tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90429700133092268252024-02-06T22:14:54.382-08:00Talking of SexBrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08018782197528985959noreply@blogger.comBlogger365125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042970013309226825.post-18452712716061346512016-02-12T07:55:00.000-08:002016-02-12T07:55:41.325-08:00PSHE and SRE - too important to be a political football<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";">There’s been disappointing news for supporters of statutory <b>personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education</b> and <b>sex and relationships education (SRE)</b> in Parliament this week. Following on from the recommendation in the Education Select Committee’s report on PSHE/SRE to make the subject statutory, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pshe-and-sre-in-schools-government-response">formally responded</a> and said that statutory status </span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";">“<i>would do little to tackle the most pressing problems with the subject, which are to do with the variable quality of its provision</i>”. </span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";">We disagree with this analysis – surely putting PSHE/SRE on the same footing as other subjects would help to improve overall standards.<br />
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For example, the Sex Education Forum's recent report, </span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";"><i><a href="http://www.sexeducationforum.org.uk/policy-campaigns/gaps-in-sre-leave-children-at-risk.aspx">Heads or Tails</a></i>, </span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";">emphasised the importance of SRE, with their survey finding that young people were not getting consistent, relevant, and necessary information on topics ranging from exploitation and abuse to consent and places to go for help. If all schools were mandated to teach about these topics, it would help safeguard countless young people.<br />
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A debate on Wednesday (10 Feb) in the House of Lords on PSHE education, called by Brook’s President Baroness Massey, showed that there is cross-party support in the upper chamber for the subject, while in <a href="http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2016-02-03.25673.h">a written answer</a> to a question on LGBT-inclusive SRE, Education Minister Edward Timpson said: </span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";">“<i>We expect schools to ensure that young people feel that SRE education is relevant to them</i>.”</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";"> Timpson also recommended the <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk/supplementaryadvice/" target="_blank">SRE Supplementary Advice</a>, issued in 2014 by Brook, the PSHE Association and the Sex Education Forum, in his reply. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";">An article on the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/david-cameron-just-blocked-compulsory-sex-education---and-the-wo/">political background to the SRE debate</a> by journalist Cathy Newman underlined that many senior ministers support statutory PSHE and SRE, but strongly implied that progress is being blocked by the Prime Minister.<br />
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The campaign for statutory status will continue, and in the meantime Brook will carry on our <a href="https://www.brook.org.uk/our-work/category/education" target="_blank">vital education work</a> with schools across the country, helping prepare young people for life’s challenges, and giving them the confidence they need to make safer, healthier choices.</span></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><p>
<em>The blog of the Chief Executive of <b>Brook</b>, the leading sexual health charity for young people in the UK. Brook provides sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk">www.brook.org.uk</A></em></p></div>Brookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08018782197528985959noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042970013309226825.post-81312650608583673162016-02-08T07:06:00.000-08:002016-02-08T07:06:06.182-08:00Q&A with Helen Marshall<span style="color: #444444;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";">We’re delighted that Helen Marshall will be joining us as our new Chief Executive in April. Helen is currently CEO at <a href="http://www.ambitionuk.org/">Ambition</a>, a leading national youth charity, and has a wealth of experience in the public and private sectors. Read our press release <a href="https://www.brook.org.uk/press-releases/brook-appoints-ambitions-helen-marshall-as-chief-executive">here</a>, and see below for a Q and A. <span style="background-color: #ececec;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #444444;">Thanks to Helen for answering our questions!</span></span></span></span></span></i></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";"><i>Helen Marshall, who will join Brook as CEO in April 2016</i></span></td></tr>
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<i><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";">Hi Helen! Can you tell us a bit more about your work and life to date? How do you think the skills and experience you’ve built up will transfer to your role at Brook?</span></span></span></i><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";">I’ve been at Ambition for six years, and worked for a housing association in London for 10 years prior to that. I started my working life in the private sector. I have strong leadership skills, expert financial management, like to think creatively about challenges and enjoy busy working environments. I’m known for my organisation and multi-tasking skills!</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";"><br /><i>What attracted you to Brook?</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";"><br />I was attracted by our shared vision of improving opportunities for young people. I’m hugely impressed with Brook’s passion to support young people to make positive and healthy lifestyle choices.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";"><br /><i>How did you find the selection process? What did you think of the young people’s panel?</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";"><br />Meeting the young people was my favourite part of the assessment day! It was brilliantly organised and very robust.</span></span></span><br />
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<i><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";">What are you most looking forward to when you take up the reins at Brook? What do you think your first actions are likely to be?</span></span></span></i><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";"><br />I’m keen to learn more about the organisation so I can lead the next phase of growth and development. I’m also looking forward to meeting everyone and learning all about this new sector. I plan to focus on next year’s business plan and budget and the development of a new strategic framework to demonstrate the positive impact of our work.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";"><br /><i>How will you help Brook navigate the challenges that lie ahead due to tightening budgets, cuts to public health funding, and so on?</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";"><br />I will look at new ways of delivering services to new markets, and invest in business development opportunities such as external strategic partnerships, as well as how we can increase our capacity to fundraise effectively. I’m keen that we are able to evidence the impact of all our work to improve outcomes for young people.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";"><br /><i>Do you have a message for Brook staff, on what your vision for us is and where you’d like to take Brook?</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";"><br />I want to build on the huge amount of fantastic work over the last few years to grow the organisation – hopefully in new and exciting ways! I know Brook has an amazing and committed staff team and I will make sure that we properly invest in staff by recognising and rewarding excellence.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";"><br /><i>Finally, a bit of fun! Do you have an interesting/unexpected fact about yourself you’d like to share?</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";"><br />I’m addicted to property programmes and my design hero is Kevin McCloud!</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";"><br /><i>Thank you!</i> </span></span></span><br />
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<em>The blog of the Chief Executive of <b>Brook</b>, the leading sexual health charity for young people in the UK. Brook provides sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk">www.brook.org.uk</A></em></p></div>Brookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08018782197528985959noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042970013309226825.post-11135056982738864372015-12-10T07:54:00.000-08:002015-12-10T08:04:48.127-08:00The #AskBrookAppeal – can you help?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheLWilxXpGGzKD6q0zB_B9rDbdMHuOnlU2pHbJ1AGj9gG65cl0eaQqE9mvjq78310NFQDxA9TJallKI0CozM1KCSqAS3TDpVg7ACvo9JOXyqbTitPob3Z0rFVNeffo4ud0QTmfF4CnCHbs/s1600/As+Brook+Appeal+-+logo+large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheLWilxXpGGzKD6q0zB_B9rDbdMHuOnlU2pHbJ1AGj9gG65cl0eaQqE9mvjq78310NFQDxA9TJallKI0CozM1KCSqAS3TDpVg7ACvo9JOXyqbTitPob3Z0rFVNeffo4ud0QTmfF4CnCHbs/s320/As+Brook+Appeal+-+logo+large.jpg" title="" width="320" /></a><b><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Over 1,000 young people reach out to Ask Brook every month.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.brook.org.uk/our-services/category/ask-brook">Ask Brook</a><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span>is our text and webchat helpline that provides young people with information
and support on everything from sexual health to abuse, mental health issues to <span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">pregnancy choices</span>. In a digital age, accurate and reliable information can be hard to
come by. Ask Brook provides honest, non-judgemental advice to young people
across the UK who have nowhere else to turn.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Please support our </b><a href="http://bit.ly/askbrookappeal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ask Brook Appeal</b></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> today</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_G2m6T2Nr2hUHm08L7EC2mqW2iIb7RtZlHtN4fXeKzOMU-aY6pIcPH_k8lESlo7-hyWOogtxikPvW9XANEvmQBb1QMLtYyUF2okzBcm0OAxzDC5yvVWmp9Yw9qBtpU-b9P5LEIku2g-Kr/s1600/Alex+White.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_G2m6T2Nr2hUHm08L7EC2mqW2iIb7RtZlHtN4fXeKzOMU-aY6pIcPH_k8lESlo7-hyWOogtxikPvW9XANEvmQBb1QMLtYyUF2okzBcm0OAxzDC5yvVWmp9Yw9qBtpU-b9P5LEIku2g-Kr/s200/Alex+White.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Alex White, our Ask Brook Service Manager, explains why the
helpline is so important:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“A really big part of what Ask Brook does is to help young people
access services. For a lot of young people, a sexual health appointment –
through Brook, their GP, or a GUM clinic – will be the first ever medical
encounter they've had without their parents. A lot of our clients worry about
confidentiality, and being judged, and talking about private stuff to a
stranger, and in lots of cases they don’t even know they can freely access such
services – they think that because they're young the same rules don't apply.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“We’re only able to answer
around 50% of the webchats we receive – something we’d love to be able to
change. It would be great to recruit more volunteers, especially young volunteers,
and to be able to run focus groups to find out from young people what they
really want from the service.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">“Ask Brook reaches
over 1,000 young people every month, but we know there’s more demand for our
service than we can currently fulfil. Ask Brook is vital because for many of
our clients, they don’t feel there’s an adult in their life that they can talk
to. We can give them affirmation that their concerns are justified and that
help is out there.</span></span> </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“My heartfelt thanks to everyone who has supported the #AskBrookAppeal
– you’re all amazing, and you’re directly helping young people who often don’t
have anywhere else to turn.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It costs <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">£4.49</b> to
provide a young person with support from Ask Brook – however this vital service
receives no <span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">government</span> funding. <b> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://bit.ly/askbrookappeal" target="_blank">Can you help Ask Brook provide young people with the support and advice they need to stay safe and well this festive season?</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ou<span style="background-color: white;">r service users tell us what Ask Brook means to them:<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;"> </span></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">“Sometimes it’s
just good to have someone listen to you and understand.”</span></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">“I've learnt a lot
from you. They never taught us this in school.”</span><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />"</span>Thanks so much for your support.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I just don’t feel comfortable speaking with somebody face to face.”<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />"</span>You are a brilliant team and so helpful to many young people, your
quick responses are also brilliant. Thank you.”<span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;"><br />“Thanks very much.
It wasn't easy for me to talk to someone. You guys are doing a great job.”</span></i></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">With <a href="http://bit.ly/askbrookappeal">your support</a>, Ask Brook can connect
young people to the places they can go for help and give them information, as
well as reassurance, when they feel like no one could possibly understand.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />Please help us spread the word
on Facebo</span>ok and Twitter using <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">#AskBrookAppeal</b>.
Support the <a href="http://bit.ly/askbrookappeal">Ask Brook Appeal</a> and
we’ll send you a festive e-card to send to your friends and family too.<br /><br />From everyone at Brook,
especially Ask Brook’s staff and volunteers – and on behalf of the thousands of
young people who use Ask Brook’s service – thank you!</span></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><p>
<em>The blog of the Chief Executive of <b>Brook</b>, the leading sexual health charity for young people in the UK. Brook provides sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk">www.brook.org.uk</A></em></p></div>Brookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08018782197528985959noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042970013309226825.post-44091691434720626072015-12-10T04:56:00.000-08:002015-12-10T04:56:44.043-08:00World AIDS Day 2015 - Brogan and Lisa conquer the O2!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a century="" font-family:="" gothic="" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM9sPrE96kWfisCSKY0s0PLaopYfrxOUAV5tubzDTNx7me5iHaRM892XSnXhRyCKJcxPVXZVLyqbRt3wZsGstyXfKxcudvXBUPnQKWlbCs3E1t4X4ZC6ckYtfYyrqr5ZGHII6B9_K2_LPc/s1600/WAD+2015+Brogan+and+Lisa+on+the+O2+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" quot="" sans-serif="" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM9sPrE96kWfisCSKY0s0PLaopYfrxOUAV5tubzDTNx7me5iHaRM892XSnXhRyCKJcxPVXZVLyqbRt3wZsGstyXfKxcudvXBUPnQKWlbCs3E1t4X4ZC6ckYtfYyrqr5ZGHII6B9_K2_LPc/s320/WAD+2015+Brogan+and+Lisa+on+the+O2+2.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>Brogan and Lisa on top of the O2!</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">We're very proud of Lisa Fontanelle, Assistant Practitioner for London and South East and Brogan Hardiman, one of our young volunteers for completing the O2 Climb Challenge for World Aids Day and making their Live HIV Neutral pledges.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Brogan said: <i> </i></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;"><i>"The climb was such an amazing experience, as it's something different and you don't really imagine yourself being able to do it. I was wary at first about how the climbing would go and how we were going to be connected to the rail. It's good fun especially when you have your friends to do it with.</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;"><i>"I personally think we need to tackle the ignorance and stigma about HIV because it's a topic that is misunderstood, a lot of people don't like to talk about this or even talk about the facts.</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;"><i>We were asked to choose a word - I chose Informative ... because I think people need to know more factual information instead of listening to information 'through the grapevine', people still need to be educated on this and there isn't enough of that happening at the moment."</i></span></blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;"><i><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvy5MNykmtG-ooswcOQa4LmwJGNHIxHt8ZSzR8CqMlZOhdKWkMBgJIkHRhVCmjJKSpJBJjZ21gl9RBbLax0hjpBtSIkuCTU4vdh_a7CxaHcGa5HP7nD6r2HcuYsZwYzIvATy2CXAyaNoqx/s1600/WAD+2015+the+whole+team.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvy5MNykmtG-ooswcOQa4LmwJGNHIxHt8ZSzR8CqMlZOhdKWkMBgJIkHRhVCmjJKSpJBJjZ21gl9RBbLax0hjpBtSIkuCTU4vdh_a7CxaHcGa5HP7nD6r2HcuYsZwYzIvATy2CXAyaNoqx/s400/WAD+2015+the+whole+team.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;"><i>The Live HIV Neutral climbers</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</i></span></blockquote>
<div class="blogger-post-footer"><p>
<em>The blog of the Chief Executive of <b>Brook</b>, the leading sexual health charity for young people in the UK. Brook provides sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk">www.brook.org.uk</A></em></p></div>Brookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08018782197528985959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042970013309226825.post-35209464453342296812015-12-01T08:39:00.002-08:002015-12-01T08:52:51.721-08:00#WorldAIDSDay - poetry and pledges<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlpX3-oM3yPyj8IyWOmOKK5rhOG2ddBudSDmOV6huEMdLkdpYcUfZYUXwA5UHm7qjPAGKgqVR-gPLr-IFc_9bbiY4vN7iI2lqJYKBPWTQBh-mlUaU_ykcHNbzUMwRyr3Ep9QQ5rySHix4b/s1600/Brook+Oldham+WAD+display.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlpX3-oM3yPyj8IyWOmOKK5rhOG2ddBudSDmOV6huEMdLkdpYcUfZYUXwA5UHm7qjPAGKgqVR-gPLr-IFc_9bbiY4vN7iI2lqJYKBPWTQBh-mlUaU_ykcHNbzUMwRyr3Ep9QQ5rySHix4b/s320/Brook+Oldham+WAD+display.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A World AIDS Day display at Brook Oldham</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Today (1 December) is <span style="color: #0093d0;"><b><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23worldaidsday&src=typd" target="_blank">#WorldAIDSDay</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23wad2015&src=typd" target="_blank">#WAD2015</a></b></span>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Brook has endorsed new guidance from the Children’s HIV Association (CHIVA) on <a href="http://www.chiva.org.uk/our-work/schools/" style="color: #0093d0; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">HIV Friendly Schools</a>, which are really important for children and young people living with HIV, as this <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/nov/24/schools-getting-wrong-hiv-aids" style="color: #0093d0; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Guardian article</a> shows.</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 15px;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Here's a poem written by the CHIVA youth committee (<a href="https://twitter.com/freedom2spk" style="color: #0093d0; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">@freedom2spk</a>) on what it's like living with HIV, and experiencing stigma – a powerful piece.<i> </i></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>I sat in a classroom afraid to speak up, I had the words to scream but my mouth got stuck.<br style="line-height: 100%;" />
Oppressed and silenced, mistreated inside, trying to stand up, but forced to hide.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>Once it was a death sentence, I'm still alive, even in the present, HIV is stigmatised.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>I live a double life, that I'd like you to understand, I'm HIV positive, but this was never planned.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>They say school is a safe place, but not in my case.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>Forever stigmatised in a sea of struggling, they say "don't die of ignorance" the message was troubling.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>I dream of a future, where stigma is no more, I want to see a change, from those that went before.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>I can still live a life full of love, joy, ambition, success and health.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>What do we need from you?</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>Educate yourself.</i></span></blockquote>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 15px;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSIY2SgnFjSV1U9mQSjzxFtcQ4YK-9Q9hePTEafJSgTbhgrELn0J52vz4ng_LhYvUDay0MyQtZ87bFe6nU5yagUc2vg19_ZqlJOVK-Ip-V1xI9biXLV1X1hgGMnv9jEM8MoQB1STEegwA4/s1600/Live+HIV+Neutral+pledge+s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSIY2SgnFjSV1U9mQSjzxFtcQ4YK-9Q9hePTEafJSgTbhgrELn0J52vz4ng_LhYvUDay0MyQtZ87bFe6nU5yagUc2vg19_ZqlJOVK-Ip-V1xI9biXLV1X1hgGMnv9jEM8MoQB1STEegwA4/s320/Live+HIV+Neutral+pledge+s.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our pledge for #LiveHIVNeutral - education is key to tackling <br />
the stigma and ignorance surrounding HIV.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">
We’re also encouraging people to take the <a href="https://twitter.com/BrookCharity/status/669815793073410048" style="color: #0093d0; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Live HIV Neutral pledge</a>,
promising to tackle HIV stigma and ignorance whenever you encounter it –
whatever your serostatus. The need to tackle stigma is underlined by <a href="https://twitter.com/BrookCharity/status/669815793073410048" style="color: #0093d0; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">this GMFA video</a>, featuring examples of the types of messages sent to men with HIV on dating and hookup apps.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Brook’s services around the UK will be marking World AIDS Day by
educating young people about HIV, and promoting safer sex – young
people’s knowledge of HIV is <a href="http://www.avert.org/professionals/hiv-around-world/western-central-europe-north-america/uk" style="color: #0093d0; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">worryingly low</a>.</span></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer"><p>
<em>The blog of the Chief Executive of <b>Brook</b>, the leading sexual health charity for young people in the UK. Brook provides sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk">www.brook.org.uk</A></em></p></div>Brookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08018782197528985959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042970013309226825.post-28945514394916782852015-10-29T03:47:00.000-07:002015-12-01T08:47:08.986-08:00The Prime Minister's breakfast<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our Prime Minister is so worried that the EU
might prevent the UK from protecting children from pornography that, as he
told <a href="http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/b8aee046-33ff-402d-9e03-31bff8e29ff0?in=12:02:10">Parliament</a>
yesterday during PMQs, “I spluttered over my cornflakes when I read the Daily
Mail this morning because we have worked so hard to put in place those filters.”
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now I’m going to go out on a limb here and say
that Mr Cameron was indulging in a little political poetic licence there. For
starters, the last time I got my news from sitting down and reading the paper
over breakfast was about 2003 and I’m not the Prime Minister. If he’d said “I
almost woke Sam at 5.30 this morning exclaiming “bloody hell” when I scrolled
down my newsfeed on my phone in bed”, I might buy it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">No, actually, I wouldn’t buy it. David Cameron
is really interested in internet filtering, pornography and protecting
children. We know that because he’s mentioned it many times in <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23401076">speeches</a> in the past and there
was a reference to it in the <a href="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/manifesto2015/ConservativeManifesto2015.pdf">conservative
manifesto</a>. He’s also really interested in Europe, I think. He goes there
quite a bit and I read that he’s busy negotiating lots of important things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">All in all, the likelihood of the Daily Mail
being his first source of information on the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34641515">EU net neutrality rules</a>
is pretty slim. They have been kicking around for some time and I’m pretty
sure he’s been briefed on them, even if only by a quick look at the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11745550/David-Camerons-bid-to-protect-children-from-pornography-could-be-scuppered-by-EU-laws-on-internet-neutrality.html">Telegraph</a>
over his Weetabix back in July. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have to assume, then, that the Daily
Mail/cornflakes line was used deliberately by the Prime Minister because he wants
to portray himself as a sit-down-to-breakfast, read the paper, worry about the
kids kind of guy and he wants to reassure us that he’s got our backs when it
comes to those sexually liberal foreign types making merry with our porn laws.
He wants to reassure Disgusted from Tunbridge Wells that he’s on it and distance
himself from any sense of being at home in a digital landscape. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What a shame. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What a shame that he didn’t take the opportunity
to talk about how rich and varied an experience the digital world can be. How sad
that he didn’t point out that that the internet is a key source of information,
communication, advice and support for young people. What a missed opportunity
to talk about the challenge of protecting children and young people at the same
time as enhancing their experience, helping them learn about taking risks and enabling their growth and development.
