Talking of Sex

Sex Appeal: More sex please, we're British!

2012-01-17T08:44:00.000-08:00

Months ago our ambassador Zoe Margolis had the idea of putting on a comedy night in aid of Brook. On Friday, after months of hard work, favours and commitment from many people that idea became a ‘pinch yourself it's not a dream’ reality at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London. With a stellar line up of guests equal to, and better than, any you would see at Edinburgh Festival ‘Comedy Best of the Fest’, ‘Sex Appeal: More Sex Please, We're British’ was a fantastically funny evening. As one person said on twitter at half time, “at comedy sex, it’s half time and my sides ache already.”

All the comedians gave their time free of charge to challenge through comedy any negative attitudes about sex, sex and relationships education, and to help Brook raise funds to carry out our campaigning work. More information from the evening will be available at http://www.brook.org.uk/ in the coming weeks.

As well as making us laugh throughout the evening, beforehand each of the comedians told Brook why they support our work to make sex and relationships education relevant for the 21st Century (if you haven't signed our petition please do so at http://www.sexpositive.org.uk/).

The host Al Murray, The Pub Landlord, said: “Sex ed is important because it's something that's personal but that can impact on other people as well. The more you know, the better equipped for life you are.”

Helen Arney, a musical comedian said: “Good sex ed is about more than just educating, it's about young people finding out about the difference between truth and fiction. If I had to be young again (a horrible thought) I'd want my first introduction to sex and relationships to be from someone who knows what these things actually are, and not fifth-hand garbled gossip from Stacey whispered under coats at breaktime. Good sex education sticks, but so does all the wrong stuff about sex if it gets there first. If I still believed everything Stacey said, because no-one had told me otherwise, I'd still think the word 'dude' means 'elephant dung'. Which it does. Right Guys?”

David Baddiel, known by many for The Mary Whitehouse Experience, said: “I'm very keen on the idea of sex education for children particularly as it means I don't have to talk about it to my own children. I also think it may have moved on since I was in school where it consisted almost entirely of diagrams that could easily be mistaken for the opening credits of Dad's Army.”

Musical comedian Mitch Benn, hit the nail on the head, “Sex education is important because sex is important and education is important. It's importance squared, if you will. I wish I'd had some, I might be better at it.”

We were warned that it doesn't pay to take offence at comedy by San Franciscan actor and comedian Scott Capurro. About sex education he believes, “More should be taught. I received a scattered rather toothy blowjob in Rome and the scabs are still healing.”

Richard Herring warned of setting traditions in relationships if they cannot be future proofed and told us, “Sex is important and education is important, so sex education is doubly important. No one worries that if we teach children history that they will go out and start wars – we hope that given the facts they might learn to behave more responsibly. So let's give them the facts about this vital and joyful part of being alive, because most problems regarding sex grow out of ignorance and secrecy.”

Robin Ince took many on a trip down sex education memory lane with his reading of the Giant Crabs, “The vast majority of evidence I have seen makes it clear that educating young people does not turn them into crazed sex devils rutting in alleyways but actually cuts down on behaviour that enrages the censorious. Of course it does, once young people find out how disgusting and pointless sex is they can get back to reading books in the library.”

About sex education Shappi Khorsandi told us, “We need to allow young people to be more open and honest about their thoughts and feelings about sex. Early sex education keeps dialogue open and information flowing so young people can make mature, informed decisions.”

Mathematician and comedian Matt Parker left a few of us at Brook red faced when he pointed out early in his show that Brook had some of our Maths wrong but we remain together on sex ed, “Just telling young people what they should and shouldn't do is counterproductive. They need to make up their own minds and the skills to rationally analyse new information as they stumble across it on the internet. This is what good sex education should provide.”

Jay Rayner, son of the leading sex educator, Claire Rayner told us, “I was raised in a household where sex education was the family business; was taught from a very early age that sex only becomes a problem when people don't talk about it. And that's a lesson every generation has to learn. Good sex education isn't a luxury. It isn't a privilege. It's a basic human right.”

Kate Smurthwaite, political comedian and feminist activist said, “Understanding how our bodies work is a fundamental human right. For our young people to grow into sensible adults who can make wise decisions about their sex lives they must first understand what is there and how it works, in terms of reproduction, in terms of risk and in terms of pleasure. These should be non-negotiable components of the National Curriculum, taught without fuss or debate as soon as children are old enough to understand them – and well before they begin puberty.”

Writer and comedian Catie Wilkins was clear, “I think sex ed is important for young people so that they can make balanced and informed decisions about one of the most crucial areas of life. Forewarned is for-armed'.”

