About us
Sexy and Safe: Let’s Talk About It is a series of youth forums and activities for young people aged 15-25 who live, work, study or play in the Mallee region to help inform and contribute to the development of initiatives that focus on strengthening sexual and reproductive health outcomes for young people.
Why?
In 2017, a research report that explored the issues associated with teenage pregnancy across the Mallee found that many young people become pregnant due to low use of oral contraception (before or after sex) or sexual health products such as condoms. Young people told us that there were barriers and challenges to accessing such products in their rural communities, and in many cases this led to continuing with their pregnancy, as there was limited choice or availability.
Young people told us that if such products were readily available via sexual health clinics, GPs, pharmacies, and then they may not have either become pregnant, or continued with their pregnancy.
We want to find out from you.
Has this changed? Do you have access to useful products in the community you live in? Do you know where to go? Do you know who to ask ? Do you feel judged when asking?
Women’s sexual and reproductive health: key priorities 2017-2020 is the Victorian Government’s plan to improve the sexual and reproductive health of ALL Victorian women. The plan focuses on the following key priority areas:
Priority 1 – Victorian’s have improved knowledge and capacity to manage fertility.
Priority 2 – Victorian’s have improved access to reproductive choices.
Priority 3 – Victorian women feel confident about accessing respectful and culturally safe sexual health services for testing, treatment, and support, regardless of their gender identity, cultural identity, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, disability or residential location.
About Youth Affairs Council Victoria
Youth Affairs Council Victoria (YACVic) is the peak body and leading policy advocate on young peoples’ issues in Victoria. YACVic works tirelessly to advance the interests of young people and Victoria’s youth work sector. It plays a critical role in exploring issues affecting young people, advocating for change, enabling young peoples’ participation in society and supporting those that work with young people.
YACVic Rural Presence Project (YACVic Rural) supports both young people and the youth sector in regional and rural Victoria. It does this with the intent of better promoting youth needs, increasing opportunities for young people and fostering stronger collaboration throughout the sector.
YACVic is supporting the work of the Mallee Area Child Youth Partnership by facilitating Sexy and Safe: Let’s Talk About It Youth Forums. It will host a series of eight youth forums across the Mallee region throughout April and May, across four local government areas. The youth forums will be hosted by YACVic with support from the CERSH, Womens Health Loddon Mallee, the Mallee Child Youth Area Partnership and with support from local government youth services and other local youth service providers.
About Women’s Health London Mallee
Women’s Health Loddon Mallee is a not-for-profit organisation working strategically in partnership for all women across North-West Victoria in the areas of sexual and reproductive health, prevention of violence against women and gender equity. WHLM’s mission is to foster a culture of gender equity that underpins health and wellbeing for women within the Loddon Mallee region, with core values of courage, respect and diversity at the heart of all the advocacy work the organisation does.
In late 2018, WHLM released Her Health Matters 2018-2021 – a regional approach to sexual and reproductive health in the Loddon Mallee Region. This strategy was created to improve sexual and reproductive health access across the Loddon Mallee, for women of all experiences.
Consultation was done by listening to and talking with women, service providers and organisations to develop a plan for the years ahead that reflects local needs.
Her Health Matters aims to give women the confidence and empowerment to advocate for their sexual and reproductive health, while assisting organisations to be able to offer the support for them to do so.
By supporting the Sexy and Safe: Let’s Talk About It project, WHLM hopes to further amplify the voices of young women in the Mallee region, with the aim of creating more “welcoming doors” for these women to seek education, information and service support.
About CERSH
The Centre for Excellence in Rural Sexual Health (CERSH) is funded by the Department of Health and Human Services Victoria through a service agreement with The University of Melbourne, to work across the Hume and Loddon Mallee regions. The vision of the Centre for Excellence in Rural Sexual Health (CERSH) is that all rural Victorians have access to quality sexual health care, information and support that is tailored to their individual needs. This includes YOUNG people!
The purpose of the Centre is to design, implement and evaluate programs that provide practical solutions for the improvement of sexual health in both the Hume and Loddon Mallee regions.
In achieving this, the work program of the Centre and the evaluation of our activities, is based on the following priority areas:
1. Rural Workforce
2. Leadership, research, evaluation and knowledge sharing
3. Affordable reproductive health
The goals that CERSH is working towards, in line with other funded agencies in Victoria, are:
· Reduced incidence and prevalence of Sexually Transmissible Infections/Blood Borne Viruses (STI/BBV)
· Increase in early detection and treatment of STI/BBV
· Increased best-practice sexual and reproductive health services
· Increased access to affordable contraception and termination of pregnancy services