What a pity he didn’t meander down a train of thought that included critical
thinking, education, preparation for life, curiosity, emerging sexuality.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Over the last few years, I’ve learned a lot
about the way we treat young people and the digital world. I’ve learned that,
with all good intentions, but only a modicum of understanding, we attempt to filter and block and censor – a
lot of blunt tools with all sorts of unintended consequences (like the blocking
of…ahem… important <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk/"><span style="color: blue;">sexual
health charity websites</span></a>). Filtering is complex* and poorly
understood by the public, the media, website owners and many politicians. We have never had a
good quality public debate that asks questions like: who should judge what
content is appropriate for whom? Is that the job of your ISP? How can we both
protect and enhance young people’s experience? Do we all draw the same lines
about when something becomes pornographic? Who should hold the balance of power
when it comes to deciding what young people can access? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As usual, the biggest unanswered question is
“What do young people think?” I don’t see many of those involved in this debate
actually talking to young people. If you ask about young people’s voice or
opinions in meetings with the Internet Service Providers (and I do), they don’t
actually roll their eyes (because they’re a nice group of people, to be honest)
but you can feel them doing it on the inside – “here she goes again…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If we really and truly want to make the internet
a safe, happy, empowering, exciting, interesting and informative space for
young people to grow and thrive, we cannot simply try and block their access to
bits of it. Instead, let’s start having sensible conversations with young
people about what they see online, how they respond to it and what they might
do in their lives to make it better. Perhaps Mr Cameron could mull that over next
time he has a quick peek at Twitter during his lunchbreak. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">* I’m not planning to run Filtering 101, but, can I suggest you;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">a) visit <a href="http://www.internetmatters.org/" target="_blank">Internet Matters</a>, read up on it and, if you run a website, submit a request
to find out how your site is categorised.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">b) understand more about the main four Internet
Service Providers’ home broadband filtering options so you that you understand
the way that filtering works or the extent to which your site might be being blocked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">c) make sure you feel happy about all that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer"><p>
<em>The blog of the Chief Executive of <b>Brook</b>, the leading sexual health charity for young people in the UK. Brook provides sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk">www.brook.org.uk</A></em></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042970013309226825.post-45312495071291010812015-09-24T10:44:00.000-07:002015-09-25T01:25:40.988-07:00A trip to Kenya<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Earlier this month, I was given a fascinating
opportunity to travel to Kenya for a conference on young people’s access of
contraceptive services. I was invited by the Kenyan Ministry of Health and able
to go thanks to support from pharmaceutical company </span><a href="http://www.msd-uk.com/index.xhtml" style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">MSD</a><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">. The UK, and specifically
Brook, is considered in other countries to have very good experience of
improving young people’s services, and I hoped that as well as learning from
the work happening in Kenya, I might be able to offer some insights from our
experience over the last couple of decades.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I arrived in Mombasa on the beautiful Kenyan east
coast first thing on Monday morning and barely had time to take in my
surroundings before I received a warm welcome from my hosts and set off on a
trip into the city with colleagues from MSD, the <a href="http://aphrc.org/">African
Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC)</a> and <a href="http://www.mariestopes.or.ke/">Marie Stopes Kenya (MSK)</a> to visit some
of the services. MSK runs three main service models for sexual and reproductive
health in Mombasa and we saw examples of all three in a mixture of public and
private settings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Outreach</span></b><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">
– an MSK nurse and her team, who can do fitting of <a href="https://www.brook.org.uk/your-life/whats-right-for-me#months-years">LARC</a>
as well as cervical screening and other services, runs a regular (usually monthly) outreach
clinic at a number of different free health services around the city. The
service we visited was in a large, very run down concrete building in the
middle of a fairly poor part of the city. The MSK nurse had spent the day providing a contraceptive service - predominantly
fitting implants for women, many of whom had already had one child and who had
heard about the service by word of mouth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Own
clinics</span></b><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> – We moved next to a comparatively smart and modern
private clinic run by MSK offering a pretty wide range of contraceptive and
sexual health services. What struck me here was that cost must surely be a
barrier, with emergency contraception charged at 300 Kenyan Shillings (about
£2), when the national median monthly salary is the equivalent of about £500
and much, much less than that for young people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Franchise
clinics</span></b><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> – MSK also runs a social franchise model called
<a href="http://healthmarketinnovations.org/program/amua">Amua</a>. Amua clinics are
private practices across the country that deliver services through a franchise
agreement with MSK. These services tend to be right in the heart of
communities, run as small businesses by people living and working in the community. We
visited one of those – a small building in a very poor part of the city that
was half clinic, half shop, run by a doctor who also supported women with
pregnancy and labour from the same building.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">At each service we asked the same question; “<i>How many adolescents come to your services?</i>”
and at every service we heard the same response: very, very few. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The conference, which ran over three days and
was absolutely packed with speakers and presentations, was designed to look at
the problem of service access for young people and really helped to identify
some of the problems Kenya has with providing services to young people as well
as highlighting some of the innovative and interesting work that’s happening
across the country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Meeting the needs of people living in serious poverty or incredibly remote and inaccessible
rural areas is an immense challenge for Kenya on a scale that is beyond
anything we have had to think about (even in Cornwall, or the Highlands of
Scotland where Brook has experience of reaching out to rural communities), but
policy makers and professionals know that they have to find solutions. The
country has a stubbornly high teenage
pregnancy rate of 18% and complications from pregnancy or unsafe abortion are
the second highest cause of death amongst adolescent girls. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Kenya has invested in research to understand
what works and, crucially, what does not in attempting to improve young
people’s sexual and reproductive health. I was surprised, initially, to find
out that the provision of ‘youth friendly services’ and the delivery of peer
education was considered by researchers at APHRC to be things that do not work.
Surprised, until I discovered that the understanding of what makes a
service ‘young people friendly’ may be limited to a TV in the waiting room, and
the training for peer educators is far from ideal. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">None of the services I saw was genuinely ‘youth
friendly’. In the public health centre I was shown the ‘young people’s area’ a
dark, dusty corner with a single table in it for young people to congregate
round. Nothing more. The nurse I spoke to told me that they had groups of young
people that got together there and tried to engage with local communities using
a range of interesting sounding techniques (like drama, for example) but when
all they have to work with is a table in the corner of a waiting room and when
young people in Kenya have the same fears about confidentiality and privacy as
they do in the UK, it’s asking a bit much to expect an enthusiastic response.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There were some really interesting presentations
at the conference from people who are getting it right. We heard from a nurse –
Nancy Ngetha – who runs a service just for young people in <a href="http://knh.or.ke/">Kenyatta National Hospital</a> in Nairobi. Although I
didn’t visit the service, Nancy spoke with a genuine enthusiasm and passion for
young people and for improving their health and wellbeing that was inspiring
and powerful and I would love to introduce her to our work and our staff at Brook.
Similarly, hearing about work that <a href="http://www.jhpiego.org/kenya">Jhpeigo</a>
is doing which has young people right at the heart developing and leading it
was fascinating and I really wish I could have spent longer and found out more
about some of these exciting projects.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The one thing that does appear to be demonstrably
effective when it comes to improving young people’s understanding of and access
to contraception is Sex and Relationships Education, or what Kenyans call
Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE). The average Kenyan stays in education
for only six years, but a great deal can be achieved in that time if CSE is
given a mandatory place in the curriculum (sound familiar?). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We talked quite a lot about language and the
barrier it can be to effective working in communities. One woman working in Muslim
communities to try and improve uptake of contraception said she made no
progress as long as the term ‘family planning’ was still in use, but when she
switched to the term ‘child spacing’ she was able to open up a much more
effective and positive conversation. Similarly, some people had had success in
delivering ‘Life Skills Education’ rather than CSE, though there was a real
division in the room about whether it’s better, if you are to achieve social
and cultural change, to be upfront about what you are naming. This is an
interesting conversation we’ve also had in the UK context. When we talk about
Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) too many people translate that as
“teaching children about sex”, rather than understanding what it actually is. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It wasn’t just the need for good quality SRE/CSE
that felt familiar. I was struck by many things that unite us. Devolved
responsibility for health services is causing a challenge with data collection
and analysis and makes quality control difficult, a nation of young people
lacking good quality information and a prevalence of myths and misinformation
leave young people ill-informed and looking for information on sex online so
access to porn and the use of technology worries everyone. There is a cultural
reluctance to engage with the issue of young people and sexual health and every
time someone tries to do something to support young people accessing sexual and
reproductive health services, the conservative media leaps on it with a
hysteria that is very familiar.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I hope that some of the insights I was able to
bring from the UK were helpful to my colleagues in Kenya. I’m certain that
there are some straightforward and powerful things they can do quite quickly to
begin to make a difference, not least by treating young people as partners in
the solution (there was one young person at the conference, but she was not really given much opportunity to be involved). The conference gave the policy makers a real
mandate to do things differently from now on and I wish them well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But my visit was about much more than taking UK
expertise to Kenya. More than anything, it helped me to think differently about
the UK. </span><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It made me think we needed to just get on and
work a bit harder to reduce our teenage pregnancy rate from one comparatively
small number to another even smaller number. After all, we know what works and
we just need to push on and keep delivering it, don’t we?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It made me wonder how we can be in a position
that we’re still not seeing decent SRE in all schools when we have almost
universal attendance between 5 and 18, comparatively well -resourced schools
and the support of parents and teachers to do so. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It made me reflect that the right to access contraception
gets put into a whole different context when you remember it does, literally, save
lives. It’s easy to forget, from our position of huge privilege. It makes me
want to make sure I don’t complain too much, but also to make damn sure that we
don’t waste the privilege we have by not nailing some of the sexual and
reproductive health problems we have in the UK. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I have condensed four busy days and many
people’s contributions into a short blog, and there are many fascinating
projects to discover more about that I’ve linked to in the text. I think there
is shared learning to be had for us all. I’d like to maintain Brook’s links
with Kenya and continue to share our experiences. It was easy to feel at home in
a room of almost 100 people talking with care, respect and compassion about
young people and young people’s needs. </span></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer"><p>
<em>The blog of the Chief Executive of <b>Brook</b>, the leading sexual health charity for young people in the UK. Brook provides sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk">www.brook.org.uk</A></em></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042970013309226825.post-43325917528419444252015-08-07T05:53:00.000-07:002015-08-07T07:51:57.496-07:00Sex In Class - the Brook view!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj32us3EpjzX7NvnrJOzLMYLR4dAcX_l9MmaS_HlD2yMOy2JqcC4-aNMP2FODBY3dfIN8mF3yB89X4rch1a6RwKoGVp9s0tGUWLMmuo69CHZHE5ot_ZTBjIe_AyXztgH-FVkP2d1jMTEgmC/s1600/150807+Simon+and+Goedele.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj32us3EpjzX7NvnrJOzLMYLR4dAcX_l9MmaS_HlD2yMOy2JqcC4-aNMP2FODBY3dfIN8mF3yB89X4rch1a6RwKoGVp9s0tGUWLMmuo69CHZHE5ot_ZTBjIe_AyXztgH-FVkP2d1jMTEgmC/s320/150807+Simon+and+Goedele.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Simon Blake, former Chief Executive of Brook, <br />
talks to Goedele Liekens</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Last night’s Channel 4 programme, <a href="http://www.channel4.com/programmes/sex-in-class/on-demand/59856-001"><i>Sex In Class</i></a>, was a fascinating
hour-long look at the effects of a truly <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk/our-work/sexpositive-challenging-societys-negative-attitudes-about-sex">Sex:Positive</a>
approach to sex and relationships education (SRE). Presented by Goedele
Liekens, a Belgian sexologist and UN Goodwill Ambassador for sexual health, <i>Sex In Class </i>demonstrated the power of
giving young people the opportunity to talk about sex and relationships, and
the importance of building up their confidence (especially the girls’), to help
them draw their own boundaries. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Brook was approached by the production company who made the
programme in the autumn of last year, and when we heard what they were
planning, we were keen to get involved. The TV crew filmed interviews between
our former Chief Executive Simon Blake and Goedele on two separate occasions,
and to say they got on like a house on fire would be an understatement! <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course, as often happens with TV, two hour-plus-long
conversations full of excitement, agreement, and bouncing ideas were edited
down into a two minute long segment for the small screen – but I think that the
gist of what was discussed got across, which is the main thing. Filming went by
(almost) without a hitch, despite cancelled trains, busy diaries and a near
dust-up in the London office between the C4 crew and a Belgian
crew who were following Goedele around to film her for a reality show – don’t
ask! <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The programme itself could not have shown more clearly the
crying need for better SRE that talks about much more than basic biology, bugs
and babies. The fact that many of the girls in the group had no idea what their
own bodies looked like “down there” was saddening, but not surprising – Brook’s
Education and Training teams tell many similar stories. It also showed that
missing out conversations about consent, pleasure, peer pressure and porn
leaves young people confused and lacking the confidence they desperately need. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The difference in behaviour between the young people at the
start of the programme and the end was striking. The boys seemed more
thoughtful and certainly more aware of consent (it was a
peek-through-the-fingers moment earlier on when one of them said that coming on
a partner’s face was just a normal part of sex and he didn’t see why he needed
to ask permission – this notion was thoroughly dispelled by Goedele and the
lesson seemed to sink in). The girls seemed more confident and more empowered
(I loved the quote from the girl who said, “I’m not going to take crap off
people any more”), and certainly more aware of their right to respect,
pleasure, and equality. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9bF1zO57Kpz5As_0sxRVk39ACuGX8F30lyaF-ifbhSLbrm8pRbOMbaBABSVw1X0c_7ZP7VzThLipJaTz8lFV5qH-PP4YAH0hvUm8Sx8wUR_SIAUZ_3JtMZN9LIQag1fPmcOfNAN7FtARb/s1600/150807+Goedele+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9bF1zO57Kpz5As_0sxRVk39ACuGX8F30lyaF-ifbhSLbrm8pRbOMbaBABSVw1X0c_7ZP7VzThLipJaTz8lFV5qH-PP4YAH0hvUm8Sx8wUR_SIAUZ_3JtMZN9LIQag1fPmcOfNAN7FtARb/s320/150807+Goedele+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Goedele asks the question on all our lips! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The conversation on Twitter – as shown <a href="https://storify.com/BrookCharity/sexinclass-a-besexpositive-approach-to-sre">in
this Storify</a> – was overwhelmingly positive. There was a huge amount of
disbelief that SRE is not statutory, from many people who had been unaware of
that little fact. There was anger that a failure to ensure good, sex positive,
comprehensive SRE for every young person leaves them at risk of exploitation,
coercion, and abuse. The influence of porn on the class’s views was undeniable
– and as <a href="http://simonatbrookcharity.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/i-often-get-asked-whether-it-is-more.html">Simon
often said</a> when CEO of Brook, whatever you think of porn, it’s not the best
place for young people to learn about relationships and sex! <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Sex In Class</i> was a
great reminder (as if we needed one!) of exactly how important the amazing work
done by <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk/our-work/category/education">Brook’s
Education and Training teams</a> is. While the Government <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk/press-releases/brook-statement-on-the-governments-response-to-the-life-lessons-report">drags
its feet</a> over making SRE statutory (seriously, how many reports do we
need?!), Brook and similar organisations are out there making a difference to
young people’s lives, talking to them in down to earth language about the
issues that <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk/images/brook/professionals/documents/press_releases/sreforthe21stcenturyreportfinal.pdf">young
people tell us</a> they are desperate to discuss in a safe space, with input
from an expert. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The only complaint I have about <i>Sex In Class </i>is that it was a one-off, rather than a series. Every
one of the issues Goedele and the class discussed was worthy of its own
episode, and it would have been brilliant to see what else was taught – I know
that Goedele is also, for example, very keen to make sure that SRE is inclusive
of all sexualities and genders, which was a topic that the hour long format
didn’t have time to cover. In the meantime, whilst I’m going to keep on campaigning
for <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk/about-brook/brook-position-statement-relationships-and-sex-education">statutory
SRE</a><span class="MsoHyperlink">,</span> I think we have to find other ways to
make sure that young people have much better sex and relationships education, to help
them make positive choices, and to help them be safe, healthy, happy and
unafraid of the future. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<o:p><i>— Jules Hillier, Interim Chief Executive, Brook</i></o:p></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer"><p>
<em>The blog of the Chief Executive of <b>Brook</b>, the leading sexual health charity for young people in the UK. Brook provides sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk">www.brook.org.uk</A></em></p></div>Brookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08018782197528985959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042970013309226825.post-47800248199139120492015-07-20T08:32:00.002-07:002015-07-20T08:32:27.580-07:00The PSHE Bill <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 16px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><i>Young volunteer Pippa blogs about last week's PSHE Bill</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 16px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi90p3u_CJRBm-LdHrLXVdXMrIIqz2y2aPzvPKAgZYLwCs3ZghuLcpdeTcrAtWuHgr8Xmw5hs_xm1cAI8wCoAhA61951AQ1oIzI7DZQIR2ZcB7HeHS_-kiLgwK14JY2s_qiVxBfKXsz4zGJ/s1600/Blackburn+%2523PSHEBill+Group+Pic+14.07.15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi90p3u_CJRBm-LdHrLXVdXMrIIqz2y2aPzvPKAgZYLwCs3ZghuLcpdeTcrAtWuHgr8Xmw5hs_xm1cAI8wCoAhA61951AQ1oIzI7DZQIR2ZcB7HeHS_-kiLgwK14JY2s_qiVxBfKXsz4zGJ/s320/Blackburn+%2523PSHEBill+Group+Pic+14.07.15.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Young members of Brook Blackburn's LGBT youth group <br />show their support for the #PSHEBill</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 16px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Last Wednesday (15 July), Green Party MP Caroline Lucas successfully championed the ‘<a href="http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2014-15/personalsocialhealthandeconomiceducationstatutoryrequirement.html" target="_blank">Personal Social Health and Economic Education (Statutory Requirement) Bill</a>’ in the House of Commons <i>[<a href="https://storify.com/BrookCharity/pshebill-first-reading-in-parliament" target="_blank">this Storify</a> has the highlights from the speeches]</i>. Her ‘<a href="https://www.brook.org.uk/press-releases/brook-statement-in-support-of-the-pshe-bill" target="_blank">PSHE Bill</a>’ aims to make personal, social, health and economic education compulsory in schools across the UK. The PSHE Bill was passed with 183 MPs voting in favour and only 44 voting against.</span></div>
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</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 16px; padding: 0px;">
You might have heard of this bill before: it was first introduced in the House of Commons in July 2014 but didn’t make it to a second reading before the election period began.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 16px; padding: 0px;">
We’re overjoyed that the PSHE Bill has been reintroduced with such a large majority and with support from all sides of the political spectrum!</div>
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Unfortunately, later last week, the Department for Education dismissed the House of Commons Education Committee’s recommendation that <a href="https://www.brook.org.uk/press-releases/brook-statement-on-the-governments-response-to-the-life-lessons-report" target="_blank">PSHE should be a statutory requirement</a>, which makes the passage of the PSHE Bill all the more important.</div>
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<b>Next steps for the PSHE Bill</b></div>
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1.<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrf3dSHIsWjAxEepXBovynw-QfCG3Qw0yT7eIfyLA7SF4qiJtOViSuUPWbB_cKJfJUvoUipVC41aFALJLL5oshJTTyMJv571OboZKwy6adBc5rjDD6R9vvElTOE_dZgRiHWH6FF-7j10TB/s1600/Cornwall+PSHEBill+YP+NCS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrf3dSHIsWjAxEepXBovynw-QfCG3Qw0yT7eIfyLA7SF4qiJtOViSuUPWbB_cKJfJUvoUipVC41aFALJLL5oshJTTyMJv571OboZKwy6adBc5rjDD6R9vvElTOE_dZgRiHWH6FF-7j10TB/s320/Cornwall+PSHEBill+YP+NCS.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Young people in their second week of the NCS programme in<br />Cornwall get behind the #PSHEBill!</td></tr>
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</span>The PSHE Bill will now progress to a second reading in the House of Commons. This is an opportunity for MPs to debate the general principles of the bill before voting on it a second time.</div>
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2.<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span>If a majority of MPs vote in favour again, the bill will progress to the Committee Stage, where it will be considered in more detail by a committee of MPs who may propose some amendments.</div>
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3.<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span>The PSHE Bill (as amended) will then be put forward to the House of Commons again for consideration (the Report stage). All MPs may speak and propose amendments at this stage.</div>
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4.<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span>A third reading will then take place in the House of Commons. At this point, no more amendments can be made by the Commons. MPs will quickly debate the bill as it currently stands, before voting a third time.</div>
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5.<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span>If all goes well and MPs vote in favour a third time, the PSHE Bill will progress to the House of Lords, which follows the same procedure of first reading, second reading, committee stage, report stage and third reading. If the House of Lords make any amendments to the Bill during this process before voting in favour, the PSHE Bill will be sent back to the House of Commons for consideration.</div>
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6.<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span>If the House of Lords agree to the Bill without making any amendments, or once their amendments are agreed by the House of Commons, the Bill will gain royal assent and become law (yay!).</div>
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It’s a long process with quite a few hurdles, but we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed every step of the way.</div>
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All schoolchildren deserve to learn about <a href="https://www.brook.org.uk/your-life/sex" target="_blank">safe sex</a>, <a href="https://www.brook.org.uk/your-life/consent" target="_blank">consent</a> and <a href="https://www.brook.org.uk/your-life/relationships" target="_blank">healthy relationships</a>!</div>
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<i>Thanks, Pippa - we could not agree more! </i></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer"><p>
<em>The blog of the Chief Executive of <b>Brook</b>, the leading sexual health charity for young people in the UK. Brook provides sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk">www.brook.org.uk</A></em></p></div>Brookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08018782197528985959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042970013309226825.post-39686455551482895732015-07-03T09:02:00.003-07:002015-07-03T09:47:25.491-07:00Handshakes, consent, and mulling things over<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif;"><i>By Jules Hillier</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif";">Stepping
into the shoes of Brook’s former Chief Exec, Simon Blake, is challenging for
lots of reasons, but one of them is that I find it virtually impossible to
find the time to create the kind of prolific social media presence that he is able to
maintain. Simon takes inspiration from his daily life and is able to turn it
into a blog/tweet/other kind of post really quickly. I’m very different – I get
inspiration but I like to spend a bit of time turning something over in my mind
before writing about it. My creative process takes a bit longer. All this is a
rather roundabout way of saying that Brook’s blog has been quiet since I became
Chief Executive – I’ve been mulling rather than writing – and I’m sorry about
that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif";">Something
happened earlier in the week that helped me move from thinking about things to writing
about things, so here is my first post as Brook’s Chief Exec. Appropriate, I
think, that it should be about consent because I firmly believe that if we all