As well as being the first big laugh of 2012, the event had a serious point to make – we fail young people if we do not provide them with high quality, evidence based and accurate sex and relationships education – and some serious funds to raise to help Brook with our continued campaign to ensure we have sex and relationships education fit for the 21st Century.

I owe enormous thanks to everyone who made the evening happen, and who gave up their time and skills freely to do so – first off Zoe Margolis for having the idea and vision and turning it into reality with her friends and colleagues who helped with the website www.comedysex.org (Ian Dickerson), with stage management (Kirsty Chestnutt and James Knight) and with promotions, also thanks to photographer Elliott Franks. Thanks to Al Murray for hosting the evening and to all the comedians for giving their time and for making us laugh. Thank you.

Thank you to our sponsors and supporters; PSUK, Mates SKYN, Sh! Women's Erotic Emporium, MOO.COM, Chinawhite, CM Print and Sparkloop.

And finally thank you to all the Brook staff who volunteered to help; Joy, Natalie, Sian, Lisa, Rachael, Josina, Mariana, Daniel and Glen. Particular thanks to those who worked so hard they didn't even get to see the show. Photos of the evening can be found here and you can also follow the conversation on Twitter using #comedysex.

Follow Brook on twitter @brookcharity; @besexpositive or follow me @simonablake

Education For Choice becomes a project within Brook

2012-01-12T04:58:00.000-08:00

I am delighted to announce that Education For Choice (EFC) has now become part of Brook. The two organisations have always been closely aligned in outlook and this move will turn a long-standing professional friendship into a vibrant partnership.

EFC will become a project within Brook, and will continue to deliver specialist education, training and advocacy work around young people, pregnancy choices, decision-making and abortion. EFC has 20 years experience of providing specialist education on issues relating to abortion and ensuring young people can make and act on informed choices about pregnancy and abortion.

This move will complement the work that Brook already does across the UK in providing young people with information and support around all sexual health issues. It also provides great opportunities to utilise and share expertise. All young people have a right to receive high quality information, education and support on pregnancy decision-making and abortion and this move allows us to reach more young people.

Follow Brook on twitter @brookcharity; @besexpositive or follow me @simonablake

Goodbye 2011: Hello 2012

2011-12-30T03:15:00.000-08:00

It hardly seems conceivable, or indeed bearable that a year ago today I was frantically piecing together my fancy dress outfit for NYE. Whilst most things around us are changing rapidly, some things remain - true to form I have left it until the last minute to get my costume ready again. Ushering in the new year it is important to reflect on the successes and the disappointments of the year gone by as well as look to the opportunities and challenges of the year ahead.

Some of Brook's key successes this year have been;

Making the transition to become one unified organisation in April - the energy, commitment and determination of managers and trustees from the 16 organisations that made up the Brook Network was awesome through the review that led to a decision to change our constitution. This was critical to ensuring a smooth transition.

Any organisational change of this size requires all of us involved to look at things differently and to change our world views. And through this transitional year I have appreciated enormously the support and challenge of colleagues - trustees, managers and staff - to keep us on track and make sure that different perspectives are understood. And amongst all the internal change, business as usual has continued, continuing to secure and contracts and funding so we can provide education and services across the country to those young people who need them most.

If I was to have the last 8 months again, there would be many things I would do the same, and there would of course be things I would do differently. But what I still know to be true is that Brook people remain determinedly focused on young people - developing creative and innovative responses to their needs in the face of major internal and external change. And I appreciate this commitment and professionalism enormously.

This year we launched a formal collaboration with FPA over the year, and this partnership has allowed us to focus our resources effectively, reducing duplication and maximising our expertise. I look forward to continuing this exciting collaboration in 2012 which includes the first ever UK Sexual Health Awards on March 15th 2012 - find out more at http://www.brook.org.uk/

At the same time we have been a loud and vociferous voice in support of relationships and sex education - as part of our Sex: Positive campaign developed by our young volunteers, we launched the 21st Century SRE campaign which has already got over 2200 supporters including boyband JLS. If you haven't already you can sign up at http://www.sexpositive.org.uk/ As someone who disagrees vehemently with me about the importance of RSE said in a recent [heated] phone call, 'like what you and your organisation stand for or not I have to say your views have really been loud and clear this year.'

It was fantastic again this year to see the sustained reduction in teenage pregnancy rates when the data was published for the final year of the previous government's strategy. Evidence that we do know what works, and that if you get all the elements right including support for parents, SRE in schools, access to contraception and effective youth provision then teenage pregnancy rates can and will fall.

