Let's hear it for the boys - SRE and services must meet their needs

Today Children and Young People Now published an article about the importance of meeting the sexual health needs of boys and young men. In it they mentioned new guidance published by Brook - Young Men, sex and pregnancy. You can read the article here http://bit.ly/hP9KSI

Young men, sex and pregnancy commissioned by the Teenage Pregnancy Unit sets the context of a growing realisation that sexual health services and sex and relationships education generally haven't served the needs of boys and young men as well as they should.

The guidance provides a summary of the evidence relating to young men and sexual health, the views of workers and young men themselves; it also sets out 16 core elements which help in supporting and engaging boys. The most obvious is that we must like and trust young men, adopting a positive approach which is aspirational - and addresses the issues they want to learn about, setting high expectations for young men so they have high expectations for themselves and their relationships.

It sets out the importance of considering the needs of boys on the basis of varying attitudes and behaviours and proposes 5 tiers of activity that will help meet the needs of all boys. It concludes with some advice on evaluation and proving effectiveness, and four detailed case studies. Details about the guidance can be found here http://bit.ly/eyIFiU