have a better grasp of consent we’ll change people’s lives, relationships and
wellbeing much faster and more effectively.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif";">It’s
just possible that some of you don’t know how much I dislike hugging. </span><a href="http://juleslearnstorun.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/diary-of-non-hugger.html"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif";">I have blogged about it in
the past</span></a><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif";">
when I had to hug 50 people in 30 days to raise money for Brook* but it still
takes people by surprise when they find out that I don’t like it. Trouble with
hugs is that they’re big and invasive and really intimate and when someone I
don’t know well comes in for a hug, I get all tense inside. Hugging is a
socially acceptable greeting to most people and I am well brought up and polite
so rather than spending the last 40-odd years yelling, “Get off me! I can’t
breathe and you’re in all of my space!” I have simply shut up and given a
rather stiff, brief hug in return. For huggers, I can’t have been very pleasant
to hug. I guess we’ve all been subjecting ourselves to sub-standard greetings
& leavings all that time, which is a bit sad. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif";">Over
the years, I’ve thought a lot about this and about the fact that everyone’s
boundaries are different. I also think about the fact that despite being a
perfectly capable woman in my mid 40s and despite working in sexual health and
passionately advocating for better understanding of boundaries and consent for
more than 15 years, I have never really exerted my right to ask people
not to hug me. I’ve mused that if I find it that uncomfortable to deal with a
relatively minor issue of consent, how on earth can we ever help young people
really, truly, understand consent and find the skills and capability to
negotiate it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif";">That’s
why Wednesday was such a happy day for me. It was the day </span><a href="https://twitter.com/bishtraining"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif";">Justin
Hancock</span></a><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif";">,
known to many of you simply as </span><a href="http://bishuk.com/"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif";">Bish</span></a><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif";">, shared his </span><a href="http://bishtraining.com/index.php/2015/03/25/three-handshakes-an-activity-for-learning-how-consent-feels/"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif";">handshake workshop</span></a><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif";"> with me and our fellow </span><a href="http://sexpression.org.uk/"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif";">Sexpression
UK</span></a><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif";"> Trustees
in the pub after our Trustee meeting. The conversation came about because
Justin discovered my dislike of hugging a little while ago and, rather than
feeling awkward or deciding I had simply misunderstood the hug and could be
converted, he actively engaged me in expressing the kind of greeting I would
prefer instead. And every time I’ve seen him since, he’s offered me a
thoughtful, alternative greeting/leaving gesture that has been far more
pleasant than a hug. When my fellow
trustees discovered my aversion to hugging, Justin talked about his workshop
and, outside a Mayfair pub, he ran us
through a little demo of how it works. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif";">It
was excellent. All of us stopped and thought not only about about our own
preferences (and it turns out there are other kinds of greetings that trouble
other people, but they often don’t say) but also about the needs of other
people and how different to ours they might be. Justin made the very good point
that my loathing of the limp handshake could well be a complete
misunderstanding of some poor person who simply feels uncomfortable or
intimidated by a handshake and I should be much less judgemental. We all stood
there mulling over what makes something a mutually satisfying, happy and
positive experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif";">Everyone
should do the handshake workshop and thanks to Justin’s generosity (the details
are free on his website), they can. I brought it home with me and it turns out
my husband’s a three firm shakes kinda guy, which is at least one more shake than
would be my preference, so I also learned something new about someone I’ve
known for more than 30 years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif";">The
very best thing about this workshop is that it helps young people not only to <i>understand</i> what consent is, but also to <i>feel</i> what consent feels like. Perhaps if
we can help more young people with that, they’ll learn not only to negotiate
and discuss consent, but also to recognise it, not just when it comes to sex,
but when it comes to all sorts of meaningful, happy ways of communicating and
connecting with each other. I high-five
that. As long as you’re all comfortable with it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif";">I
feel very lucky to work in a field where I regularly come into contact with
people devising creative ways to help young people grow learn and develop. We
are living through tough times in youth work, education and health and there is
so little resource for taking the time to innovate and come up with simple, but
brilliant, new things. That’s sad. But probably a topic for another post. Give
me a while to mull it over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">*those
of you who browse that blog will note that I never finished blogging the
pictures. I did finish the challenge, including the pictures, but I struggled
with it so much, I lost the will to blog it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer"><p>
<em>The blog of the Chief Executive of <b>Brook</b>, the leading sexual health charity for young people in the UK. Brook provides sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk">www.brook.org.uk</A></em></p></div>Brookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08018782197528985959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042970013309226825.post-46865010440935329552015-04-09T01:00:00.000-07:002015-04-30T00:18:52.801-07:0021 years in sexual health: my last day today (30th April) In 21 (today) days' time I will be packing up my things and leaving the Brook offices for the last time, after close to nine fantastic years. I have to keep saying it out loud to remind and prepare myself. Brook has changed a lot during that time. It is an organisational journey I am proud and feel privileged to have been on along with fantastic young people, volunteers, staff and trustees. We have also been lucky to have the support of individuals and organisations such as CASS Business School and Bain and Company along the way.<br />
<br />
I am very excited about going to work at the National Union of Students and a whole new sector - the learning curve is going to be enormous - I will also be very sad to be leaving Brook and my colleagues here - I love the values, the passion, the commitment to putting young people in the driving seat, and the dogged determination to demonstrate the importance of trusting young people and their developing sexuality rather than have a relentless focus on the negative and the bad. It is not just Brook and valued colleagues within Brook that I will be leaving - I will be leaving the sexual health sector after 21 years.<br />
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I first started working in sexual health in 1994 as one of the founding group of student volunteers who set up SHAG (sexual health awareness group) at Cardiff University, before joining Cardiff AIDS Helpline (1995), Family Planning Association (1995), Sex Education Forum (1999), National Children's Bureau (2002), Department of Health (2004) and then Brook (2006).<br />
<br />
So, I figured – 21 years of working in the sector, 21 days to go, I must have 21 things to say or things I have learnt. I intend to publish my final 'sexual health blog' on the last day, so in advance of that I am going to add one thing I have learnt or think to this blog each day as I count down. It will be in no particular order of importance. In fact I have no particular idea where I am going with this. Some of it will be really obvious I am sure, but it is part of my ending process which may or may not be interesting: let's see what happens.<br />
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<i>30th April 2015 my last day</i><br />
Three weeks ago, today seemed in the dim and distant future. But my final day is here and this time tomorrow I may well be having an identity crisis after working over two decades - more than half my life - in the sexual health sector. I have had enormous fun in that time from getting the SHAG safer sex T shirts made, to helping young men express themselves through music, dance and creative writing, to finally having 'the sex chat' with my parents at the age of 40 because I knew I could by then, to repeating incessantly that sex education is 'too little, too late, too biological' and I don't care what we call it lets get on with it and understanding more about Patient Group Directions than I ever thought I would. And from time to time I have even enjoyed arguing with those ideologically opposed to sex and relationships education (although mostly they are pretty dull arguments) and being aggressively accused of being a homosexualist (I still don't actually know what one is!).<br />
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I leave Brook and the sexual health sector<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><i>frustrated</i> that Personal, Social and Health Education is still not a statutory part of the curriculum. How much money and time have we collectively spent setting out the evidence and the arguments, lobbying and campaigning and still not enough action. I hope whatever colour government we wake up with on 8th May will quickly remedy this. There is not time to waste. </li>
<li><i>hopeful</i> that Local Authorities will continue to commission high quality specialist young people's services and ensure both mainstream and targeted provision, and more than a little <i>fearful</i> that emerging approaches to whole system commissioning put young people's services and therefore their health and well being at risk</li>
<li><i>worried</i> that in some areas, despite best intentions, we are heading backwards and in other areas * we are just not making enough progress so we will see a worsening of sexual health outcomes and a limiting of individual choices *insert your own thoughts about which areas </li>
<li><i>confident</i> Brook will continue championing a sex positive approach: leading the required culture change so ALL young people will be trusted and valued so we can achieve our mission of enabling young people to enjoy their sexuality without harm</li>
<li><i>proud</i> of all that the teams at Brook have achieved together as an organisation through a major change programme and unprecedented social, economic and political change</li>
<li><i>grateful</i> to have worked with such extraordinary people as trustees, partners, collaborators, colleagues and friends within and outside Brook who work with passion, commitment, determination and verve, often in testing circumstances; and so <i>grateful </i>to have had the privilege of being CEO at Brook</li>
<li><i>excited </i>to be started at NUS next week, and excited to see who the next CEO of Brook will be and how they will shape the next phase of Brook's journey.</li>
</ul>
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Finally some particular thanks: to David Gold who has been an outstanding mentor; to Eve Martin who has been an excellent Chair, providing so much support, insight, challenge and sound judgement; to the Executive and Management Team who have been amazing to work with; and of course particularly heartfelt thanks to Jules Hillier who less than six weeks before she was due to be leaving Brook agreed to change her plans so she could take up the helm as interim CEO until a permanent appointment is made. I think thats pretty special and I know Jules will do a fantastic job.</div>
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That's me done folks! </div>
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<i>21. Having sex for the first time/first time sex - </i>most of the research about first time sex that I am familiar with in the UK seeks to establish whether it was regretted or not and to what extent. An interesting reflection of our views on young people and sex. At the same time when I talk with sex educators - not necessarily the specialists - but people who teach Maths or Biology as their core subject and are trained in sex and relationships education find the whole issue of first time sex a difficult one to teach with very few good resources available to help them.<br />
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Those resources that are available sometimes seem to operate from a perspective that young people are probably not ready for sex and the job of the facilitator is help young people to reach that conclusion. I was talking at a conference with a very well respected trainer a number of years ago and they offered a series of questions for working with young people to think about whether they wanted to have sex. The list was long, detailed and mostly seemed helpful. With skilful facilitation in the right atmosphere I could see how useful it would be to get people thinking. Until the last statement 'and if you answered no, or have any doubts then it is probably best not to do it'.<br />
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I suspect none of the adults in the room would ever have had sex if they had to answer yes or have no doubts about any of them before having sex. I certainly wouldn't have. And apply it to any other area of life and we would essentially be telling young people to only make decisions that are fear and risk free with certain outcomes. That can't be the best way to go.<br />
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Later that year I was speaking at a University in Wellington, New Zealand and one of the presenters had a very similar model with a series of questions, except, when you read the literature it was a bit more caring, a bit more forgiving and therefore felt more relevant. It was branded as 'only when you are ready'. It felt like it was written with high expectations for young people, it was centred around consent, it had clearly been written by adults together with young people, and it had clearly been written knowing that everything applied equally to young people and adults - not as if young people's decision making was a world away from adults.<br />
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It was also clear that having sex was an important decision but decisions were not fool proof; that having sex was appropriately risky business and that with all the best thinking, the best relationships and the best choices there was a chance that sometimes you may wish you hadn't done something, but that was ok and there was help available in families, in friendship groups and from trained professionals. <br />
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A few years ago Brook was a co-funder of a PhD programme seeking to understand young people's understanding of good sex in which some video resources were produced - you can read more about it here <a href="https://goodsexproject.wordpress.com/2015/01/22/the-million-dollar-question-how-can-workers-talk-to-young-people-about-sex-and-pleasure/">https://goodsexproject.wordpress.com/2015/01/22/the-million-dollar-question-how-can-workers-talk-to-young-people-about-sex-and-pleasure/</a> - and from this it became clear that whilst it is undoubtedly true that we need to put more emphasis on the R in sex and relationships education, we also need to put some more emphasis on the S in a relevant way in sex and relationships education particularly for older young people. And more specifically on helping young people to think about the conditions and context in which they would want to think about having sex for the first time and the possible implications of doing so - both the positive and the negative.<br />
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With such a preoccupation on the link between having sex for the first time and associated levels of regret do we risk missing the point and the very nature of being human? There are lots of things I regret having done in all areas of my life, but few things I really regret and feel very sad or worry about. Most of the time I have learnt from my regrets, if not the first time I did it, the second time or if I haven't learnt yet, I suspect I will at some point. If we expect young people to learn from their mistakes, including those related to sex and relationships, we may need to have a more honest, granular and helpful conversation about the different choices we make and the lessons we can learn from those.<br />
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With open access resources available on the internet there may already be some short video vignettes representing real life stories about first time sex available that I don't already know about. If not they would be a valuable resource for the many practitioners working in school, youth and community and FE settings across the country.<br />
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<i>20. Effective teaching and learning - </i>when i learnt to deliver sex and relationships education we spent a lot of time learning about developing a safe group work environment and using active learning methods to facilitate learning that drew on people's understanding and experience as part of the learning process. <br />
<br />
When I help children and young people in our family network with their homework I am often surprised at how different the approaches can be. I was recently helping with some Maths Homework which was all done online via a school portal and there was a series of different tests, some quick fire, some you were allowed to use a calculator for, some you were not. The quick fire round (My term, not the official one I am sure) was part of an experiment to see whether it could encourage boys to do their homework through a competitive element. I am not equipped to know whether this is the most effective way of teaching and learning about Maths, but I do know about SRE, and sometimes I see people using worksheets and resource packs, or evolved versions of that have been around a long time I wonder whether we have taken account of the changing way that technology allows young people to learn, the changing nature of knowledge and its application and both the method and the message that young people take from all aspects of SRE. <br />
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What do we know from the literature about online courses about their effectiveness and how could that literature be applied to SRE? What do we know about how people process information, connect with others and communicate and how does that influence the planning, method of delivery and content of SRE? How do people discern, critically analyse and make judgements about information? Are there new influences on our beliefs and behaviours and if so are they integrated positively into the way we plan, deliver and assess learning in SRE?<br />
<br />
I think apps are good and have their place, but I am not talking about an app, here. I am asking whether we are thinking and about and assimilating knowledge about the changing way that (young) people learn, connect and communicate with others as a result of the changing nature of technology into the way we teach SRE so it is memorable, exciting and relevant. Seems to me it is a space that is genuinely ripe for innovation and development.<br />
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<i>19. Pornography and body image - </i>there is no doubt that it is easier to access pornography than it ever has been. When I first started working in sexual health we had little knowledge about good sex and relationships education for boys and young men. It quickly became apparent that in the absence of relevant sex and relationships education too many boys and young men were turning to pornography to learn about sex. Whatever you think about pornography, I think we can all agree, it is not acceptable that boys or girls turn to pornography because we have failed to teach them about sex and relationships adequately, and pornography will never be the best place for young people to learn about sex.<br />
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So 20 years on we still haven't sorted sex and relationships education adequately, but we do have a growing narrative that all young people are watching pornography all the time, that increasing numbers of very young children are viewing it and that it is changing the nature of sexual attitudes and sexual behaviour and leading to greater exploitation, violence and abuse. The best review of the evidence that I have heard questioned the quality and robustness of the available research.<br />
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At policy level the adult conversation focuses on protecting young people from 'exposure' and the government's key policy intervention is the adoption of parental filters in every home. Meanwhile young people are saying that they know the difference between fantasy and reality and what they need better education, better support and to be empowered to make choices and to seek help if they need it. Despite this repeated plea from young people for better education, at national policy level, successive governments have largely ignored young people's requests for better Personal, Social and Health Education and the adoption of filters as the main policy intervention miss the much wider point that better education would address - that images of beautiful people are everywhere and most of them don't look like most of us.<br />
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Increasingly I hear and read more and more about both young (and old people) and body image. It seems to me this wider context of beautiful bodies being everywhere is having a pernicious impact on the way we think about ourselves and our bodies. Like with pornography and most other issues we best protect and empower young people to manage through education at home, at school and in the community. At the heart of that education has to be the promotion of self esteem, self awareness and confidence that will build resilience to help young people navigate their way through the opportunities, thrills and challenges of their everyday lives.<br />
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<i>18. We need to find a better way to talk about consent to sex - </i>sometimes when you listen to people talk about, or you read academic and practitioner focused articles about sexual consent it would be easy to believe that there were other acceptable options - as if there are variations on consent. Consent is consent. Full stop. There are no acceptable variations of consent and we need to find a language which enables us to express that clearly to young people. We don't love consent because it is loveable or want consent because it is desirable. We expect consent because anything less than consent is completely unacceptable and illegal. So let us find a better way to talk about consent, no ifs, no buts, no excuses.<br />
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<i>17. It is not ok to lie to (young) people about sex and sexuality - </i>yesterday there was an article in the Telegraph about a Catholic School in Croydon teaching young people that sex outside marriage destroys your soul and that condoms put your health at risk. It is not ok to lie to young people. Ever. Whatever our personal views and beliefs about different issues good teaching and learning will include the law and civil rights, health perspectives based on real science, not phoney made up stuff (abortion doesn't cause breast cancer or mental illness in the real books, condoms are not porous, men can control themselves even if they have an erection, we are a population with our souls largely in tact despite the amount sex that takes place outside marriage, gay people are not ill etc etc) and then different beliefs and values including humanist, religious, cultural and personal beliefs.<br />
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If you don't like carrots you don't make things up about carrots to stop other people eating carrots. Likewise when it comes to sex we work with facts first and then be clear that people have different beliefs and values, we do not make up facts based on beliefs and it is not ok for people and organisations driven by ideological beliefs about sex and sexuality to scare young people in our classrooms. <br />
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<i>16. Contraception - </i>we need to talk about contraception because at both national and local level it often doesn't get enough policy attention and we don't big it up and value it enough. Contraception is amazing. The availability of contraception has changed women's lives and choices in ways that could only have been imagined a century ago. We need more focus on ensuring people know about and can access the full range of contraceptive choices. Contraception is cost effective medicine (for every £1 spent by the health service £12 is saved). Contraception needs just as much of a policy and practice focus as sexually transmitted infections.<br />
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I suspect some of you will read that and shrug your shoulders and say, "...and so?". That is the point. Too often shoulders are shrugged as if the way we educate, teach and provide contraception is sorted. Not quite yet. Think about this - 'contraception - worth talking about' is the first and only national campaign to promote awareness of contraception; high level policy meetings have a tendency to prioritise HIV and sexually transmitted infections and rarely is the cost benefit of contraception discussed; teaching and learning about contraception can be limited to facts about contraception an tends to focus less on motivations, drivers and barriers to using contraception; evidence shows that many (young) people will know very few different methods of contraception; too many (young) people do not really know how different forms of contraception including emergency contraception works and how or why condoms protect against sexually transmitted infections when hormonal contraception does not; often (young) people will only be offered a limited range of contraceptive choices; and sometimes commissioning arrangements mean there are limits on the number of long acting methods of contraception that can be provided in a period. Contraception is amazing. We need to talk about and big up contraception.<br />
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<i>15. We can do more to encourage inter generational experiences</i> - as a child I remember being bewildered that 'old' people could forget their age, go out dancing, have sex, not know their school grades or which year they went on holiday. I certainly didn't think they could teach me much about love, politics and relationships until I met Edith (more later). Now I am even older than those people I considered old and I too forget my age, have no idea about my school grades and indeed am known to dance sometimes albeit badly and with a distinct and allegedly adorable lack of rhythm.<br />
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At the same time as old people are a mystery to the young, us old people can be mystified, and sometimes scared by the young.<br />
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But inter generational conversation can change that. My experience with a wonderful woman called Edith convinced me of that. I used to do her shopping and in return she taught me a lot about love, relationships, happiness, heart break, dreaming big and equality.<br />
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Her tales taught, enthralled and inspired me. I, she said, gave her the chance to remember the good times, advise through the bad and live vicariously because her 'damned legs wouldn't take her anywhere anymore.'<br />
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I was in my late 20s when the age of consent was equalised. At the Stonewall party to celebrate I talked to two men in their late 70s who were sobbing with happiness. They had loved each other for a long time. Their love had first been illegal, then unequal. Their experience makes me value the rights I now have even more.<br />
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Lots of formal inter-generational work takes place in pockets, but do we really take advantage of all the wisdom available to young people. How can we maximise that invaluable resource - older people be engaged in school or community programmes talking about love, marriage, separation, rights and social change. <br />
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<i>14. We need a blend of online/digital and face to face activity. </i><br />
The digital revolution is truly a revolution and despite all the fears of cyber bullying and grooming or online pornography and the challenges of ensuring young people know what is reliable and good quality information the internet is an overwhelming force for good. Young people can find information, people they connect with and come together to provide peer advice and support in all manner of exciting ways.<br />
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The internet provides us with opportunities to really reach out and make information more relevant, more easily accessibly and in real time. Virtual classrooms, virtual seminars or clinics provide opportunities to be more efficient and reach more people. Utterly utterly fantastic.<br />
