Sexual health & relationships
Sexual Health and Relationships Education
YourStory, in partnership with Healthier Schools Partnership and Brook Advisory, provide young people, in groups aged 8-13 and 14-17, with the opportunity to explore and discuss, via small personal group interactions, personal and cultural issues surrounding relationships.
Lambeth has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancies in England and Wales as well as in comparison to Europe. Age specific abortions are also higher than the national averages for the under 20 age group. Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham have the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections in England. 25% of London’s cases of chlamydia are diagnosed in Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham.
Lambeth has the largest number of HIV positive service users of any borough in the United Kingdom, with some 1,287 residents of the borough living with HIV infection in 2000. The number of all Lambeth residents living with HIV infection rose over 70% in the five year period between 1996 and 2001, and in 2000, approximately one in every 210 residents of Lambeth was living with HIV infection.
(Office for National Statistics Mid-Year Estimate of Resident Population 2000)
A main feature of our programme is our engagement and development work with parents and teachers regarding the delivery of the relationship programme. We also consult with black and ethnic minority, as well as BME groups, the best ways of sharing good practice. This holistic community approach to delivering sexual health and relationships is now recommended as best practice within Lambeth.
The non-judgemental nature of the programme, and the use of music and puppets, encourages greater self-expression and communication skills. It also puts the young people at ease and enables them to explore, positively challenge and discuss amongst their peers innermost feelings, thoughts and experiences surrounding the issues of relationships and sexual health.