We call it Edutainment)
Along with the facts, we have been delving into some other things too.
Self image,the perceptions young people have, relationships, gender and tackling stereotypes have engulfed the sessions in heated debates allowing the young people to discuss their opinions, see things from others perspectives and develop their ideas too.
It is hoped that more sessions like these will enable young people to make more informed decisions – ones that are based on facts and not the mumbles from friends, TV, internet etc.
RK
—END—
*loveLife Generation was born after an inspirational trip to South Africa where loveLife is the largest youth led organisation to combat HIV and AIDs and through awareness and education.
**For more information please
see:
www.brook.org.uk/application/brookpr/index.php?option=com_brookpr&view=article&id=91&Itemid=640