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But, and there is always a but, we cannot simply replace face to face services or hard copy leaflets with digital solutions. Young people need the right combination of both on and off line information and services to meet their wide and different needs. Some things can be done online but not offline, some offline and not online, some both.<br />
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<i>13. Apply the same common sense and logic to teaching about sex, sexuality and relationships as we do with other areas of life - </i>we expect children to learn about maths because we know that numeracy is important even though we know it doesn't stop people getting into debt. We expect children to learn to read even though we know it doesn't mean everyone will read books. We know that you teach children about nutrition in a way that is relevant to their age and maturity, i.e. at a young age they learn they must eat some fruit and veg each day, later they learn what and why. In most other aspects of life we trust the intrinsic value of education, awareness and understanding and we accept without question that information will come from a combination of friends, parents, school and self learning.<br />
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Yet when it comes to sex and relationships sometimes we don't always apply the same logic and common sense. We look at relationships and sexuality through an 'adult lens' rather than a 'child lens' so when a 5 year asks how the baby got in mummies tummy we fear we must explain the ins and outs of conception rather than talk about a special cuddle; when a 7 year old asks why Uncle John and Uncle Max or Auntie Jane and Auntie Rosa live together we imagine they need to know the nature/nurture debates on sexual orientation rather than a simple answer such as 'because they love each other'. We hear people say SRE in schools is difficult because children are at different stages of development. Yes they are, as they are when it comes to teaching Maths, English, French, Science or Spanish. We talk about the challenge of different community values and beliefs yet schools are working with diversity in their day to day life for example in the managing of bullying and curriculum choices, not just in SRE.<br />
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Sometimes applying the standard logic and common sense we apply in education to teaching and learning about sex, sexuality and relationships might help move us on from some of the circular conversations that for the sake of children and young people we really need to move on from.<br />
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<i>12. We have to have a gender lens - </i>my first role in sex and relationships education was to develop a community based project targeting boys and young men. This came off the back of the anti-sexist work in the 80s and a lot of the resources I could find started from a position of boys were bad. Of course we live in a society which affords privilege to (particular groups of) men, and some boys behaviour is bad, but as a culture we then bully boys up and seek to make them tough, and then criticise them for behaving in the way we have taught them to. I learnt a lot about the 'macho mask' that young men would put on in a group setting and how to work effectively in groups and how to promote more positive and diverse images of what it means to be a man. I had a co worker who ran a project for young women and we used to compare notes, and very quickly realised that with boys it was acceptable to talk about masturbation, sex and orgasms but not about emotions at the start of a group, and with girls it was acceptable to talk about emotions but not about masturbation, sex and orgasms. Later if we had done our job well they would all want to talk about everything including that which was typically off limits at the start. All were limited by gendered expectations in different ways and with different pressures. Our job was to ensure that all young people knew there were a myriad ways of being that should not be limited by gendered expectations, that we reflected as many different role models as possible and that all young people had access to all the relevant information and opportunities for skill development and values exploration delivered in a safe and positive way.<br />
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Later I managed a project about gender issues in the secondary school which reinforced the fact that gender stereotypes and expectations are limiting for ALL boys and girls, young men and young women including those who identify as LGBT+. There is an enormous amount of work to be done to address systemic inequalities. 20 years on from developing my own professional awareness of the pernicious impact of gender stereotypes and expectations it is clear that progress is simply far too slow (look at the pay gap, women's experience of violence).<br />
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Discussions about gender and sexual identity with young people are some of the most dynamic I have ever facilitated. All of us working with children and young people at the class, youth group and individual level we have the opportunity to explore positive images of people with different sexual and gender identities, different talents, dreams and experiences. To enable all children and young people to live their dreams we have to tell them explicitly that we have ripped up the 'gender rules fax' that has gone before them; helping them articulate their dreams, make a plan and develop their skills and talents, including the skills to manage any backlash when pushing the boundaries and achieving their goals.<br />
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<i>11. Shout loudly about the importance of, and help young people nurture friendships - </i>I have just spent the weekend with fantastic friends. It has been a fairly mixed few years with lots and lots of highs alongside our fair share of lows. Through both the highs and the lows everyone has rallied around, tried to laugh, and cried as necessary and as often as possible. There is, of course, little better than time with friends who know each other well enough to enjoy, love and trust each other, warts and all. <br />
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I remember vividly the moment that I read the section on friendship in Jo Adams' book, <i>Girlpower, how far does it go? </i>It described the importance of helping girls build friendships so they can be who they want to be, feel confident in who they are and when necessary get support to face any backlash if they behave in ways that challenge expected norms. This book inspired a lot of work on friendship with young men when I ran <i>Strides</i> the young men's project in South Wales and then training for professionals.<br />
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When I used to run the boys and self esteem training course for professionals at the Centre for Sexual Health and HIV we ran an exercise on the power of friendship as a catalyst for thinking about how to promote friendships amongst boys and young men. It was without doubt one of the single most powerful exercises I have facilitated in training as people reflected on the power of friendship in their own lives and how they can help young people nurture friendships so they can enjoy the good times and support each other through the bad times.<br />
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Already lots of good work with young people nurtures friendships, often though without naming that as an explicit objective. I think we could helpfully name the promotion of friendships amongst young people and an understanding of their importance as an explicit goal in youth work, Where we have chance to think about the importance of friendships in our lives and truly understand and value the importance of our friendships we will actively seek to provide shared experiences that nurture friendships and help young people understand the importance and value of friendship in good times and in bad. That has got to be a good thing.<br />
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<i>10. Embrace the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child wholeheartedly - </i>In 1989 the UK ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child - remarkably the United States has yet to do so but that is another story. UNCRC sets out 42 core rights which should drive our domestic law and policy. It sets out children and young people's rights to education, protection, freedom of expression, health services and involvement in decisions that affect them. The UNCRC has triggered a significant and welcome culture change in the way we involved children and young people in decisions that affect them across the voluntary and public sectors that must be celebrated. <br />
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We do still have a culture that can demonise, infantalise and stigmatise young people and their behaviours - if challenged on this think whether we would allow <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mosquito" target="_blank">the mosquito alarm</a>, used in public spaces to disperse groups of young people, if it was targeting any other group in society.<br />
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Combine this culture with the impact of austerity on funding and public services, and the fact that young people are not able to vote until they are 18 and it is easy to see how achieving the rights set out in the UNCRC is slower than many of us would like. UNCRC provides a frame for all of us involved in the health, education and welfare of children and young people. We can use it in our advocacy, organisational and workforce development and direct work with children and young people to improve the quality and quantity of support for children and young people, and to motivate, inspire and support children and young people to be advocates for their own rights. <br />
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Each of the four countries in the UK has a Children's Commissioner tasked with holding government to account for implementation of the UNCRC. Scotland policy makers, it seems to me, are better than their English and Northern Irish counterparts at framing policy in the context of UNCRC. Wales has gone even further and enshrined UNCRC in domestic law. The Children's Commissioner for England responded to the UN Committee analysis of the UK record on children's rights a couple of weeks ago. - read it <a href="http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/content/press_release/content_575" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Like some other children and young people's organisations, at Brook we have formally adopted and work within the UNCRC and use it underpins our values, strategy, policy and practice. If you work with children and young people and your organisation hasn't adopted it yet, I recommend you start the dialogue about doing so and use it to frame the way you talk about children's rights. I believe it helps keep us focused on the 'right' things with a combined rights based and needs led approach.<br />
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I blogged about <a href="http://www.simonablake.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/why-we-must-talk-about-un-convention-on.html" target="_blank">the importance of UNCRC</a> and why we must talk about it more a while ago.<br />
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<i>9. Remember what it feels like to be young </i>- how often have you been in the pub, at a party or a meeting, seminar or conference where people talk about young people and young people's lives as if this generation of young people are a different species with completely different feelings and experiences?<br />
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Yes of course the context changes but the underlying feelings of being human - of falling in love for the first time, feeling confident or unconfident about our bodies, ending a relationship, deciding whether to have sex and negotiating it, talking about sexually transmitted infections, pregnancy or abortion with a partner or health professional or fears of not being good enough at sex - remain the same. If we remember and connect with how we felt when we were young, not only will it often make us smile, but more importantly will ensure we are not unhelpfully scared about not knowing, not understanding something or worse by young people themselves. Fear can impact our judgement negatively and mean we don't respond with empathy or care. Young people often tell me that they felt judged by professionals or were frightened they were going to be judged and so didn't talk to them in the first place - training of course is essential but most important is starting from a position of trusting and liking young people. <br />
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When you are young you do not have the luxury of developing empathy through remembering what it is like to be old, it is therefore incumbent on us - the older and the old - to ensure that we remember what it felt like it to be young and demonstrate due empathy, care and respect.<br />
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<i>8. Abortion - it is time to trust women - </i>the majority of the country is pro choice. The scientific evidence is clear. So why is abortion and women's right to choose still so politicised - see recent calls for women to have counselling and a cooling off period to ensure they don't make the 'wrong' choice, two signatures required from doctors to approve the procedure , mischief making undercover journalism, propaganda masquerading as pregnancy choices counselling, inequitable access across the UK, 1967 Act doesn't apply in Northern Ireland and whether it is easy or hard to get an abortion will depend on your postcode, protestors outside clinics harassing women, visitors allowed into schools to tell lies to young people in schools. It is absolutely right that people hold their own views and make their own choices about abortion. That is why I am pro choice. But it is not right to frighten young people, harass women going to abortion clinics and making dubious claims about links between abortion, breast cancer and mental health in counselling services without being clear about the organisations position on abortion. Women deserve more than that. It is time we trusted women to make choices about their bodies without ifs or buts.<br />
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<i>7. We get what we expect and we have to expect more for young people - </i>about 15 years ago I went on a sex education study tour to the United States with Gill Frances. We met with the academic Kristin Luker whose book Dubious Conceptions, the politics of teenage pregnancy, is well worth a read if you haven't read it. She spoke a lot of sense but one of the most powerful things she said was that we get what we expect from young people and we spend a lot of time expecting too little from them and for them when it comes to relationships.<br />
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We know that people dramatically over estimate the number of young people who have sex before the age of 16, how many young women get pregnant each year and more recently we are all consumed by the amount of pornography young people are accessing. And so it goes on - we tend to lurch from one 'moral panic' to another. We need to reflect on whether our problem focused approach to relationships and sex in the UK means we focus on the issues that worry us such as abuse, exploitation, pregnancy, HIV, pornography, (so called) sexting etc etc at the expense of setting out high expectations and hopes for young people's relationships and helping them develop their confidence to make decisions that are right for them.<br />
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When I worked at the FPA I was one of the workshop facilitators for a touring theatre in education production. The play was about relationships. It was fun to watch and exciting, but it was inadvertently showing young people how not to communicate or negotiate well in a relationship, what happens if you don't use a condom and what not to do when one of your friends tells you they are gay. In one of the workshops a young man said something along the lines of 'great show, but didn't really teach us how to be good in relationships did it'.<br />
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If we were to really to have high expectations, focus on the positive and identify what we DO want for young people - to be active decision makers about sexual and reproductive health, to have healthy relationships, to be equal and free whatever their gender and sexual identity, to only have sex they choose when they can enjoy and take responsibility for it, to have the skills and confidence to get help - what would good education look like, what would good campaigns look like, how would services work, what information would we be providing, how might we need to communicate differently with young people about sex and human sexuality?<br />
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When we ask young people what they want to learn about they will say they want to be good at relationships, to know about consent and to understand about sex, sexualities and identities. They often say adults spend a lot of time thinking all young people are a homogenous group and have the same feelings, experiences and beliefs and telling them not to do something they weren't going to do anyway, or that our perspective is a world away from their realities. If that remains true we will continue to fall short in our shared goal of protecting and empowering children and young people.<br />
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We must have high expectations for young people so they have high expectations for themselves. All the evidence shows we can trust that with the right information and tools young people will be active decision makers. My challenge to all of us, including Brook, is to continually review our own websites, our lesson plans, our campaigns and our ideas and reflect on whether the balance between the positive and the empowering and the dangerous and the protection is the right one, and if not to involve young people in changing it.<br />
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<i>6. Ensure young people are active partners at the heart of the organisation - </i>Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child sets out their right to participate and to be involved in decisions that affect them. In my teens I had volunteered as a support worker for young people with disabilities, and then went on to be a peer educator so it made intuitive sense to me when I go to to FPA that young people would be in the driving seat in the design and delivery of sex and relationships education programmes. Then at Sex Education Forum and National Children's Bureau the Children's Development Department were at the heart of building new approaches to involving young people in all of our work, and building an organisational culture of participation.<br />
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When you engage well with children and young people they are able to articulate what they needed better than we could as professionals. At SEF and NCB we wanted to make sure that policy proposals and evidence were built upon young people's views and voices. We therefore realised early on that the more routes and platforms we could establish to ensure their voices were heard directly, rather than mediated through us the better. Initially we sought to make short films and booklets to provide to policy makers and professionals who were not as effective at listening to children and young people's voices as now. And even now we have a very very long way to go before they are truly listened to.<br />
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Two of my favourite participation projects at Sex Education Forum and National Children's Bureau were <i>Please Minister can we have better sex education </i>- a video and young people's charter for sex and relationships education produced in response to Mr Blunkett's consultation on the sex and relationships education guidance, and <i>Journeys: young people's experiences of bullying - </i> a comic book mapping young people's stories of bullying and how they managed to get help and support to stop the bullying published by the Office of the Children's Commissioner.<br />
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They are my favourites because <i>Please Minister </i>subverted the process to make the consultation relevant to what they wanted to say. The video and charter was sent directly to Secretary of State with a letter saying along the lines of 'we didn't think your consultation questions about the guidance were the right ones so we have made this film for you to watch and this Charter to read.' And with <i>Journeys </i>we were able to start changing the nature of the debate from one which was seeking to find the <i>one best way </i>to stop bullying and start putting young people's voices at the heart of policy by understanding their experience of being bullied, as well as what enabled or stopped them from getting help and what worked and didn't work in the process. The project was important because it started looking to young people to help us find the answers to tackling bullying.<br />
<i><br /></i>I am enormously proud of the work that we have done at Brook to ensure young people are at the heart of the organisation from design, delivery and evaluation of services, to advising on our business strategy and resource allocation, designing and delivering campaigns including control of the Be Sex Positive campaign (@besexpositive). They are right at the top table with allocated places for young people on the board and we are in the process of establishing one of the young people's places being a joint Chair role. Brook is a much better organisation as a result of the involvement and leadership of young people - as we have got better at building strong partnerships with young people together we have been able to keep ourselves focused on the issues that are important to them. They challenge our thinking and old orthodoxies - if they don't think it is important should we still be doing it?<br />
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Through a range of mechanisms young people keep us grounded in their realities in which they are actively seeking to manage their relationships and health well. They want to ensure we present a positive perspective about young people and sexuality. They are mindful of the discourse of 'young people = all sex is bad sex' position and are clear Brook must never fall into that trap and that whilst the media headlines do not deal in shades of grey, young people's diverse experiences are definitely many shades of grey and we must reflect that in all our work.<br />
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About 5 years ago we had the most fantastic opportunity through a partnership with V Inspired to hand over our campaigning function to a group of young people. They were very clear that they wanted a different approach to campaigning. Less about safer sex and contraception (they are ten a penny) and more about sex (challenge to orthodoxy number 1). They were clear we must tell people what they need to help young people manage their relationships and created the Be Sex Positive campaign <a href="http://www.besexpositive.org.uk/">www.besexpositive.org.uk</a><a href="http://www.besexpositive.org.uk/" target="_blank"> </a>(@besexpositive). Through this work and having young people in the office all the time we became even more acutely aware of how often young people are demonised, how often their views are ignored and how deeply ingrained society's negative attitude to young people and sexuality can be. We felt the brunt of their anger when they were asked to input into the Bailey Review on sexualisation of children and they didn't think the report addressed their concerns at all. I felt the joy when they felt their voices had truly been heard as was the case with Amber Rudd's inquiry into pregnancy and contraception.<br />
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I have learned that young people's voice and view is supremely powerful and compelling - their stories and perspectives are real and they can win hearts and minds in ways that we as adults simply cannot. I have watched as young people have held audiences attention with such power you can hear a pin drop and I have seen light bulb moments as professionals as young people cut through the fluff and get to the heart of the matter fantastically well.<br />
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It is our duty to work in partnership with young people to ensure we truly work for them, to ensure their voices are heard first hand wherever possible, that we create platforms for them to influence decision makers on their terms as much as possible. We must open up our organisations to young people and actively invite them in to work in partnership with us, share power and to truly shape what we provide, offer and say. My experience of doing this at Brook is that it is a real game changer for the young people involved and the whole organisation. I very much look forward to watching Brook's youth leadership and participation work continue to flourish.<br />
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<i>5. Help (young) people imagine their futures and dream of possibility - </i>The Teenage Pregnancy Strategy in England identified raising aspirations as an important aspect to young people making choices about contraception, sex and relationships. This has been echoed as critical in other areas of youth policy, too.<br />
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I first started working with young people in sexual health in the South Wales Valleys in the mid 90s not long after the communities were devastated by the closure of the mines. Very quickly it became apparent that many of the young men had not been encouraged to dream about their futures and we spent a lot of time in sessions talking about the art of the possible. It took a while for people to be comfortable talking about their dreams, some time to nurture and develop their skills and confidence to name their dreams for lots of reasons including lack of belief about their options, school and community dampening down the dreams and in some cases a lack of experience and resources from which to draw.<br />
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I learnt that good sexual health work isn't always straightforward when I was working with one young man who was in his final year at school. He had been repeatedly excluded ffom school and was in alternative education. I was doing one to one work to support him particularly around appropriate behaviour. We were struggling to build a relationship. I was part of the system and the system was crap. He resented having to spend an hour a week with me. I had been on holiday and so had been away for two weeks. The following week he was so furious with me he couldn't speak. I asked him what he had been doing when I was away. His response 'nothing'. I responded with a gentle challenge that you couldn't do nothing in two weeks. He assured me he could and told me I didn't know how lucky I was to be able to go on holiday.<br />
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After a lot of talking he said he would really like to go on holiday abroad one day and would really like to get a passport. He didn't believe he would ever be able to go abroad and that was something he really wanted to do. And so our sessions changed a course - we got travel brochures and picked dream holidays and then holidays that were more immediately affordable; we worked out budgets and travel routes, we did a photo project with my passport. He became animated and interested. I discovered he could really draw when he brought in a fantastic cartoon style story board. We filled out the passport form and wrote to the Head to ask if she could help fulfil part one of his dream by paying for the passport. She did. Through this work we built a relationship and we did work on behaviour and attitude and motivation. It was easy because the dream was a springboard and motivator for change. I know he went to France four years later. He made sure he told me so.<br />
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I learnt a lot from that experience. Dreams help us think big. Sometimes our life experiences can suppress our imagination, under nourish our capacity to dream, or worse knock our dreams out of with talk of being 'too big for your boots'. All of us working with (young) people and with our staff teams do well to nurture imagination, cultivate dreams and build the confidence and skills to believe they can turn dreams into plans. Often time we won't have the experience of dreaming out loud and so don't immediately have the resources or language to dream. Dreaming is a skill that can be nurtured and is an essential pre-requisite for a life well lived.<br />
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Right now I am dreaming of finishing the Brighton Marathon today. Rob helped me think this was a possible and even sensible goal when I couldn't even run 5 kilometres and patiently helped me build the confidence and skills to run the distance.<br />
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<i>4. We don't have to wait for government, we, the experts, should lead the way</i> - sometimes government will develop policy that is supportive and helpful - a driver for change with resources attached - and sometimes government makes policy that is unhelpful, counter intuitive or a road block to change.<br />
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Either way rarely is government really radical or right at the forefront of innovation. It is not a criticism. Just fact (in my view). This is ever more true in the context of localism where more and more decisions are being made locally. Despite this often time we wait for government to tell us we are allowed to do something, what to do or how to do it.<br />
