Empowering young people for a better sexual health

16 Jun 2009

By Camilla Smith

With data showing high levels of sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancies, the need for targeted sex and relationship education with young people has never been more urgent. Terrence Higgins Trust is delivering just that – through its ‘Young Leaders’ programme.

The Young Leaders Programme is a national sex and relationship education (SRE) project developed following a consultation process that involved collecting the views of 120 young people from different backgrounds about what kind of SRE they need, who is best placed to deliver it and how they would like to increase their knowledge and skills in this area.

Each year a board of young people (13-19 years old) is recruited in seven regions across England; it is given the task pf establishing and managing a grant programme to support SRE projects created by other young people.  The regional boards are supported by a national board of 14 young people, comprising two elected members of each of the regional boards.  The national board ensure a co-ordinated national approach for the whole project.  Board members receive comprehensive training and work towards achieving recognised Open College Network (OCN) accreditation.  

Young people aged 13-19 who live, work or study in the seven regions and belong to a youth organisation can apply to their regional board for a grant to run projects around SRE issues. Successful applicants are required to manage the project, and they are offered training to help them do a good job. So far Young Leaders have awarded £90,000 worth of grant money and supported 100 projects, reaching a diverse range of young people.

To find out how you can get involved, visit www.tht.org.uk/youknowyou

For more information about sexual health, relationships and young people, please call:

Posted On: 16 June 2009 at 03:37PM
Tags:
Comments (5) Comment on this post
Post your comment

Comments

Hearing the message early does help

Tahnee 
16 Jun 2009 15:48

Okay, I’m here to talk about sex. Yes, sex is a subject that at a young age you don’t really take seriously; it’s all a bit of a laugh, really. I remember when I was first being taught sex education in primary school, I found it really funny! But now it seems like the older you get, the more serious the subject becomes, and the more serious the consequences of casual sex.

That’s when you start thinking: ‘Well, kind of!’
Before I joined the Young Leaders Project I really thought I knew everything about SRE from my school, but I’ve learnt so much since I joined the project. I never knew there were so many STI's and I also never knew chlamydia could make you infertile.

Being on the Young Leaders Project has been really useful, as the things I have learnt, I can now pass on to others. For example, one of my friends was in a really bad relationship, but to her, the relationship was the best thing in the world. They decided to have sex. At first, she thought everything was cool, but then one day, after realising her period was late, she came to me and asked me to go with her to the clinic. She was given a pregnancy test. She was pregnant! Do you know what her boyfriend told her? "Oh I forgot to tell you the condom split", was how he reacted to the news!

How insensitive was that? I had to explain to my friend what steps she could take, and as a result of my advice, she was able to get support from a number of people and organisations. I feel so good that I was able to help someone I was so close to, and to know what I was talking about.
It’s also fun being in the Young Leaders project. You get to meet so many people from different parts of London, who you realise are just the same as you. A project meeting is never boring; it’s packed with so much fun it kind of feels like a social event.

Tahnee

Thanks for interesting post

KonstantinMiller
07 Jul 2009 01:40

I think I will try to recommend this post to my friends and family, cuz it's really helpful.

Hello

Babu Ptebuinna
30 Nov 2009 20:53

Winsome answers; I like it!

...

Ulf Fischer
31 Dec 2009 23:27

Lots of people write about this topic but you said really true words!!

Amen!

Sup I'm New

Lian Netty 
05 Apr 2010 01:45

Hiya I am new to this board and I hope I can help and contribute here because I have learned a lot myself and it's always good to give back, right?

Thank you
Lian N.

Comment on this post

Please note that we will not expose your email, but we might use it to email you back. Links may be included in your comments but HTML is not permitted.