Consent top issue on YEP Project’s radar in trip to Kalgoorlie-Boulder

The Youth Educating Peers Project, operating under the Youth Affairs Council of WA, is travelling to Kalgoorlie-Boulder to provide a series of free sexual health workshops for young people.

The YEP professional development sessions will run from September 6-8 at the Goldfields Arts Centre alongside school and service provider sessions for young people.

YEP Project co-ordinator Lorna Geraghty said the project worked with people aged 12-25 and those working with the age bracket.

“Our peer educators, aged between 18 and 25, deliver sessions to young people in schools and through service centres about a range of topics relating to sexual health and well being,” she said.

“They will be doing workshops at some high schools and service providers in town over the three days.”

The series will cover sex positivity, safer sex, sexually transmitted infections and blood-borne viruses, the syphilis outbreak, contraception, healthy relationships, consent, porn, sexting and consultation time.

The Goldfields Arts Centre sessions are intended for professional development and are suitable for all people, working professionally with young people aged 12-25, particularly youth workers.

“Anyone that supports young people can come along — teachers, psychologists, youth workers,” Ms Geraghty said.

“It could even be a scout leader, a football coach or an aunt.

“Basically, anyone that feels they need a refresh or a better understanding on these topics and how to talk about them if the time arises.

“The workshops we have scheduled in are based on feedback we received from the community on what is relevant locally.

“The highest demand was for the healthy relationships and consent session — we are seeing this demand Statewide.

“We do go all around the State and we have not been out to Kalgoorlie for a while so we thought it was time to get back out here.”

Participants will gain skills and knowledge and increase their capacity to engage young people on these important topics and leave equipped with a range of intervention strategies, activities and resources that they can use directly with their clients.

The professional development sessions will run over three days.

On September 6, a session on consent and healthy relationships will be from 4pm to 7pm.

The same session will run again on September 7 from 9am to noon, followed by a professional consultation session from 1pm to 2pm and a safer sex, STI testing and contraception session from 2pm to 5pm.

On September 8, a session on porn and sexting harm minimisation will run from 9am to noon followed by a second session of professional consultation from noon to 1pm.

The YEP Project is a peer-based project funded by the Department of Health’s sexual health and blood-borne virus program.

Bookings are essential and tickets are limited.