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I am not suggesting that government policy is not important. Of course it is. Take the recent focus on Mental Health, it has really shone a light on the importance of mental health - some areas will be providing better education, advice and services as a result. But for those areas that were already doing excellent work the policy focus will probably not have made much difference to their work. So depending on our role and what we want to achieve, it is our responsibility to be mindful how change can best be achieved, to consider how much time to invest in influencing policy, who we seek to influence and how best to influence them. It is up to us to ask whether the investment of time and energy would be better spent in direct work with our client group, working with governors of the school or the Local Authority.<br />
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We can, I have learned, liberate ourselves from believing government knows best and that we need to be told what to do - if you believe it is right to do something, if there is evidence about what works or there is a need to innovate and develop approaches then you probably won't and don't need national policy to provide you with the mandate to do it. There are often plenty of partners from across the private, public and voluntary, community and social enterprise sector to work with and help achieve the goal.<br />
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P.S I finished the Brighton Marathon in 4 hours 16 mins. I remembered that 26.2 miles is a long way. The unfortunate thing is that this time, unlike the last time I ran a marathon, I didn't say never again.<br />
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<i>3. Process is important to get right but it is not the task - </i>I first learnt about the theory of group processes on FPA's group work course. How fascinating to understand why introductions and closing rounds, warm up games and icebreakers were important and why to focus on knowledge at the beginning of a groups life and do the really hard work when the group were comfortable together and operating at their best.<br />
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Process is important but it is not the task itself - for example in education and training with young people or adults the purpose of a group working well together is so they can learn new knowledge or skills. Similarly in consultation and engagement about sex and relationships education the process of consulting with children, young people, parents and communities is not the task - the task is to build confidence and support and get the content right.<br />
<br />
Sometimes, probably too often, process becomes the task itself - especially in a time when everyone knows that user participation and involvement is important - but as young people tell me time and again there is no point asking us what we want and then not make any changes as a result. Too often you see the same questions asked time and again of different groups of young people without any evidence of change.<br />
<br />
And whilst we are on process it would be remiss of me not to call time on the ludicrous national PSHE policy process over the last 8 years. We have more reviews and reports on why PSHE is important and cost effective etc than we can shake a stick at. Parliamentarians, there is no need for any further process or consultation about whether Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education should happen, or what it should include. We are collectively 'processed' and consulted out on this. There is a clear consensus about the importance of PSHE. Process is stopping progress. This is starting to be silly. It is not possible to claim to be doing all you can to tackle mental health, FGM, Child Sexual Exploitation, teenage pregnancy, body confidence, substance misuse, relationship violence and domestic abuse or online safety whilst simultaneously refusing to make PSHE a statutory part of the national curriculum. It is incongruent. PSHE in schools is sensible, cost effective, early intervention. Everyone from us, Brook, the Children's Commissioner, ParentZone, UK Youth Parliament, NSPCC, the Teaching Unions, Sex Education Forum, PSHE Association, Mentor UK and Royal Colleges such as the Royal College of Obstetricians and Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health. Take heed of professional expertise and wise counsel based on evidence. Stop wasting time, acting against the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and leaving children and young people without the education and support they need to navigate childhood and adolescence well. Be bold. You will be universally thanked for it.<br />
<br />
No further consultation on PSHE is required. Saying we must call the sex and relationships education bit of PSHE relationships and sex education is a distraction from the task (call it whatever, I don't mind, I just want it to happen). The task is making PSHE statutory in all schools to ensure there is enough curriculum time, teachers are trained and it is inspected.<br />
<br />
National PSHE policy is an exemplary case study in making the process the task, but it happens a lot. Whether it is organisational mergers, governance reviews, national policy, changes to employment contracts, PSHE in the classroom or youth club, the process of design, delivery and evaluation is important if it is focused on achieving the task. Process is exciting as long as it is genuine, iterative, agile and proportionate. It is dull and potentially harmful if it becomes the task, is unnecessarily unwieldy and nothing improves as a result.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>2. We have to learn, relearn or discover how to trust</i> - to trust young people and their developing sexuality, to trust women to make their own choices, to trust teachers to deliver good sex and relationships education, individuals to explore and develop their own moralities and to explore and understand their gender and sexual identities; trust health professionals to provide timely and relevant advice and treatment for young people. Trust is the starting point and a necessary pre-condition for quality thinking, for setting high expectations, for developing good policy, protocols and training and for protection and empowerment.<br />
<br />
On all things sex and sexuality young people tell me time and again that many adults tell them what to think or what not to do, instead of helping them understand an issue, develop their views and understand how to navigate relationships well; on sex and relationships education we still read that '4 years olds to be taught about sex'; on homosexuality and equal marriage, that it will lead to incest, beastiality and the sky falling in and still, remarkably after a land mark judgement in the mid 1980s young people's right to confidentiality is contested. We are, it sometimes seems, forgetting the art and importance of trust. It is one of the most important tools we have. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<i>1. Sexual rights are human rights </i>as shown in this Charter from IPPF - <a href="http://www.ippf.org/resource/IPPF-Charter-Sexual-and-Reproductive-Rights">http://www.ippf.org/resource/IPPF-Charter-Sexual-and-Reproductive-Rights</a><br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><p>
<em>The blog of the Chief Executive of <b>Brook</b>, the leading sexual health charity for young people in the UK. Brook provides sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk">www.brook.org.uk</A></em></p></div>Brookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08018782197528985959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042970013309226825.post-75587635664859979642015-02-16T23:01:00.000-08:002015-02-16T23:01:49.283-08:00Life Lessons: PSHE and SRE in schools Today the Education Select Committee has published a landmark report Life Lessons: PSHE and SRE in schools that recommends government take action to provide statutory PSHE. The link to the report is here and I recommend reading it - an excellent analysis and joyful conclusions <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmeduc/145/145.pdf">http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmeduc/145/145.pdf</a><br />
<br />
In calling for statutory PSHE it rightly recognises the importance of system change, which Brook articulated in our 21st Century SRE report in 2011. The Committee stated "statutory status for PSHE would not in itself guarantee an improvement in the quality of teaching, but we accept that 'system change' is needed to raise the status of the subject - particularly in terms of dedicated curriculum time and the supply of suitably trained teachers".<br />
<br />
So, this really is a landmark report that demonstrates just how strong the consensus is - the Education Select Committee is a cross party group - and just how small the vocal minority that objects to high quality sex and relationships education really is. The Education Select Committee must be congratulated on their excellent analysis and robust, common sense recommendations.<br />
<br />
We cannot assume that the job is now done, however. Government ordinarily would publish a response to the report within 60 days, but that of course will probably not happen because we have a General Election this year, so it is my expectation that the next Government, whoever that is, will decide how to respond to the recommendations. We will be waiting and watching to ensure government does respond in due course, and that this report does not get kicked into the long grass.<br />
<br />
I want to thank colleagues Lucy Emmerson (Sex Education Forum), Alison Hadley (Teenage Pregnancy Knowledge Exchange), Joe Hayman (PSHE Association) and Roger Ingham (Centre for Sexual Health Research) who also gave oral evidence and an enormous amount of follow up collaborative work to ensure the Committee had the facts and evidence about PSHE and SRE.<br />
<br />
And here the link to the Supplementary Advice published by Brook with PSHE Association and Sex Education Forum almost exactly a year ago, which the Education Select Committee recommends Department of Education formally endorse <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk/supplementaryadvice">www.brook.org.uk/supplementaryadvice</a><br />
<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><p>
<em>The blog of the Chief Executive of <b>Brook</b>, the leading sexual health charity for young people in the UK. Brook provides sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk">www.brook.org.uk</A></em></p></div>Brookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08018782197528985959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042970013309226825.post-81459895023023533302015-02-08T09:31:00.007-08:002015-02-12T02:18:39.320-08:00Did we change public opinion? You bet we did! <div class="MsoNormal">
These were the words of Caroline Woodroffe, General
Secretary of Brook from 1971 - 1986 at the 50 Years of Brook Witness Seminar
hosted by the Wellcome Trust on Friday 6 February to launch the Brook archive,
which is now held at the <a href="http://wellcomelibrary.org/">Wellcome
Library</a> and is available for researchers to access. It was an honour
to be asked to Chair this Witness Session in which the following witnesses told
some of their personal memories of Brook.<o:p></o:p></div>
<ol start="1" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal">Dilys
Cossey, who was at the Family Planning Association AGM in 1964 when it was
agreed that Brook would be established, then become an employee and later
Chair of Brook<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Caroline
Woodroffe, General Secretary of Brook 1971 - 1986 <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Christine
Watson, a doctor at Brook and a funder of our services in South East
London between 1982 and 1997<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Wendy
Thomas, Chief Executive of Brook London 1988 - mid 1990s<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Suzie
Hayman, Press Officer, 1976 - 1984<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Polly
Goodwin, Trustee, <st1:city w:st="on">Birmingham</st1:city>;
Chair, Brook Birmingham; Vice Chair, Brook late 90s - ongoing<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Mary
Crawford, Director, Brook Northern Ireland 1992 - ongoing<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Alison
Hadley, Nurse, Brook London, Press and Information Officer and Policy
Manager - 1986 - 2000<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">I also
read out a memoir from Dorothy Keeping (Bourbas) who was general secretary
of Brook Avon 1974 - 1984 and David Paintin who was a board member in the
early 90s.<o:p></o:p></li>
</ol>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dilys kicked off the proceedings with memories of
the FPA AGM in which it was agreed that a separate service for the unmarried
woman should be established. And hence Brook was born. Dilys reflected that she
thought FPA rather stuffy at the time for not wanting unmarried women to use
their services, but realises with the passage of time that this was a necessary
approach to secure contraception free of charge on the NHS. Dilys reflected on
her personal experience of accessing services which illustrated the need for a
non judgemental service like Brook offered.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Caroline continued talking about the early days of
Brook and the importance of contraception in achieving equality for women. She
reflected on the societal changes that happened during the first few decades of
Brook - the disgrace of 'young unmarried sex' gone, mother and baby centres
closed, adoptions reduced and the place of women in society improved. Within
Brook, the range of services offered varied across the different services: some
groups of people paid for certain services and others received services free of
charge. Caroline talked about the brilliant people who worked so hard and so
passionately to set up and develop the services in <st1:city w:st="on">Bristol</st1:city>, <st1:city w:st="on">Birmingham</st1:city>, <st1:city w:st="on">Coventry</st1:city>, <st1:city w:st="on">Edinburgh</st1:city> and <st1:city w:st="on">London</st1:city>. My favourite line from Caroline: Did
we change public opinion? You bet we did!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Christine Watson went next and talked about what an
inspiring bunch of people worked at Brook and how important it was to recognise
that the services Brook provided complimented those services provided by the
health trust, and the early days of educating young women before they got to
the clinic. Christine told a rather joyful story about a school that is
delivering very good, up to date and helpful sex and relationships education
and how this had been very encouraging, given the inadequacy of sex and
relationships education in the 80s and 90s.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wendy Thomas started her talk with her memories
with a reminder of Helen as both wonderful company and in need of managing,
particularly in the media. She talked lovingly of the hazardous <st1:street w:st="on">East Street</st1:street> building
which saw thousands and thousands of clients and really emphasised, like the
witnesses before her that it was the people who made Brook such a wonderful
place for clients and for staff. She also talked about the generosity of
Brook's supporters including Pamela Sheridan.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Suzie Hayman next talked about her proud moments -
a paper about sex and how bizarre it was that you could not advertise condoms
on TV kicked off her tenure, while her time at Brook concluded with overseeing
the production of just such an advert. She also talked of how Brook became the
'go-to' place for media to go to for comment about young people, sex and
sexuality. She then focused on Brook's response to Victoria Gillick's legal
challenge to young people's confidentiality, and how personal it sometimes
became, and how important it was to be robust in defence of young people's
right to confidentiality but never personal however personal the 'anti crew'
got - which they did (sounds familiar!).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Polly Goodwin took up two of the previous themes;
the importance of being feisty and the importance of Brook's core values
including confidentiality. Polly talked about her dismay and surprise that some
of the issues in the late 80s and early 90s - consent, exploitation, gender
equality - had not moved on as much as she wished they had, and thought they
might. Polly also talked about the importance of being open and transparent,
inviting those who object to your work in to see what you do.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mary Crawford continued with the theme of
protestors and objectors, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Northern
Ireland</st1:country-region>, of course being the Centre that has
received the most objection and challenge during its 22 years. Mary showed
photos of graffiti on the building where Brook was described as scum, a letter
from an objector sent to every person in Mary's home street accusing Mary and
Brook of killing babies, and pictures of Brook picketers with inaccurate images
of foetuses. Mary also reflected that the first time you get a horrid letter
sent to your street, your lock superglued or any other incident it can take you
by surprise, but soon you become wise to the 'tricks' and incredibly resilient
because the work is based on values and on the rights of young people.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Alison Hadley concluded the witness statements by
returning to the theme of confidentiality and how the Gillick case had rocked
young people's and professionals' confidence, which was why it was so important
that Brook led such a major programme of work on confidentiality, working in
partnership with the BMA, RCN, Health Education Authority and others to produce
a confidentiality and young people briefing that went to all GP practices and
specialist services, a leaflet for young people, and a number of guides and
training events to help ensure professionals and young people were confident
about confidentiality. Alison picked three key stand out Brook features:
keeping the balance between the positive (sex as healthy and enjoyable) and the
challenges (exploitation, abuse and harm); involving young people in all that
we do; and ensuring we have people who enjoy working with young people and are
committed to the aims and values of Brook.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was a privilege to read the memories of both
Dorothy Bourbas and David Paintin. Dorothy, now 90 years of age, described Helen
Brook as a revolutionary with a quiet voice whose achievements have had far
reaching positive implications. She concluded that she has seen many social
changes, and how she wished Brook had been around when she was 18. David
reflected on how he had learnt about the importance of sex education at Brook
and really understood how central the ethos of providing confidential services
was at Brook. He congratulated Alison Hadley on taking the ethos and approach
of Brook into the government's teenage pregnancy strategy and applauded the
progress of the strategy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The audience were a mixed group of researchers and
people including some who had worked at Brook including Margaret Jones who had
been Chief Executive through the 1990s. Their participation also focused on
their personal memories including the care and attention clients received, the joy
of expanding services across the <st1:state w:st="on">North
West</st1:state> and the importance of being open to the
critics and also asked when Brook chose to exclusively focus on young people
and what drove the move from working from the unmarried to the young.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To conclude I asked all the witnesses to ask what
they would like to see Brook be and have achieved in 25 years. They included -
to still be here, being innovative and strong; to have finally got Personal,
Social and Health Education on the curriculum; to continue being brave and
speaking out for young people, and helping young people speak out; to remain at
the forefront, showing how it should be done; to see the 1967 abortion law
protected in Great Britain and extended to Northern Ireland; to continue being
positive about sex and maintaining that mission of enabling young people to
enjoy their sexuality without harm.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After thanking all involved I closed with the words
of Rosa Parks: "<i>You must never be fearful about what you are doing when
it is right.</i>" It seemed a fitting way to end given how the fantastic
women on the witness panel, many who participated in the seminar and many more
who were unable to be there, have demonstrated tenacity, wisdom and courage to
improve the lives of women and of young people because they know it is the
right thing to do.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thank you to Dilys Cossey, Caroline Woodroffe and
Stephanie Whitehead who worked so hard to make the archive happen from Brook's
end, and to Dr Lesley Hall, senior archivist at Wellcome for her work in diligently
creating <a href="http://blog.wellcomelibrary.org/2014/07/half-a-century-of-helpful-people-with-helpful-answers/">the
Brook archive</a> so the truly stunning and life changing work of Brook is
on record. Another one of those days when I felt enormously proud, privileged
and humbled to be part of the Brook movement and a powerful reminder that all
of us working at Brook now stand on the shoulders of giants.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A number of people suggested we need to do a second
session focusing on the last 15 years or so - what happened during the time
government was broadly supportive of Brook's work, and what can we learn from
that period about what needs to happen next in a different policy, political
and fiscal environment? I will talk to Dr Lesley Hall and see if there is an
appetite for a second Witness Seminar focusing on the later years of Brook.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the meantime, this has made me want to produce a
compilation of people's experiences and stories about Brook through the
decades. If you want to contribute email me at simon.blake@brook.org.uk.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer"><p>
<em>The blog of the Chief Executive of <b>Brook</b>, the leading sexual health charity for young people in the UK. Brook provides sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk">www.brook.org.uk</A></em></p></div>Brookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08018782197528985959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042970013309226825.post-57559424552283646222014-12-30T05:47:00.000-08:002014-12-31T02:40:41.485-08:00As 2014 comes to an end my ten lessons for 2015<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">For the last few
years I have done my own partial and subjective review of the year as it
relates to young people, sexual health and well being. This year that feels
like an unhelpful and almost impossible task – impossible because operating in
the context of localism means it is rather difficult to s<st1:personname w:st="on">tat</st1:personname>e
whether there is progress or otherwise so instead here are ten things I believe
we must keep front of mind as we move into 2015. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">2014 has been an
interesting and in many ways peculiar year – on the plus side there is so much
activism and noise in support of young people’s sexual rights including PSHE and
services, so many reports emphasising the importance of efforts to promote
positive relationships and good sexual health outcomes. Yet again it is a year where lots of people have
worked really damn hard with results at local and national level and I am grateful
for all the work done by Brook teams, colleagues and collaborators which set us
on course to deliver our mission of enabling young people to enjoy their
sexuality without harm. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">So here are my ten
lessons as we move into 2015. In no
particular order I believe we must;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">Ensure the UN Convention on the Rights of
the Child underpin and foreground all our work: </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">this year was the 25<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. We can really helpfully talk about
children and young people’s rights more and use them to frame our policy and
practice and drive improvements in participation in decision making, education,
protection and delivery of services. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">Talk about contraception and abortion as
much as we can and emphasise the importance of both in women’s lives. </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">Both are life changing<b> </b>and cost effective – we know that every pound spent on
contraception saves £12.50 to the health system alone. Any reductions in access
to full contraceptive choice are really short sighted as they will inevitably
cost more in the <i>not very far away long
term</i> as access to contraception is key to preventing unintended pregnancies
(sounds obvious I know, but seemingly not to everyone). Its time to call time on protestors harassing
women accessing abortion services and continue to drive for equity of provision
across the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">Decision makers must continue to invest in
HIV Prevention and Sexual Health Promotion - </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">HIV prevention and sexual health promotion works. It is
cost effective. Crossed wires or otherwise despite the threat to the HIV
Prevention England budget we have, for now, had reassurance from Minister for
Public Health that the national HIV Prevention England budget will be
protected. There are lots of reasons that funding should never have been in
doubt. The fact that HIV infections have almost doubled amongst young gay men
over the last 10 years is one of those. It is appalling and an urgent reminder that
we must renew our prevention efforts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">Put into practice our knowledge about how
to identify, assess and prevent Child Sexual Exploi<st1:personname w:st="on">tat</st1:personname>ion
- </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">the increasing focus on
Child Sexual Exploi<st1:personname w:st="on">tat</st1:personname>ion is really
important and we must do all that we can to ensure this particular form of
sexual abuse is eradicated. We have so much evidence about what places young
people at risk of CSE and we must use that to inform the design of mainstream
and targeted education and other health services. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">5.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">Stand firm together and insist that
government make Personal, Social and Health Education s<st1:personname w:st="on">tat</st1:personname>utory
in 2015 – </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">Brook, the Sex
Education Forum and the PSHE Association and many others have demonstrated the
strength of professional opinion (almost every relevant report and every credible
body called for s<st1:personname w:st="on">tat</st1:personname>utory PSHE in
2014) and public support (almost 9/10 parents showed support for s<st1:personname w:st="on">tat</st1:personname>utory PSHE) for s<st1:personname w:st="on">tat</st1:personname>utory
PSHE. Remarkable then that government has
not yet taken this advice and still hasn’t committed to make PSHE a s<st1:personname w:st="on">tat</st1:personname>utory part of the curriculum in schools so all
children and young people learn the foundations about relationships, sex and
human sexuality. Next year government simply has to catch up with public
opinion, make PSHE a s<st1:personname w:st="on">tat</st1:personname>utory part
of the curriculum so organisations with limited resources can stop trying to
influence government to make the right decisions and get on with the real job –
helping parents and schools deliver high quality PSHE. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">6.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">Find ways to work with the new
accountability frameworks:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">
I was always a fan of national targets – taken with a healthy dose of
scepticism, common sense and professional accountability they drove many
improvements in sexual health at local level as seen with the 48 Hour Waiting
Time for GUM and the Teenage Pregnancy targets. Recognising the challenges that
are emerging in the context of localism the All Party Parliamentary Group on
Sexual and Reproductive Health set up a much needed inquiry into accountability
for sexual and reproductive health outcomes.
I look forward to the report which I hope will shine a light on the
challenges and identify some solutions which can be easily implemented.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">7.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">Listen to young people and involve them in
everything we do: </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">in
November young people told the board of Brook that they want high quality SRE,
online and face to face services they trust and feel confident accessing, and
parents to be trained to talk openly about relationships and sexuality. They
weren’t that interested in how we make it happen and believed that if as a
society we decide it is important we will find ways to make it happen. It is
refreshing having young people present in more policy meetings because they cut
through the professional niceties but we cannot mistake their involvement in
the meetings for delivering the change they demand. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">8.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">Make sure that all sex that young people
have is not perceived as bad sex - </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">whilst public health and policy drivers change there
remains an undercurrent and tone that all sex young people have is bad sex,
which of course is simply not true.
