Empowering young people about sexual health, drugs and alcohol

There is growing demand from young people for better, more engaging, peer-led programs about drugs, alcohol and sexual health. Penington Institute’s youth initiative YEAH will train two cohorts of volunteer peer educators (young people aged 15-29) to develop their skills and knowledge to deliver fortnightly drop-in workshops for young people in City of Yarra about topics relating to sexual health, alcohol and other drugs. We will recruit and train 40 peer educators to deliver 14 free local community workshops to 280+ young people over the program duration. A program coordinator and trainers will support and mentor the peer educators.

City of Yarra’s Health Status Report 2016 indicates chlamydia at almost twice the rate of Victoria’s statistic - 66.2 per 10,000 population compared with 34.3. Yarra has higher rates of syphilis, hepatitis B, gonorrhoea.

Young people are disproportionately affected by sexually transmissible infections - 75% of infections occur amongst people 15-25. Drugs are also a major concern for young people.

Peer educators and workshop participants will become more actively involved and connected with their community, improve and share new knowledge and skills in relation to sexual health, drugs and alcohol, and become more aware of community and government health services.