The more time I spend working in this field, the more I learn about the awesomeness that is integration of positive youth development, sexual health care, and sexuality education. And the more I learn, the more convinced I am that it is essential to do our work through a positive youth development lens. In my experience, intentionally using positive youth development results in programming that is more engaging to young people and better meets their needs.
Maybe you're at the start of thinking all of this, maybe this is just confusing. Maybe you work with young people and are terrified that they'll want to talk to you about sex. Well, you're in luck! A colleague and I are doing an online training November 16, 2017 from 10:00-11:30 a.m on how and why to use positive youth development when talking with young people about sexuality topics. It's similar to the workshop we did at SXSWEdu last March, but we've broadened the training to be applicable to pretty much any adult who could end up talking to a young person about sex and sexuality. It's an interactive, live online training, which means anyone can join us even if they don't live in the Twin Cities.
Our learning objectives are to:
- Identify a range of sexuality topics beyond pregnancy prevention
- Explain how a positive youth development (PYD) lens can inform discussions about sexuality topics with young people
- Describe the importance of providing education and support around sexuality through a PYD lens
- Identify strategies for discussion of sexuality topics that foster healthy development, health protective behaviors, and connections to caring adults and services
- Understand how to integrate existing youth work skills into sexuality education
Click here to get more information and register! We are doing it through a great organization, the Youth Intervention Programs Association (YIPA). If you're a youth worker or interested in learning more about youth work, you should definitely check out their website and their online training library. Hope to you'll join us!