Whilst policy changes our task remains the same: to enable young people
to enjoy and take responsibility for their sexual choices and be their staunch
advocates – trusting them, empowering them and remembering what it feels like
to be young. However old we are, if we remember what it feels like to be young, we will like and trust young people more which will
doubtlessly improve our judgement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">9.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">Use all the levers, systems and processes
available to make sure we commission what we value, not value what we can
measure and procure. </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">I
believe wholeheartedly that there is always room for improvement and
innovation, and that we must invest in what works. Good commissioning lies at
the heart of effective service delivery. There are some examples of really good
commissioning, and there are too many examples where strict adherence to perceived procurement rules and an expec<st1:personname w:st="on">tat</st1:personname>ion
to go out to market may prove to be counter productive. We must learn the
lessons from those examples where commissioning and procurement practices have
been financially costly, disruptive and worked against integration and against
the provision of specialist services delivered by specialists. There are EU
rules which enable specialist services to be commissioned in proportionate and
helpful ways, and examples of best practice within Local Authorities which
create exciting opportunities for change, and perhaps more radically examples
where Local Authorities are doing what is necessary to protect and preserve what already works
in their local sexual health economy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">10.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">Trust technology as a driver for good </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">and ensure we do not demonise it in the way
we sometimes demonise young people. Technology did not invent misogyny, abuse,
bullying and foul behaviour but it did open up new information channels and
networks that can literally be life saving for young people. We must focus on
developing positive attitudes and behaviours rather than be wrongly diverted by
the medium through which those behaviours are expressed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">Brook turned 50
this year<b>: </b>I am grateful to
everybody who has been involved in Brook’s efforts to improve the lives of
young people over the last 50 years. We
have come a long way and we have a very long way still to go. Particular thanks
to the staff teams, supporters, funders, donors and collaborators who have
worked with us over the last year. If you, like me, believe we can do better to
protect young people please do think about becoming a friend of Brook <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk/friends">www.brook.org.uk/friends</a> - we stand
stronger and better together. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">2014 – I blinked
and you were gone. That is almost a wrap. Happy New Year! I hope 2015 brings you
lots of contentment, learning and laughter (talking of which, have you got your
ticket for our Comedy Sex night on January 10<sup>th</sup> – its hosted by Al
Murray with a cracking line up and sure to get you in the mood <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk/events/sex-appeal-4-the-fourth-coming">www.brook.org.uk/events/sex-appeal-4-the-fourth-coming</a>.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><p>
<em>The blog of the Chief Executive of <b>Brook</b>, the leading sexual health charity for young people in the UK. Brook provides sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk">www.brook.org.uk</A></em></p></div>Brookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08018782197528985959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042970013309226825.post-8433572046885475112014-12-06T03:59:00.004-08:002014-12-06T04:05:48.603-08:00(Young) Voices in my headI read a lot of Doris Stokes books when I was younger and trying to work out the meaning of life - or more specifically my life - but this blog is not about Doris. <br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
10 days or so ago young people presented to the Brook board of trustees. It was mind blowingly well prepared. Their message was clear and simple: We believe that all young people have a right to;</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>sex and relationships education - the type that Brook does in every school </li>
<li>young people friendly sexual health services we can get to within an hour </li>
<li>get access to interactive help using digital platforms 24 hours a day</li>
<li>grow up in a sex positive environment that trusts and values them whatever their sexual or gender identity, and whatever choices they choose to make, and whatever their mistakes</li>
<li>more opportunities to be involved in participation, volunteering, social action and routes into meaningful, paid employment</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
</ul>
They also wanted Brook to train parents so parents understood young people and their sexuality more, and are therefore more confident helping young people as they grow up. </div>
<div>
<br />
None of this sounds unreasonable to me. It all sits within their rights the UK has committed to as set out in the in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child ratified over 25 years ago.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Since Joshua and Lisa's presentation I have constantly had their voices in my head as I discuss different ideas, consider options, strategies and plans about Brook's priorities and participate in external policy and partnership meetings. It is a helpful discipline to hold those voices in our heads along with increasingly rigorous priority testing - is what I am doing <i>really really </i>going to achieve any of those goals - set to us by our beneficiaries - quickly enough. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Its too early for new years resolutions but I have made one already - try to identify traditional processes and systems that don't bring about change - where the process gets mistaken for the task - and find other ways to deliver on the objectives set to us by young people.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Doris Stokes said it was a privilege to have voices in her head. I agree it is a privilege to have the voices of Lisa and Josh on behalf of their peers in my head. I am holding on to them.<br />
<br />
On a final note, our teams across the country have been doing some excellent festive health promotion and condom promotion in their waiting rooms - using different colour condom packs to build Christmas Trees and Rudolph. Its fun and a conversation starter - and young people have responded really well to it. Without any intention to whatsoever we seem to have upset a few anti choice people and we have been described as anti-life. An odd and inaccurate assertion.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/people-are-getting-really-really-upset-over-this-condom-christmas-tree--xJMBRkGTde">http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/people-are-getting-really-really-upset-over-this-condom-christmas-tree--xJMBRkGTde</a><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer"><p>
<em>The blog of the Chief Executive of <b>Brook</b>, the leading sexual health charity for young people in the UK. Brook provides sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk">www.brook.org.uk</A></em></p></div>Brookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08018782197528985959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042970013309226825.post-52253304567864174722014-11-30T03:32:00.000-08:002014-12-01T13:46:09.298-08:00World AIDS Day - I am wearing the Red Ribbon as an urgent call for action<i>Last week was National HIV Prevention Week and it was thrilling to see so many posters about HIV testing on the tubes and across London. Tomorrow it is World AIDS Day - and this is one of those awareness days, amongst the many days, weeks and months that I am so glad exists. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>The energy behind it continues, and each year people use the day to raise awareness of HIV that is too often falling out of view and off the agenda. Great that we now expect to see red ribbons being worn routinely on X Factor. </i><i>It wasn't long ago we rejoiced that ITV had ensured that judges and performers alike showed their solidarity. There is some progress. </i><i>Shame it was only Chuka Umunna on Question Time last week. Maybe next year the Chair and other guests will too given I think we established last year it doesn't contravene some peculiar BBC rule. </i><br />
<br />
<i>But behind the red ribbon, and the excellent work that will go on over the weekend and tomorrow in schools, youth clubs and communities across the UK, there are some startling and frightening facts. </i><i>Sex Education Forum research done last year told us that y</i><i>oung people do not have the factual information they need about HIV. Combine that with prejudice and stigma young gay men face and no wonder then that the number of new HIV Infections have doubled amongst young gay men 15 - 24 over the last decade AND almost tripled amongst young people aged 15 - 24 over a 14 year period. </i><br />
<br />
<i>We will all wear the ribbon for our own personal reasons. Just having it on my jacket this week has made me think about some special people, happy times and some horribly sad times. I am wearing the red ribbon this week in memory of my friends and colleagues who died too young, and in gratitude for all the agencies, activists and scientists who have made change that 20 years ago we simply couldn't have imagined. </i><br />
<i><br /></i><i>I will be wearing my red ribbon as an urgent reminder that; </i><br />
<i></i><br />
<ol>
<li><i><i> for every day decision makers and politicians procrastinate about making PSHE, with all of the SRE bits included, a statutory part of the school curriculum we fail children and young people</i></i></li>
<li><i><i>for every financially driven cut to specialist prevention and services for young people and communities at higher risk of infection, it is a false economy and we must challenge that wherever and however we can. </i></i></li>
</ol>
<br />
<i><br /></i><i>I also wear the red ribbon as an urgent call for moral and determined leadership and action from everyone within the health system to ensure HIV alongside contraception, abortion and sexually transmitted infections gets the resources and priority it needs and deserves. The fragmentation of commissioning, the failure to make PSHE statutory, and the lack of media and public outcry when the infection data was published gives 'serious cause for concern'. That is why World AIDS Day is important. A day to reflect, to celebrate and to galvanise our determination to ensure action over the next 364 days before WAD 2015. </i><br />
<i><br /></i><i>----------------------------------</i><br />
<i>The blog below was published in October 2014</i><br />
<i><br /></i>I will say it again new HIV Infections have almost doubled amongst 15 - 24 year olds. I read my briefing over breakfast this morning and I cannot quite describe the feeling in my stomach. How can we, how can I, allow this to happen and how did this data - <a href="http://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hiv-data-tables">www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hiv-data-tables</a> - slip out and go largely unreported this week.<br />
<br />
Almost 20 years ago I was in the early stages of coming out. It was exciting, exhilarating and scary. HIV featured heavily in my consciousness. Shortly after graduating I started working at Cardiff AIDS Helpline, FPA Cymru and was part of the All Wales AIDS Network. We were resolute and determined to do all we could to prevent another generation experiencing the impact of HIV in their communities. Against a backdrop of sustained investment in education and campaigning from successive governments (some campaigns better than others, but awareness campaigns nonetheless) we developed innovative and exciting outreach and education programmes, we helped open up conversations about sex and condoms in clubs, in parks, in schools and in youth clubs to educate young people about healthy sexuality, choices and protection.<br />
<br />
At that time we could not have imagined the advances in drug treatment that have changed the lives and life expectancy of people living with HIV beyond recognition. I am so grateful to all the scientists and activists who have made that a reality. And we also never imagined it would be possible - morally or ethically - for another generation of young people to grow up not learning about sex, health and protection in ways that are relevant and meaningful to them. Ways that help them develop the confidence, inner skills and self belief to manage their relationships and choices well, and to help protect themselves against HIV.<br />
<br />
Ofsted in 2002 reported that schools were not teaching about HIV, and the DfE commissioned Sex Education Forum and National Children's Bureau to produce a toolkit for Key Stage 1 - 4 - <i>Teaching and Learning about HIV </i>which you can find here - its 10 years old but the ideas remain good ones - health warning on some of the information though - it may be out of date so do check it<i>.</i> <a href="http://mesmac.co.uk/files/appendix-17-hiv-activitites.pdf">http://mesmac.co.uk/files/appendix-17-hiv-activitites.pdf</a><br />
<br />
So in the prevailing decade since Ofsted found young people did not have good knowledge about HIV and the skills to protect themselves new infections have doubled. PSHE is still not statutory and Ofsted reports that in 40% of schools PSHE is not good enough. That is not a tenable position and we need step change so there is PSHE fit for the 21st Century. We know that homophobia is still rife within many schools, and that funding for targeted LGBT youth work is seen as a luxury and funding is being reduced in parts of the country- what a false economy.<br />
<br />
We cannot allow another decade where the number of new infections amongst 15 - 24 year old gay men double so it was pleasing to hear Secretary of State for Education commit to tackling homophobic bullying in schools in her Conference Speech. I look forward to seeing action.<br />
<br />
We also need all schools to be required to provide relevant Personal, Social and Health Education for all young people which will provide a solid base for all children and young people. Work like that of <a href="http://www.diversityrolemodels.org/">www.diversityrolemodels.org</a> which take LGBT role models into school is an important contribution to promoting visibility of gay people. We also need targeted youth work such as Brook's LGBT youth group <i>Work it Out</i> which provides a safe space for young people as they explore and understand their developing sexuality.<br />
<br />
And most of all we need visibility - last night i was at an event to celebrate the publication of Executive Diversity in the Financial Times - a list of the top 100 Executives and straight allies. The founder Suki Sandhu reminded guests of the importance of visibility. If we are to prevent HIV amongst gay men we need to ensure visibility of gay men in schools, and we need to talk talk talk about HIV, about stigma, about infection rates and about homophobia and its impact. In the public imagination it sometimes feels that HIV has all but become a thing of the past. This data is a big wake up call for all of us.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><p>
<em>The blog of the Chief Executive of <b>Brook</b>, the leading sexual health charity for young people in the UK. Brook provides sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk">www.brook.org.uk</A></em></p></div>Brookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08018782197528985959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042970013309226825.post-25367689311771110292014-11-29T04:50:00.001-08:002014-11-30T02:49:36.074-08:00Brook is 50It has been a fairly hefty, fun and very stimulating week - In fact I now feel 50 too. Monday started with chairing the Faculty Sexual and Reproductive Health governance working group; then two days of board and executive away days, our annual general meeting and Brook's 50th birthday party; panel member at the Charity Tech conference on social media, chairing a debate and seminar about young people and mental health, rounded off by Brook safeguarding training for senior decision makers and ending with an impromptu piece of short filming.<br />
<br />
<i>Board and Exec Meeting</i><br />
A really helpful couple of days and so much thinking done, leading of course to how much more there is to do, particularly in the culture and commissioning environment we are in. The Be Sex Positive volunteers (@besexpositive) had worked with one of the trustees, Pete Lawson, to think about what the 1 year olds of today would need as the 16 year olds of tomorrow and what Brook's priorities should be. Joshua and Lisa facilitated an excellent discussion and represented young people excellently. There were some surprises - 3D printing machines for condoms (apparently you can make chocolate and make up...) and then the more familiar good SRE, people that like and trust young people as they experience at Brook, and accessible on and off line services. They made the moral and rights based case as well, if not better, than I have ever heard. I was fantastically proud. And moved to (just a few) tears. <br />
<br />
<i>Brook's AGM and 50th birthday</i><br />
In this archive interview with Helen Brook <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/whnews/all">http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/whnews/all</a><br />
(available until 21st December 2014) she says Brook's first clinic was on a dark November evening. Fitting then that Brook's AGM and 50th birthday should be too.<br />
<br />
Brook supporters - i.e. people that like young people - are great to be around and so it was a real pleasure to see so many people who have been part of Brook over the last 50 years - from founding supporters through to people who had recently walked the Thames Path Challenge to raise money for us, our former trustees and our wonderful young volunteers.<br />
<br />
At the AGM I reflected on some of the wide ranging achievements of the year including;<br />
<br />
1. working directly with 277,000 young people in our education, clinical and support services<br />
2. increasing the quality, quantity of participation/volunteering opportunities for young people<br />
3. launching a new improved website (<a href="http://www.brook.org.uk/">www.brook.org.uk</a>)<br />
4. relaunching our policies and procedures and a pioneering leadership and management programme<br />
5. launching Supplementary Advice on SRE with the PSHE Association and Sex Education Forum<br />
6. piloting and evaluating our 'My Life' work on emotional and mental health<br />
7. working tirelessly to offer advice with the aim of influencing policy nationally and locally<br />
8. bringing all Brook staff together in Manchester for the Being Brook celebration and training event<br />
<br />
And much much more. I know just how hard staff and volunteer teams work and the care with which they work with and for young people, but trying to put together a speech that summarised and captured the spirit of the full range of our work was, as ever, humbling.<br />
<br />
Brook said goodbye to three board members this week - David Lock, Christine Townsend and Roger Gibson and welcomed three new board members Jo Youle, Leon Ward and Sue Ryrie. Roger Gibson who has volunteered at Brook for over 20 years in a number of different roles was awarded an Honorary Life Membership of Brook. Vice Chair, Polly Goodwin confirmed to members that following a review process the board had reappointed Eve Martin as Chair for a second three year term.<br />
<br />
Our treasurer, Alastair Bridges, gave an overview of our 2013/14 financial performance, emphasised the importance of the board investing well in our strategic priorities, and thanked staff for managing well within the resources available, finance team and our auditors, Saffrey Champness for all their work.<br />
<br />
Business done after a short break we went into the 50th birthday celebrations. I opened with an overview of some of the changes between 1964 and 2014, and a reminder that even though much had changed too many young people still tell us, as a poll we launched last week, confirmed embarrassment can still be a barrier to accessing help and advice for many young people. <br />
<br />
As a young people's organisation I believe deeply in ensuring we provide young people with platforms to talk from and shoulders to stand on, so it was right that some of the Be Sex Positive volunteers - Becky, Dan, Jodie, Brogan, Rebecca, Christian, George, Hayley and Duy - took on the evening from me and I didn't know what they had planned. Except someone had let on that I might be about to get my knowledge tested so I sat in the audience with an element of trepidation. <br />
<br />
Choreographed beautifully young people told us - the 100 strong audience - time and again about how their confidence had grown, how Brook had helped them with their developing identity, how important it was to feel able to be them and to be valued for who they were, how Brook had provided countless opportunities to get involved and to give them opportunities and honest feedback to nurture their talents and strengths. <br />
<br />
They also talked about how they wanted those young people that went behind them to have better sex and relationships education and access to all the services they need on and off line. I got something in my eye <i>again</i> when one of the young people said (my paraphrase) 'I get the chance to be an expert at Brook and to have my views listened to. I have never had that before'. They tested the audiences knowledge with a true or false quiz (it would be fair to say as a collective the education was needed) and finally they set Brook a challenge to continue growing the young people's participation and volunteering pathways through to employment. A challenge we recognise, accept and will continue working on with my personal commitment to it. <br />
<br />
Each of the group talked about what they were most proud of during their time participating and volunteering at Brook. One of the young people Rebecca had been involved in the Good Sex Knowledge Exchange Project and had been part of the re-animating data process. She had read Indiah's story which you can see here <a href="https://goodsexproject.wordpress.com/good-sex-the-film/">https://goodsexproject.wordpress.com/good-sex-the-film/</a> (I encourage you to look through the blog and all the films. Brilliant footage which can be used as materials and excellent learning).<br />
<br />
Jules Hillier, deputy CEO had a hard act to follow and did it well. She launched the new Brook friends scheme <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk/friends">www.brook.org.uk/friends</a> - please do become a friend if you can and closed the evening with a quote from a young woman who gave permission for her story to be told<br />
<em style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></em>
<em style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">“Brook has helped me to grow as a person. They have enabled me to conquer my fears, boost my confidence and literately saved my life. Without the help of Brook and the amazing work they do I don't think I would be here today. Before coming to Brook I was in a very negative place suffering from bouts of depression and was ultimately vulnerable to the outside world… Without the encouragement from Brook and the support I received I would never have dreamed of achieving so much and helping to follow in Brook’s footsteps and help those young people out there who need it just as I did. Without Brook I don't know where I would be.”</em><br />
<br />
A film from the event will be available soon, in the meantime here is a storify <a href="https://storify.com/BrookCharity/our-50th-birthday-celebration">https://storify.com/BrookCharity/our-50th-birthday-celebration</a><br />
<br />
It has been a privilege and a pleasure to be part of the journey for the last 8 or so years. Thank you to everyone who works tirelessly for and with young people from a position of trusting them and liking them and seeking to protect and empower them. Thank you to our moral and financial supporters and collaborators. Particular thanks to my team who organised the event and to Thomson Reuters for providing us with the venue.<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><p>
<em>The blog of the Chief Executive of <b>Brook</b>, the leading sexual health charity for young people in the UK. Brook provides sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk">www.brook.org.uk</A></em></p></div>Brookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08018782197528985959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042970013309226825.post-47904878527370766562014-11-01T04:03:00.000-07:002014-11-03T07:17:58.382-08:00Blogging on SRE and PSHE (again)Nelson Mandela said 'education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world'. So it seems in most areas of education we would all agree. Yet in the field of sex and relationships education we continue to debate the evidence and invest heavily in research to try to make links between sex and relationships education and improved health outcomes, particularly teenage pregnancy.<br />
<br />
Since I started working in sex and relationships education 20 years ago I have firmly believed in children and young people's rights and entitlements to a good quality education that is honest, factually accurate, developmentally appropriate and positive about sexuality. The following Articles of the UN Convention have particular relevance - Article 12 (respect for the views of the Child), 24 (health and health services), 28 (right to education) and 34, 36 (to be protected from sexual exploitation and other forms of exploitation).<br />
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I believe that knowing how to add up is a precursor to being able to budget well. But knowing how to add up will not mean one budgets well. I believe learning to read is important for all sorts of reasons but learning to read will not mean one reads books or obeys the highway code. Still I don't need a randomised control trial to prove the value of Maths and English to me.<br />
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Neither do I need evidence from randomised control trials to prove the intrinsic value of SRE. I believe that children must know the names of body parts including their genitals if they are to stay safe; I believe that young people must know how to identify an adult they trust and understand their legal rights to confidential advice if they are to seek help when they need it; I believe that we must teach young people about the importance of respecting different views that people hold about sex, sexuality and relationships and I believe that we must teach boys and girls about consent and more. All of this will be taught through a partnership between parents, carers, schools and the wider community.<br />
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Children and young people will learn, and develop their confidence and self belief most effectively if we have a positive culture that has high expectations which are clearly communicated to them. I believe we need to work towards a culture in which<br />
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1. Parents and carers feel confident talking to their children about relationships and sexuality<br />
2. School leaders are required to deliver good quality sex and relationships education within the context of Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE) and have the confidence and skills to do that well - understanding their school communities and working with parents and carers to develop a programme based on the principles and evidence of best practice<br />
3. Teachers (and all those who teach) are trusted and supported to teach SRE with the sensitivity and respect to difference and diversity, ability and understanding that we trust them with all other subjects<br />
4. Health and care professionals are fully trusted to always be acting in the best interests of young people<br />
5. There is positive and visible coverage of diverse people with all different identities in the media and wider society.<br />
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Last week Mr Paton, Chair of Industrial Economics, Nottingham University Business School at University of Nottingham published an article on www.theconversation.com on October 24: <i>Compulsory sex education won't reduce rates of teenage pregnancy. </i>In his article he argues that the evidence of effectiveness is limited, that compulsory sex education won't reduce rates of teenage pregnancy and that Brook is pushing a one size fits all approach. (He does include a disclaimer statement on the article that he is a member of the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child).<br />