And given that a central plank of success in reducing teenage prenancy is good education it is so disappointing that progress on getting Relationships and Sex Education a normal everyday part of school life has slowed. The politicisation and polarisation of ideas and views about RSE have been disappointing. We know the consensus in support of RSE remains - most young people, parents and professionals support RSE, and we must ensure that we trust that consensue when some media are deliberately misleading and shrill in their approach. I was unhappy that the government launched the PSHE Education consultation with a closed mind about whether any changes are needed in legislation to improve RSE, particularly when we thought we had been so close to securing a statutory entitlement for all children and young people.

Similarly the politicisation and polemic about abortion, particularly counselling for women considering or seeking an abortion was of great concern this year. Brook of course supports any measure to improve the quality of counselling and support women facing an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy face, we wait with interest to see the government proposals about counselling for women facing a pregnancy choice. But lets be very clear the rhetoric that independent abortion providers have a vested interest in 'pushing women towards abortion above all other pregnancy choices' is offensive to women's ability to make decisions and choices and quite simply untrue. I fully respect people's right to feel morally opposed to abortion. However I cannot respect any drive to limit women's choices and access to services or to influence their decision about abortion with misinformation. We know from evidence from around the world that where abortion access is denied or limited it does not stop abortion, it pushes the procedure underground, making it stigmatised and unsafe. We need only look to Northern Ireland to see how difficult antiquated laws make it for women who want to have an abortion.

As we look to 2012 we know what works and we know there is an economic case for investing in education and services that can see an immediate, and often in year, return on investment. And we know the shifting responsibility for Public Health to Local Authorities could provide new opportunities to think holistically about young people, health and well being.

But there will be challenges: history shows us that when money is tight spend often moves from prevention and early intervention to 'treatment' or unavoidable costs. As a commissioner or a finance director if you are not responsible for the 'treatment' costs and the primary job is to balance the book how do we ensure investment is maintained in the best interest of young people's sexual health? The shift of responsibility for Public Health to Local Authorities will also inevitably be challenging through the transition, and some of the sexual health expertise will undoubtedly be lost.

Sir Stephen Bubb has just sent through his top tips for ACEVO members for 2012 - they were

Look after yourself
Get your personal leadership plan nailed
Stay positive in the face of adversity

Messages that all of us, whatever our role and wherever we work, in the public, private or voluntary sector will do well to take heed of. As a colleague said last week, 2012 won't be easy for young people and sexual health. So let it be the year we look after ourselves and remain committed to our personal and professional development, stay positive in the face of challenge and consistently speak out in support of young people's sexual health and sexual rights. With ever increasing pressures on finances, major change in the health system, a small number of loud voices who oppose young people's sexual rights, and the increased determination of local priorities it will be the confidence that comes with over 45 years experience at Brook that will enable us to keep young people's sexual health on the agenda.

I am proud that i can say with complete and utter confidence that our teams across the country will strive day in day out to deliver the best quality services and education for young people; to be a loud and confident voice in support of young people's sexual rights and advocates and champions for the change we want to see.

Goodbye and thank you 2011, hello and welcome 2012. Right time to get that fancy dress sorted.

You can read more about the difference Brook makes and at http://www.brookannualreview.org.uk/

Follow Brook on twitter @brookcharity; @besexpositive or follow me @simonablake

Brook's annual review 2010/11

2011-12-23T07:41:00.001-08:00

I am exceptionally proud of the difference Brook makes to the lives of young people day in day out. In 2010/11 we had direct contact with 301,000 young people through clinical and support services, education and Ask Brook. That is up from 261, 000 young people in 2009/10. Staff at Brook work tirelessly to make our mission of enabling young people to enjoy their sexuality without harm a reality. This annual review is a peep into how Brook's dedicated and exceptional staff teams across the country are delivering fantastic education, clinical and support services and achieving social change.

You can read about the difference we make in our online annual review and impact statement at http://www.brookannualreview.org.uk/

Enjoy!

'look after rabbits', SRE and sexual exploitation

2011-11-09T12:44:00.000-08:00

Since I last blogged here I have a new addition in my family; a blue staffordshire bull terrier puppy who is quite simply adorable. It is the first time I have had a dog as an adult. This experience is connecting me to how much I learnt about care, responsibility and love from having animals as a child - from my first 'look after rabbit' brought home in the school holidays; the night we found my first cat knocked over at the side of the road; and the mornings I really didn't want to get up to do the horses and relied heavily on mum and dad to help me out.

