Yarra Ranges Council Sexual and Reproductive Health Project brought together young people, parents, carers, school staff, and youth service providers.
It utilised a holistic, wrap-around approach to increase the sexual health literacy, safe sexual and reproductive health practices, and help-seeking behaviour of young people.
Through interactive workshops in schools, professional training for educators and service providers, and webinars for parents and carers, the project created safe, supportive spaces to learn, share experiences, and access resources. By connecting different parts of the community and building shared understanding, the project strengthened education around sexual and reproductive health, consent, and the prevention of gender-based violence.
Project aim
The project aims were to build the capacity of local youth service providers, create safe and accessible spaces for young people to access sexual and reproductive health information, and improve young people’s knowledge and understanding of sexual and reproductive health and available supports.
Project implementation and delivery
Project evaluation
Lessons learnt
Throughout the project, several challenges emerged. Initial low attendee numbers in service provider workshops, limited staff availability and low uptake of some sessions. These were addressed through targeted promotion, flexible scheduling of sessions, and aligning content with the Victoria Curriculum to demonstrate relevance.
The project identified strong demand for improved support of young peoples’ sexual and reproductive health with schools and service providers lacking resources in this space. Place based and tailored support was recognised as being essential to lead efforts in this space and the work of the project is seen as highly necessary for the Yarra Ranges community. It also highlighted the significant gap that exists in the region in support felt by families, parents, service providers, and young people in the region.