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The article includes a number of arguments about evidence and effectiveness including making comparisons between SRE in different countries - compulsory or otherwise. This is a distraction unless we really understand the education system, what other subjects are compulsory and what aren't and the wider culture and beliefs about young people and sexuality they are operating in.<br />
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So to recap my view is that all children and young people have a right to SRE as part of a broad PSHE curriculum. That right would be enshrined in a statutory requirement for all schools to deliver. That curriculum would be developed with the school community including pupils and parents. It would include teaching about the body, relationships, sex and sexuality, be medically and factually accurate and include the law, health information and religious and secular perspectives. <br />
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The most important and clear evidence in my view is this - children and young people tell us time and again their SRE and PSHE is not good enough. This is reflected in Ofsted's report in which 4 out of 10 schools' PSHE is 'not good enough yet'. There is an overwhelming and growing consensus in support of relevant, appropriate, sensible SRE and PSHE that is responsive to local community need.<br />
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PSHE does make an important contribution to reducing teenage pregnancy, and it is about so much more than that too - just this week we have seen three reports on drugs, suicide and sexual exploitation calling for compulsory PSHE. The only tenable option if we are to empower and support children and young people is to require all schools to deliver SRE within PSHE with clear expectations that all schools will respond to the needs of their school community.<br />
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The willingness of decision makers nationally and locally to listen to children and young people, professional opinion (including the teaching unions and expert PSHE bodies) and to create the system change required to improve SRE and PSHE is a litmus test of whether we trust children and young people, whether we are serious about tackling violence and exploitation, and whether we want to make sure they learn the facts about sex and relationships from reliable sources, not from internet porn. <br />
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We have been talking about <i>whether to</i> for too long, the loud, proud and compelling consensus is the time has come to stop talking about <i>whether to </i>and focus relentlessly on <i>the how.</i><br />
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<em>The blog of the Chief Executive of <b>Brook</b>, the leading sexual health charity for young people in the UK. Brook provides sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk">www.brook.org.uk</A></em></p></div>Brookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08018782197528985959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042970013309226825.post-91152797392003682182014-10-30T03:56:00.000-07:002014-12-14T01:42:24.743-08:00Child sexual exploitation, social norms and social change (Updated 14th December)<i>I was both surprised and delighted to learn Guerrilla Policy had named this blog as one of their top 10 social care blogs of 2014. I believe passionately that we must realign thinking, feelings, policy and practice: we need to all understand our aims, values and expectations if we are going to reduced and eliminate child sexual exploitation. As a starter we must have unequivocally high expectations for young people's relationships so they can have high expectations for themselves. </i><br />
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I cannot imagine there are sensible adults who want to live in a culture in which child sexual exploitation is a new social norm in some or any communities. Yet there are sensible adults who are not doing all they can to make sure we develop a healthy and positive culture about young people, sex and sexuality. Today's important report from Ann Coffey MP <a href="http://www.gmpcc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/81461-Coffey-Report_v5_WEB-single-pages.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Real Voices, </i>into child sexual exploitation (CSE) across Greater Manchester</a> is another reminder of why this has to change.<br />
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The report echoes all of the previous evidence including the Office of the Children's Commissioner's inquiry into <a href="http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/info/csegg1" target="_blank">peer on peer exploitation</a>. It is right for us to be really worried. And if we didn't know already what we have to do, then we do now. It is important to remember that publishing the report is not the task itself - it tells us our task.<br />
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The <i>Real Voices </i>report on CSE is very welcome (<a href="http://www.brook.org.uk/press-releases/single/brook-statement-in-response-to-the-publication-of-the-coffey-report" target="_blank">here's Brook's statement on its publication</a>). It is refreshing to read a report that takes children and young people's views so seriously - unsurprising given the young volunteers from Brook who met Ann to inform the report said that they felt really listened to. <i>Real Voices</i> is pretty grim reading. It reflects our failures to take children and young people seriously and meet our obligations to protect against abuse and exploitation under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The report includes a wide range of sensible recommendations that national, regional and local policy makers must take heed of, and quickly.<br />
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Ann states child sexual exploitation is becoming the new social norm in some communities. This sums up the important task we have yet to grasp effectively. We must never allow CSE to become the new social norm in any community. CSE is deeply rooted in inequalities, misogyny and sexism as well as a cultural lack of trust of young people which manifests itself in systematic abuse and violence. <br />
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So we can easily agree we don't want CSE as a new social norm. As a country we are less clear, it seems, about what we do want for young people and setting about working in partnership with young people to establish a culture that realises this ambition.<br />
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We are at best ambivalent and more likely downright confused about the social norms we <i>do </i>want for young people's health and social behaviours. Just a month or so ago I read an article reflecting on the positive downward trends in teenage pregnancy, drug and alcohol use amongst young people. Instead of welcoming and rewarding their responsible behaviours it asked whether this generation of young people are boring. How galling that would be if you are 15, 16 or 17?<br />
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So then, imagine what it feels like to be a young person growing up in 2014: we condemn them for 'sexting' and chastise them for learning about sex from porn. We wave our hands in despair because young people are supposedly having sex earlier and earlier and teenage pregnancy rates are going through the roof - despite the evidence that <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(13)62035-8/fulltext" target="_blank">neither</a> is <a href="http://www.beds.ac.uk/howtoapply/departments/healthsciences/teenage-pregnancy-knowledge-exchange#04" target="_blank">true</a> - and when data is published showing <a href="http://www.simonatbrookcharity.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/new-diagnoses-of-hiv-infection-have.html" target="_blank">HIV infection rates have almost doubled amongst gay men 15-24 years old in the last decade</a>, the news is met with almost universal silence.<br />
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Young people tell us what they want from their <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk/about-brook/single/brook-position-statement-relationships-and-sex-education" target="_blank">sex and relationships education</a> decade after decade, and instead of providing it we are still arguing about <i>whether</i> schools must provide good sex and relationships education instead of <i>how</i>. We know young women often feel unsafe and experience disproportionate violence and exploitation and we don't do nearly enough to address the systemic inequalities that enable that to happen. <br />
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Ann Coffey's report emphasises the importance of listening to the real and lived experiences of children and young people. That requires us to trust them and value them. That requires significant culture change. We must stop messing about, name and call out the behaviours, the incoherent policy, failures to invest early enough and the lack of action that let all young people down. It is our collective responsibility to do all we can to tackle the inequalities that breed all types of violence, as well as provide extra protection to those who experience particular vulnerability to abuse and exploitation such as children in care. <br />
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If we are to make the rhetoric of Ann Coffey's report a reality, we will have to accept CSE is not isolated to one or two cities, and we have to recognise that just talking about it isn't enough. We will need to ensure that there is proper investment in early intervention and prevention, good quality education, targeted support and sexual health services, despite the financial landscape. The economic and social costs of not tackling the root causes of child sexual exploitation are too high for the young people involved and for society as a whole.<br />
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If we are to make the change we all want we must trust young people, value their sexuality, understand <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk/old/index.php/traffic-lights" target="_hplink">healthy sexual development</a>, and address the root causes of violence. This report is yet another reminder that it is time for us to grow up and adopt a no nonsense approach to supporting young people and their developing sexuality, and a no excuses approach to violence and exploitation that at Brook we know will deliver results.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><p>
<em>The blog of the Chief Executive of <b>Brook</b>, the leading sexual health charity for young people in the UK. Brook provides sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk">www.brook.org.uk</A></em></p></div>Brookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08018782197528985959noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042970013309226825.post-86925396303572182052014-10-13T12:34:00.002-07:002014-10-13T12:34:40.975-07:00Member @leonjward: on why inclusive SRE is vital Brook member, Leon Ward, has written this article. Timely given last weeks statistics on young gay men and HIV. <br />
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<span style="background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Good quality and compulsory sex education is the first step we need to take to ensure young people in the United Kingdom can make informed choices when they are getting jiggy between the sheets. But, once that's done, what is the next step?</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br /><br />For me, as a young gay man it is to then ensure different forms of sexual relationships are covered. In a time where we celebrate the fantastic achievement of equal marriage, there are still hundreds of thousands of LGBT+ children and young people who remain clueless about sex. Now, it may seem obvious which piece of Lego goes where, but let me tell you, I, like many before me, predominantly learnt about sex from porn - I developed an understanding that every gay man had to ‘participate in full anal sex, like, all of the time.’ Now, obviously, that is not true. But, how, at 14/15/16 was I supposed to know that?<br /><br />At school, I learnt how to put a condom on which was useful and hilarious as the lovely school nurse in her petite frame and meek voice tried to tell us the instructions over tidal waves of giggling. But, I was never told of the various ways in which gay people explore their bodies and sexual limits. I had no idea all forms of ‘straight foreplay’ apply between two gay men or, indeed, the risks of not using a condom.<br /><br />Now, part of me thinks that is exactly the point - you're supposed to 'explore' and discover what feels good, safe and comfortable; which is something we all continue to do as we progress through our sexual rollercoasters both as individuals and as part of a relationship, your ‘friends with benefits’ or with the occasional one nighter. But, I, like many of my gay peers would have appreciated a bit of guidance/sensible information.<br /><br />Fundamentally, and irrespective of sexuality, the issue here is about children and young people being empowered to make choices they are happy with. That is impossible to do when you feel your choices are restricted to going all the way or not. Rather, sometimes we feel 70% 'yes' and we'll go so far, but we won't go all the way, at other times, we want to just the run the entire field track and skip all the getting-to-know-you warm ups, and sometimes, we want to roll over and sausage roll ourselves in our duvets whilst being spooned.<br /><br />All of those are choices, but for some people they discover that those choices are available to us all when it’s too late. Leaving it to pure discovery has its risks. Young people grow up feeling insecure, nervous and frightened and this is particularly intensified when you feel even more marginalised because everyone is talking about 'normal' sex; and you feel that doesn’t apply to you. It isn't about segregating young sexual minorities and teaching them separately but it's about approaching sex ed in a wholesome manner and covering it all, for everyone.<br /><br />Sex shouldn't make you feel frightened (although I think there is almost unanimous agreement that the first time is terrifying because of all the 'what if they don't like my....' questions.) it should make you feel comfortable, satisfied and relieved. Relieved both physically and emotionally, relieved that you made a choice about what you wanted to do, which resulted in having a good and safe time.<br /><br />We will continue to betray young people if we do not make it compulsory for schools to teach a full and explosive curriculum on sex - let's not leave it to shoddy porn actors, but let's embrace sex as part of our every day (if you're lucky) lives and desensitise ourselves to it so that the classroom and subsequently the bedroom and the home become a safe places to explore, discover and go wild.<br /><br />Until then, spread this article and support Brooks sex positive campaign on Twitter: @BeSexPositive<br /><br />Become a member:<br /><br />And help us lobby:<br /><br />I'm on @Leonjward - let me know your thoughts.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<em>The blog of the Chief Executive of <b>Brook</b>, the leading sexual health charity for young people in the UK. Brook provides sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk">www.brook.org.uk</A></em></p></div>Brookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08018782197528985959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042970013309226825.post-30588167076982383622014-10-10T01:03:00.002-07:002014-11-30T03:31:08.397-08:00HIV and young gay men<i>Last week was National HIV Prevention Week and it was thrilling to see so many posters about HIV testing on the tubes and across London. Tomorrow it is World AIDS Day - and this is one of those days, amongst the many days, weeks and months that I am so glad exists. The energy behind it continues, and each year people use the day to raise awareness of HIV that is too often falling out of view and off the agenda. Great that we now expect to see red ribbons being worn routinely on X Factor. </i><i>It wasn't that long ago that we rejoiced that ITV had ensured that judges and performers alike showed their solidarity. There is some progress. </i><i>Shame it was only Chuka Umunna on Question Time last week. Maybe next year the Chair and other guests will too given I think we established last year it doesn't contravene some peculiar BBC rule. </i><br />
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<i>But behind the red ribbon, and the excellent work that will go on over the weekend and tomorrow in schools, youth clubs and communities across the UK, there are some startling and frightening facts. </i><i>Sex Education Forum research done last year told us that y</i><i>oung people do not have the factual information they need about HIV. Combine that with prejudice and stigma young gay men face and no wonder then that the number of new HIV Infections have doubled amongst young gay men 15 - 24 over the last decade AND almost tripled amongst young people aged 15 - 24 over a 14 year period. </i><br />
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<i>We will all wear the ribbon for our own personal reasons. Just having it on my jacket this week has made me think about some special people, happy times and some horribly sad times. I am wearing the red ribbon this week in memory of my friends and colleagues who died too young and in gratitude for all the agencies, activists and scientists who have made change that we couldn't have imagined happen. </i><br />
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<i>I will be wearing my red ribbon as an urgent reminder that; </i><br />
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<i>1. for every day decision makers and politicians procrastinate about making PSHE with all of the SRE bits included a statutory part of the curriculum we fail children and young people</i><br />
<i>2. for every financially driven cut to specialist prevention and services for young people and communities at higher risk of infection it is a false economy and we must challenge that wherever and however we can. </i><br />
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<i>I also wear the red ribbon as an urgent call for moral and determined leadership and action from all within the health system to ensure HIV alongside contraception, abortion and sexually transmitted infections gets the resources and priority it needs and deserves. The fragmentation of commissioning, the failure to make PSHE statutory and the lack of media and public outcry when the infection data was published gives 'serious cause for concern'. That is why World AIDS Day is important. A day to reflect, to celebrate and to galvanise our determination to ensure action over the next 364 days before WAD 2015. </i><br />
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<i>The blog below was published in October 2014</i><br />
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I will say it again new HIV Infections have almost doubled amongst 15 - 24 year olds. I read my briefing over breakfast this morning and I cannot quite describe the feeling in my stomach. How can we, how can I, allow this to happen and how did this data - <a href="http://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hiv-data-tables">www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hiv-data-tables</a> - slip out and go largely unreported this week.<br />
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Almost 20 years ago I was in the early stages of coming out. It was exciting, exhilarating and scary. HIV featured heavily in my consciousness. Shortly after graduating I started working at Cardiff AIDS Helpline, FPA Cymru and was part of the All Wales AIDS Network. We were resolute and determined to do all we could to prevent another generation experiencing the impact of HIV in their communities. Against a backdrop of sustained investment in education and campaigning from successive governments (some campaigns better than others, but awareness campaigns nonetheless) we developed innovative and exciting outreach and education programmes, we helped open up conversations about sex and condoms in clubs, in parks, in schools and in youth clubs to educate young people about healthy sexuality, choices and protection.<br />
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At that time we could not have imagined the advances in drug treatment that have changed the lives and life expectancy of people living with HIV beyond recognition. I am so grateful to all the scientists and activists who have made that a reality. And we also never imagined it would be possible - morally or ethically - for another generation of young people to grow up not learning about sex, health and protection in ways that are relevant and meaningful to them. Ways that help them develop the confidence, inner skills and self belief to manage their relationships and choices well, and to help protect themselves against HIV.<br />
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Ofsted in 2002 reported that schools were not teaching about HIV, and the DfE commissioned Sex Education Forum and National Children's Bureau to produce a toolkit for Key Stage 1 - 4 - <i>Teaching and Learning about HIV </i>which you can find here - its 10 years old but the ideas remain good ones - health warning on some of the information though - it may be out of date so do check it<i>.</i> <a href="http://mesmac.co.uk/files/appendix-17-hiv-activitites.pdf">http://mesmac.co.uk/files/appendix-17-hiv-activitites.pdf</a><br />
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So in the prevailing decade since Ofsted found young people did not have good knowledge about HIV and the skills to protect themselves new infections have doubled. PSHE is still not statutory and Ofsted reports that in 40% of schools PSHE is not good enough. That is not a tenable position and we need step change so there is PSHE fit for the 21st Century. We know that homophobia is still rife within many schools, and that funding for targeted LGBT youth work is seen as a luxury and funding is being reduced in parts of the country- what a false economy.<br />
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We cannot allow another decade where the number of new infections amongst 15 - 24 year old gay men double so it was pleasing to hear Secretary of State for Education commit to tackling homophobic bullying in schools in her Conference Speech. I look forward to seeing action.<br />
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We also need all schools to be required to provide relevant Personal, Social and Health Education for all young people which will provide a solid base for all children and young people. Work like that of <a href="http://www.diversityrolemodels.org/">www.diversityrolemodels.org</a> which take LGBT role models into school is an important contribution to promoting visibility of gay people. We also need targeted youth work such as Brook's LGBT youth group <i>Work it Out</i> which provides a safe space for young people as they explore and understand their developing sexuality.<br />
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And most of all we need visibility - last night i was at an event to celebrate the publication of Executive Diversity in the Financial Times - a list of the top 100 Executives and straight allies. The founder Suki Sandhu reminded guests of the importance of visibility. If we are to prevent HIV amongst gay men we need to ensure visibility of gay men in schools, and we need to talk talk talk about HIV, about stigma, about infection rates and about homophobia and its impact. In the public imagination it sometimes feels that HIV has all but become a thing of the past. This data is a big wake up call for all of us. <div class="blogger-post-footer"><p>
<em>The blog of the Chief Executive of <b>Brook</b>, the leading sexual health charity for young people in the UK. Brook provides sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk">www.brook.org.uk</A></em></p></div>Brookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08018782197528985959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042970013309226825.post-17744595810361434612014-10-09T07:37:00.002-07:002014-10-09T07:38:10.802-07:00Quantick Quiz - the hardest quiz in the world!What better way to spend a wet Wednesday evening than at a quiz hosted by<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/quantick" target="_blank" title="https://twitter.com/quantick">David Quantick</a>, with fiendish questions and great company? The <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk/events/single/quantick-quiz" title="http://www.brook.org.uk/events/single/quantick-quiz">Quantick Quiz</a> in Shoreditch last night was brilliant fun, and helped raise a fabulous amount for <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk/" title="http://www.brook.org.uk/">Brook</a>. It wasn't for the faint of heart, however, hence the title of this blog - the top score in the first round was 2<span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">½</span> out of 10...!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgehdeeCRHhcIqh6fl2B4MW5yPmHLU_5Vy5poFToElwIONudPkT1LjFD1fxfJSDvRPGViOKd-BxWx8U0MdrvJCtsBsmdyeXtrn5yrTNGmrS4giLGpfYAXyhXNlRB7JnQQs_9No7cLDfIkrW/s1600/Quantick+quiz+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgehdeeCRHhcIqh6fl2B4MW5yPmHLU_5Vy5poFToElwIONudPkT1LjFD1fxfJSDvRPGViOKd-BxWx8U0MdrvJCtsBsmdyeXtrn5yrTNGmrS4giLGpfYAXyhXNlRB7JnQQs_9No7cLDfIkrW/s1600/Quantick+quiz+1.jpg" height="320" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our quizmaster for the evening, David Quantick</td></tr>
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My deepest thanks go to David, to Sophie, to the Brook Events team who helped everything run like clockwork, to the venue staff whose service was impeccable, to the sponsors who kindly donated a range of brilliant prizes (<a href="http://www.orlebarbrown.co.uk/">Orlebar Brown</a> who generously offered a
£250 voucher as the grand prize, <a href="http://www.sh-womenstore.com/" title="http://www.sh-womenstore.com/">Sh!</a> for the lovely <a href="https://twitter.com/BrookCharity/status/519952676868870145" title="https://twitter.com/BrookCharity/status/519952676868870145">hamper</a>, signed merchandise from Al Murray thanks to <a href="http://www.avalonuk.com/" title="http://www.avalonuk.com/">Avalon</a>, magnums of lovely fizz courtesy of <a href="http://www.lescaves.co.uk/" target="_blank">Les Caves</a>, beautiful handmade jewellery by <a href="http://sophielutz.com/" title="http://sophielutz.com/">Sophie</a>, a meal for two at <a href="http://www.pizzaeast.com/" title="http://www.pizzaeast.com/">Pizza East</a>, and copies of Antonia Hodgson’s book <em><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Devil-Marshalsea-Antonia-Hodgson/dp/1444775421" title="http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Devil-Marshalsea-Antonia-Hodgson/dp/1444775421">The Devil in the Marshalsea</a>, </em>as well as a variety of books and CDs donated by David), and of course to all who attended, bought raffle tickets, and competed for the coveted first place. Some of the tweets from the evening can be viewed<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=%23quantickbrookquiz&src=typd" target="_blank" title="https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=%23quantickbrookquiz&src=typd">here</a>.<br />
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I started off the quiz with a short speech, below. It was great to see lots of new faces at the quiz, and to get the word out about the vital work that Brook does to new audiences.<br />
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If you're inspired to run a quiz of your own for Brook – and I hope you are! – it's a great, fun way to raise money that<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>doesn't<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></em>involve<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.simonatbrookcharity.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/all-you-have-to-do-is-put-one-step-in.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.simonatbrookcharity.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/all-you-have-to-do-is-put-one-step-in.html">walking for 24 hours</a>. Our Get Involved site has<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.brook.org.uk/fundraise" target="_blank" title="http://www.brook.org.uk/fundraise">information to get you started</a>, and you can email Brook on<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:supportbrook@brook.org.uk">supportbrook@brook.org.uk</a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>for more. We'd love to hear from you!<br />
