Issue 68: June 2011 - Youth Work Ireland

Let’s Talk About Sex WeekbyLorraine Thompson, Donegal Youth ServiceIntroductionDonegal Youth Service (DYS) in association with theDonegal Sexual Health Forum held a Sexual HealthAwareness Week from Monday 11 th until Friday 15 thApril 2011. The rationale behind the event is thatyoung people are not receiving adequate and moreoften no sex education at school and for many youngpeople they are not receiving this information in thehome either.Young people are getting most of their informationfrom the Internet and there is a missing link in termsof how they make sense of all the information thatthey are bombarded with on a regular basis throughthe Internet, mobile phones and other social media.Communication about the event was sent out togroups who work with young people and parents –schools, youth groups, and community groups etc,to encourage them to start planning one or moreactivities which would contribute to a county widecalendar of events on the week for example aparents information evening, sexual healthawareness activities for young people or just simplya conversation with young people about sex.Donegal Youth Service co‐ordinated a mediacampaign and compiled a list of all activitiesoccurring during the week so that the message isclear that is okay to talk about sex.What we DidSome of the events that took place during the weekincluded the following:The DYS Letterkenny Youth Information CentreYouth Media Group made a short film looking atyoung people’s attitudes and knowledge of sexualhealth/ education. This film is now going to be usedas a resource for groups to use.Aim and Focus of the WeekThe aim of the week was to promote healthy andsupportive conversations with young people aboutsex, sexual health and sexuality. Participation wasencouraged from adults to get involved, especiallyparents, family members, teachers, youth workersand all the key influencers in young peoples’ lives.The focus of the week was to ensure that youngpeople are supported in terms of having someone totalk to and make sense of all the mixed messagesthey get and to know where to go to find factual,understandable information.The Breakout Group ran an extra drop in session forparents of LGBT young people. The invite went out toparents of older LGBT individuals as well as theparents of current group members in to discuss theirexperiences in order to promote conversationsaround coping with having an LGBT young personand how to initiate conversations, what language touse etc. For the purpose of this event, the sessionwas renamed ‘Let’s Talk about Sexuality.’The youth outreach worker ran ‘Love Hurts’ –Sexual Health Train the Trainers for DYS staff, CEworkers and volunteers. The event took place overtwo days and the participants explored the factsaround sexual health issues, alongside gainingconfidence and expertise in how to plan, implementand evaluate their own programmes/sessions intheir own clubs and projects.Irish Youth Work Scene 9 Issue 68, June 2011