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Welcome, and thank you for coming to this Quantick quiz for Brook. It’s a milestone year for Brook – our 50th birthday. That’s 50 years of being there for millions of young people in crisis and we are proud of all we’ve achieved.<br />
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When Brook started in 1964 a woman had to prove she was married in order to buy contraception (none of it was free) and if she needed an abortion she would have to risk the deadly, illegal backstreets. Homosexuality was also illegal. When it came to sexuality and sexual health, life for young people was tough.<br />
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Our founder, Helen Brook, and all those who worked with her, set out to change society against a backdrop of deep hostility, but they battled it out and now contraception is free, the age of consent is equal whether you are gay or straight, and abortion - with the exception of Northern Ireland – is, at least in theory, easily accessible for women. And one of Brook's most notable successes is ensuring that young people have the same right to confidential advice and treatment as adults.<br />
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You’d think we could just rest on our laurels, but not so. The pressures that young people have to deal with are just a bit different these days. Internet porn – whatever you think of it – isn't the best place to learn about sex, but it’s where many young people turn when they can’t find information anywhere else. Many schools fail to deliver good quality sex and relationships education which we know helps protect against abuse and help young people enjoy and take responsibility for their sexual choices. Sexual and homophobic bullying continues in our schools, HIV infection rates amongst young gay men are unacceptably high, and we continue to uncover more and more about the extent of child abuse and sexual exploitation. When it comes to helping young people with relationships and sexual health, there is still much to do.<br />
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Too many people throw their hands up in the air, despair of, and demonise young people, their behaviour and their choices.<br />
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People who have forgotten what it was to be young try and stop us from continuing to fight for better, safer, happier, healthier choices for young people. It’s too easy to cut services for young people, silence their voices, assume someone else will pick up the pieces.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5DS3Kot2eTkPlRoX2-ZBbO9cNxutlBui7icC7NxanIgcirfSYUq4rFRW5VJfh7Q92r-HTR5ANs9Ld7lSS7BddhCX85v2JhLoCjMiPMDsOpBFRkkT3Dk5y64rSafgTpA7H9TKH6ogReh50/s1600/Quantick+quiz+3+Industrial+Mutton+winning+team+resized.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5DS3Kot2eTkPlRoX2-ZBbO9cNxutlBui7icC7NxanIgcirfSYUq4rFRW5VJfh7Q92r-HTR5ANs9Ld7lSS7BddhCX85v2JhLoCjMiPMDsOpBFRkkT3Dk5y64rSafgTpA7H9TKH6ogReh50/s1600/Quantick+quiz+3+Industrial+Mutton+winning+team+resized.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The winning team, Industrial Mutton</td></tr>
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At Brook we believe in, trust, and value young people. Our work helps them develop the inner confidence, skills, knowledge, self-belief and resilience to build good relationships, and keep themselves safe and happy. Even when the worst happens – when they are hurt, frightened, confused and in crisis, young people trust us and know that we’ll help them work things out.<br />
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You can help us do that – you’ve already started by buying a ticket tonight, thank you. You can help us more by adding a raffle ticket – there are some great prizes – or by becoming a member – there are papers for that on your table as well as more information about Brook. And you can help by talking about Brook – follow and retweet us on Twitter (<a href="https://twitter.com/brookcharity">@BrookCharity</a>) to help spread the word about our campaigns and our work with young people.<br />
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Thank you very much for supporting young people by being here tonight. Thank you again to you David for preparing and hosting one of your infamous quizzes for Brook. I really appreciate it. Enjoy your evening.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><p>
<em>The blog of the Chief Executive of <b>Brook</b>, the leading sexual health charity for young people in the UK. Brook provides sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk">www.brook.org.uk</A></em></p></div>Brookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08018782197528985959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042970013309226825.post-84157379702917060452014-09-15T09:41:00.002-07:002014-09-16T04:21:29.299-07:00All you have to do is put one step in front of the otherLike a Victorian novel, this blog post needs a subtitle, namely: "<i>A step by step account of the Thames Path Challenge</i>".<br />
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'All you have to do is keep putting one step in front of the other' had been my mantra in all the planning and training for this event. Never did it become a more necessary mantra in my head than between 97k and 100k as we walked, hopped and shuffled the final few kilometres of the <a href="http://www.thamespathchallenge.com/" target="_blank">Thames Path 100k Challenge</a> in order to raise funds for Brook (you can still sponsor me <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/lotsoffeet" target="_blank">via this link</a>).<br />
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<a href="http://www.brook.org.uk/events/single/50k-for-50-years" target="_blank">The Challenge</a> had been on the cards for a long time. I had done a few training walks. Built walking into my everyday life a bit more. Talked about it a lot. But it was only on Friday evening as I picked up the Brook support team - my Mum and Dad - that the immensity of the challenge we were about to take on really properly truly hit me. This walk was a really hard challenge. In fact it was the hardest physical test that I have ever done by a long long shot. It brought me to my knees and it brought me to tears. More than once.<br />
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Several people have asked me how it was and so before I forget (already the pain is fading away) here is a summary, 10k by 10k. (You can also have a read of this <a href="https://storify.com/BrookCharity/thames-path-challenge-2014" target="_blank">Storify</a> which captures many of the highs and some of the lows, and this <a href="http://flipagram.com/f/IjBKvdetsA" target="_blank">Flipagram</a> by Sharon.)<br />
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<b>0-10k - the sociable and energetic phase</b><br />
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This was a jolly, happy, easy bit. Chatting, laughing, skipping and not even noticing the markers as the sun shone and the kilometres passed by with ease.<br />
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<b>11-20k - the neither here nor there phase</b><br />
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Mostly people were still smiling, laughing and enjoying it, although first questions about how feet and legs are faring started to be asked. In a few months' time I doubt it will be remembered much.<br />
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<b>21-30k - the "oooh I have to get up again after lunch" phase</b><br />
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Here I started to notice the Km markers and heard talk about feet, blisters and aches a bit more. After our first proper stop and a delicious lunch prepared by one of our walkers, Drew, some of us could happily have gone to the pub rather than started walking again.<br />
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<b>31-40k - the "I never knew this bit of the Thames existed" phase</b><br />
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Beautiful part of the world. It reminded me of being a student and hiking in the Lakes in Canada which sent me on a bit of a trip down memory lane. Still this was when it starting getting dark and we all needed a bit more coaxing and encouragement.<br />
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<b>41-50k - the split feelings phase</b><br />
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A number of people were finishing at 50k or making a decision about whether to finish at 50. For the 50k-ers it was rightly a 10k of complete and utter elation, achievement and pride - it was a privilege to share in that joy. It also got really dark in our physical environment and was the first point at which the scale of it all sank in. First proper hard core blisters and aches appeared. As a 100k-er, it was hard to walk to the left of the 50k finish line, knowing you were only half way through and knowing you were just about to get a glow stick to guide you through the dark and into the next 50k. We hugged, kissed and congratulated the amazing 50k finishers, topped up our Compeed blister plasters and set off into the count down phase.<br />
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<b>51-60k - the count down phase</b><br />
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As we set off from 50k I convinced myself it was the home straight and from here on in it was all down hill. By the time we did 51k we only had 49k to go, 53k only 47k to go etc. etc. It was still dark. It was the count down. Yeah, honestly. It was the count down. My efforts to convince others got me the nickname "the optimistic hound".<br />
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<b>61-70k - the stinging nettle and gates phase </b><br />
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I have no memories of this phase really. There was little talking. Little to talk about. Lots of stingers to watch out for. And gates. Lots of gates to open.<br />
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<b>71-80k - the dark times phase </b><br />
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It was dark. It had been dark for more than seven hours and it was long. My shins hurt. My feet hurt. My boots got heavy. It was dark. Very dark. One of our fellow walkers got very ill - sickness and diarrhoea on a path with only stinging nettles on either side of the path is not good. He had to stop (we managed to find him a taxi). I wanted to stop. I couldn't imagine completing. We carried on.<br />
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<b>81-90k - the silent tears phase </b><br />
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80k was a great marker. We were in the final 1/5 - almost home in fact. According to fellow 100k-er Tom, "as long as we keep this pace up it will be four and a quarter hours, max!". Forgive me for my lack of generosity but four and a quarter hours doesn't feel close to home. I cried. I cursed. I sang. I soothed. I hurt. I needed the bathroom really badly. And I got marvellous texts and tweets that galvanised my resolve and made me utterly determined to finish. So I jogged a bit. And the sun came up and it was stunning, stunning, stunning.<br />
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<b>91-100k - the home straight</b><br />
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Seeing the 90k marker brought more tears to my eyes. Now we were really on the home straight. 91, 92, 93, 94, 95 came quickly and then we could see Henley. I convinced myself that I didn't hurt any more now than I had at 65k. But get this - just after 97k you knew where the finish area was and were told by someone in rabbit ears handing out jelly babies when your teeth already felt eroded that 'it's just a short loop to get the distance'. Just a short loop - bad enough - but this one took you up and down a hill to the point you were at in the first place. Not cool at all. Not too much time to worry as we saw 99k. Quick photo and then off to the finish line where we ran the last 30 metres and then cheered, laughed, hugged and sobbed and waited for our fellow walkers to arrive. And as they arrived I clapped, cheered and sobbed all over again.<br />
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As we downed our 'finishers fizz' in one gulp and quickly asked for another, we all swore that it was a once in a lifetime challenge. A big challenge and one I will not do ever again: 22 hours 36 minutes. Our time. Our triumph. Because we believe in young people 's rights it was completely worth it. And I am pleased I have done it as it was a stretch for me.<br />
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The support from our teams, friends, family, fellow walkers and supporters was exceptional and extraordinary. Phone calls, messages, WhatsApp, tweets and <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/lotsoffeet" target="_blank">extra sponsorship</a> kept us going through the long dark hours. From the bottom of my heart I want to thank everyone who has helped the Challenge raise funds to help Brook promote and protect young people's health and their rights. A special thank you to all the Brook walkers - it was a privilege to walk with such a brilliant team - determined people all so passionate about young people. Thank you too to my gorgeous parents who followed us round the course to make sure we were fed, watered and had what we needed.<br />
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As you know, I said 'never again'. Jonny and I are on holiday in Cornwall this week. After just one pint I heard those fatal words: "I know we said we wouldn't do it again, but I wonder what it would be like if we did. Knowing what it feels like.Would it be easier or harder?" For now he just got 'the' look. And planted a seed.<br />
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The organisers <a href="http://www.actionchallenge.com/" target="_blank">Action Challeng</a>e were absolutely brilliant. If you are looking for an organisation to do events with, based on this experience I fully recommend checking them out.<br />
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<b>All of our wonderful 50k and 100k walkers:</b><br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/lotsoffeet" style="background-color: initial; font-size: 14px;">Andrew Ackroyd Davies</a> </li>
<li><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/Jackie-Boath1">Jackie Boath</a> - follow on Twitter: @jackie_boath</li>
<li><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/Moonbolt" style="background-color: initial; font-size: 14px;">Tom Berry</a> - follow on Twitter: @Moonbolt</li>
<li><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/lotsoffeet" style="background-color: initial; font-size: 14px;">Simon Blake</a> - follow on Twitter: @simonablake</li>
<li><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/lotsoffeet" style="background-color: initial; font-size: 14px;">Kristin Corbet-Milward</a> </li>
<li><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/Sarah-Davies85" style="background-color: initial; font-size: 14px;">Sarah Davies</a> </li>
<li><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/Harriet-Gill1/">Harriet Gill</a> - follow on Twitter: @HarrietKJGill</li>
<li><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/lotsoffeet" style="background-color: initial; font-size: 14px;">Ed Hemmann</a> </li>
<li><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/lotsoffeet" style="background-color: initial; font-size: 14px;">Clare Hemmann</a> - follow on Twitter: @ClareHemmann</li>
<li><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/Jules100k" style="background-color: initial; font-size: 14px;">Juliet Hillier</a> - follow on Twitter: @rosylight </li>
<li><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/Emily-Kendrick" style="background-color: initial; font-size: 14px;">Emily Kendrick</a> - follow on Twitter: @emilykendrick82</li>
<li><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/lotsoffeet" style="background-color: initial; font-size: 14px;">Sharon Munnings</a> - follow on Twitter: @smunnings01</li>
<li><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/Rebecca-Musgrove/">Rebecca Musgrove</a> - follow on Twitter: @beckymus</li>
<li><a href="http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=mylegswillhurt" style="background-color: initial; font-size: 14px;">Carrie Quinlan</a> - follow on Twitter: @quinlan_carrie</li>
<li><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/lotsoffeet" style="background-color: initial; font-size: 14px;">Natalie Richer</a> </li>
<li><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/lotsoffeet" style="background-color: initial; font-size: 14px;">Nicola Stewart</a> </li>
<li><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/lotsoffeet" style="background-color: initial; font-size: 14px;">Jonny Swift</a> </li>
<li><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/lotsoffeet" style="background-color: initial; font-size: 14px;">Nicky Trimboy</a> - follow on Twitter: @trimmersnicks</li>
<li><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/Ralph-Wallin">Ralph Wallin</a></li>
</ul>
<b>Our amazing 50k runners (this is
<i>more </i>than a marathon!):</b><br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/SimandLisa" style="background-color: initial; font-size: 14px;">Lisa Bartlett</a> - follow on Twitter: @LisLouB</li>
<li><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/SimandLisa" style="background-color: initial; font-size: 14px;">Simeon De La Torre</a> - follow on Twitter: @SimEditorial. </li>
</ul>
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<em>The blog of the Chief Executive of <b>Brook</b>, the leading sexual health charity for young people in the UK. Brook provides sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk">www.brook.org.uk</A></em></p></div>Brookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08018782197528985959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042970013309226825.post-27268569283917514912014-08-30T02:13:00.002-07:002014-08-30T02:40:13.818-07:00Milton Keynes goes Back in Time and I prove I really can't dance<div>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Last night Brook Milton Keynes went 'back in time' to celebrate 50 years of brilliant Brook work with young people. The fancy dress costumes were absolutely phenomenal (except I let the side down because I couldn't find enough paisley in time). Equally phenomenal was the energy and effort that had gone into organising the party. It was undoubtedly a team effort led with enormous energy by Antonietta Moch (Toni) with boundless support from Hayden Tennant. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">To kick off the evening professional dancers tried to help us master a few steps. Learning some new dance moves was a (bit of a) struggle for me, and certainly gave everyone including myself lots to laugh at. When did left become right, and when did 'pull towards' mean 'push your partner away and stand on their feet'? The tutor saw me struggling and came to help. She had a proper twirly dress and deftly took the lead - from then on I felt fantastic and we looked a bit more expert.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The team had pulled together a fantastic rolling projection with pictures and images showing Brook's 50 years. It showed just how critical the role Brook has played in transforming attitudes and developing knowledge and best practice for young people both nationally and in Milton Keynes specifically. We will get it on our website soon. It shows just how much has been achieved in 50 short years and just how much more there is still to be done. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Until we confidently talk about sex, orgasms, masturbation, sexual abuse and exploitation, until we talk about pleasure and all young people know violence is never acceptable in relationships, until everyone knows that gender and sexual bullying is wrong, and until we have a culture that ensures that horrific sexual abuse like that exposed in Rotherham this week cannot happen again we are still swimming upstream and have a huge amount of work.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Against the backdrop of how much there is still to do, it was an honour to see some of the teams, volunteers and community partners working in Milton Keynes. I was so impressed by Jaydun one of the young volunteers who is doing great work to provide young people with no nonsense information as part of his O2 Think Big Social Action project, and the Boots The Chemists team who were absolutely delighted about how the partnership with Brook has helped them to improve their sexual health support in the community. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It was of course wonderful to be in a room full of people who care about and trust young people and value their developing sexuality enormously. All of them do so much day in day out to ensure all children and young people grow up confident about their gender and sexual identity, about who they are and able to navigate their way through puberty, adolescence and into adulthood. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In 50 years much has changed. We will need so much more change over the next 50 years if Brook's mission to enable young people to enjoy their sexuality without harm is to be realised.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In 25 years Brook in Milton Keynes has gone from a part time service providing a limited range of services for young people to a big service that sees many thousands of young people each year and works in partnership with schools, colleges and other organisations in the community. All of Brook's work in Milton Keynes operates from a fantastic building that sends a clear message to young people and our partners that we take young people's sexual health and well being really really seriously. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I raise a glass to Brook being 50, to the team in Milton Keynes doing extraordinary work day in day out with young people, and to Toni and the organising team for a fantastic party.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">P.s If you want evidence of dancing, there are some photos on my twitter @simonablake which will probably find their way to the Brook charity website over the next few days. </span></div>
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<em>The blog of the Chief Executive of <b>Brook</b>, the leading sexual health charity for young people in the UK. Brook provides sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk">www.brook.org.uk</A></em></p></div>Brookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08018782197528985959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042970013309226825.post-14256655339147983492014-08-19T06:20:00.000-07:002014-08-20T01:05:58.966-07:00Harder, no: different, yes (version two - updated 20th August)<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I often get asked whether it is more difficult for young people growing up now to navigate their way through what with sexting, revenge porn, easy access to internet porn etc etc. </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Each time I am asked I think of this Ted Talk from Ash Beckham who says 'hard is not relative, hard is hard...there is no harder, there is just hard'. (You can view the talk here </span><a href="http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kSR4xuU07sc">http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kSR4xuU07sc</a>)<br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Yesterday I was asked again whether it is more difficult for young people now on the same day as IPPR release a poll about the impact of pornography. The poll showed that young people believe that pornography impacts on the way young people understand sex, their values and attitudes and in particular for young women, resulting in pressure to look and behave in particular ways. If you read the top line it is pretty grim reading, but thankfully young people have always navigated their way through complex situations and with the right policy solutions and public responses - i.e. a resolve to improve education and support, they will, I am confident, continue to do so now.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">There is no doubt the internet has opened up all sorts of possibilities - some good, some bad and some downright ugly including the potential for bullying, harrassment and abuse. We know that young people use pornography for all sorts of reasons including to learn about sex in the absence of good sex and relationships education. Whatever your interpretation of the evidence and your view about the impact of pornography, and whatever young people's reasons for watching it, there is absolutely no doubt there are much much better places to learn about sex and relationships. Full stop. We know from our work at Brook that it influences the way people learn about and understand about sex and sexuality, and can create all sorts of anxieties. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And we are right to be worried, but we must not panic. Before we throw our hands up in despair it is important to think about what young people have successfully navigated in recent history: think about the 1960s when access to contraception was really difficult for many, before the Abortion Act was passed in 1967 and if you were gay your love was illegal. More recently in the early 80s when the rights of under 16s to contraceptive treatment were untested and then the late 80s/early 90s at the start of the HIV epidemic, Section 28 was instilling fear about promoting homosexuality and young people often found emergency hormonal contraception was very difficult to get hold of without fear of reproach. Still now a short distance across the water in Northern Ireland it remains exceptionally difficult to get an abortion and only in recent years have young people been able to use Brook services without passing through protesters.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">So as a general rule is growing up and starting your relationship and sexual career harder for young people now than ever before? Probably not. Is it different now? Yes, yes, yes.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Young people tell me time and again the most important thing us older people can do is trust young people and remember what it felt like to be young. Reflect and remember for example those feelings of falling in love for the first time, being anxious about who you fancied or about your body, simultaneously excited and confused by your sexual desires or concerned about your sexual performance. Remember what it felt like to worry you were pregnant or had a sexually transmitted infection, or to be pregnant, have a STI or want to tell your parent you are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Remember mustering up the courage to end a relationship or 'to be dumped' for the first, second or third time, to be unsure whether you wanted or had had sex, or whether a person you fancied had noticed you and whether a friend would break friends with you if they found out your true identity. All of those things and more happened in the 60s, 70s, 90s and continue to happen now. The context and circumstances will change - who knows what is coming next - but the human feelings associated with these experiences remain largely the same. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If we can remember that and start from a position of trusting young people we will less likely be overwhelmed by new technologies and by internet porn and we will stop looking for solutions which simply will not work. The best solution we will ever have is three fold - 1. like and trust young people and make sure they know we have high expectations for them so they have high expectations for themselves 2. commit to promoting equality, including gender and sexual equality, and ensure good education at home, at school and the wider community to equip young people with excellent knowledge, skills (including discernment) and develop their self belief so they can navigate their way through the opportunities and challenges of their time with confidence and verve. </span></div>
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@simonablake @brookcharity @besexpositive</div>
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<em>The blog of the Chief Executive of <b>Brook</b>, the leading sexual health charity for young people in the UK. Brook provides sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. <a href="http://www.brook.org.uk">www.brook.org.uk</A></em></p></div>Brookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08018782197528985959noreply@blogger.com0