Over the last few weeks there has been lots of exciting campaigning work at Brook - we launched the Say Yes to 21st Century SRE campaign - if you haven't signed our petition please do so at www.sexpositive.org.uk - we will be submitting this as part of our response to the government's PSHE review consultation. It was an interesting experience doing the media work for the campaign. For the first time ever in 15 years of being involved in this work and doing media around it, the overwhelming majority of journalists, listeners and those who phoned in to join the discussion were absolutely supportive of 21st Century SRE and couldn't believe that we are still in a position where SRE is patchy and largely down to the discretion or enthusiasm of individual schools. Sunday Morning Live was one exception to this, but the less said about that here the better. Unfortunately polemic debate in this area still appeals to a few and some political debates on this issue seem far removed from reality, but it is important to remind ourselves the majority of young people, parents and professionals agree SRE is important. And whilst our small campaigning team have been working hard to create the campaign, day in day out across Brook all our teams are working hard to create the social change we need to enable young people to enjoy their sexuality without harm.

Last Monday I spent some time on reception at Brook in Manchester learning more about exactly what happens when a young person walks through the door in Manchester. The skills of the people in putting the young people at ease and ensuring they got what they wanted were quite remarkable. So too was the thought that goes into making the waiting room reflect our values, and using the waiting time as an educational moment whilst the young people wait to be seen. Even tying in the education with a Halloween theme. Whilst on reception I also learnt that some glow in the dark condoms need to be near a light to glow.

On Monday this week I met with the Office of the Children's Commissioner who are doing an inquiry into sexual exploitation (find out more at their website), and on Tuesday spoke at a conference for Public Health Trainees alongside a colleague from NSPCC. I was struck yet again at both of those meetings that if we are going to really deal with exploitation and abuse we have to get to grips with and change our peculiar culture towards young people, sex and sexuality. Unless all young people learn about and understand consent and have the skills and confidence to assert themselves in relationships, to really take control of their lives and their choices then we will never be able to get on top of and deal effectively with sexual abuse and exploitation in all its forms. Even though abuse and exploitation is still a horrid taboo for many, sometimes when people do address it it seems too easy to go straight to the abuse and exploitation end of the spectrum and not connect it to our wider culture about sex and relationships.

Of course getting SRE consistently right across all schools in the country, starting at primary age will not be a universal panacea but it is a first step in demonstrating we are a country that has a grown up and mature approach to young people and their developing sense of themselves and their sexuality and an opportunity to help all children understand safe and unsafe touching and ensure they know they can and must ask for help if they are being hurt. All professionals working with young people must know about and recognise the signs of exploitation. At Brook in Blackburn they run a training course for professionals TEASE - Telling Everyone About Sexual Exploitation - vital if we are going to break the taboo.

Yesterday I was also privileged in my role as Compact Voice Chair to be part of the Annual Compact Awards. Partnership working across the public and voluntary sector is even more important now with less money to ensure the best outcomes for communities. Some really innovative and impressive approaches. Whilst there I got the chance to thank John Plummer from Third Sector who as part of a recent interview with me described my role at Compact Voice talking about partnership and my day job at Brook dealing with chlamydia as both lacking glamour. Luckily I find both interesting, vital, rewarding and challenging, if not glamorous!

I also went to the launch of Diversity Role Models a new charity set up by the wonderful Suran Dickson. Hosted by John Bercow in Speakers House which he has 'opened up' to support important issues speakers included the Home Secretary Teresa May and Roger Crouch - Stonewall's Hero of the Year, and father of Dominic Crouch who killed himself last year aged 15 after being bullied. The premise underpinning Diversity Role Models is simple and its simplicity is its genius; taking straight and gay role models into school and talking about bullying and equality and creating a visibility of gay sexuality. I spoke to one of the role models about his experience of going into school and he simply described it as 'humbling and important'. He said the young people were engaged and interested, challenged and challenging. He felt it made a difference.

Sue Sharpe almost a decade ago wrote about the need for visibility of homosexuality within schools if we are to wipe out homophobia. Diversity Role Models helps provide just that and I wish them much success. You can follow them on twitter @DiversityRM and you can follow me on @simonablake - I confess I often retweet others, and less often say too much myself so @brookcharity and @besexpositive are ones to follow too.

Finally please do sign the petition for 21st Century SRE at www.sexpositive.org.uk

Launching our Sex:Positive campaign for 21st Century SRE

2011-10-13T05:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Brook launched a big new national campaign demanding that all young people should have access to relevant, useful, 21st century sex and relationships education (SRE) in school.

We commissioned a survey and have also launched a petition to demand SRE for the 21st Century. The survey found that nearly half – 47% of young people said their SRE was unsatisfactory or nonexistent. And 26% of the young people we surveyed say that they got no sex and relationships education at all.

You can read the blog about the launch on the besexpositive Tumblr page. And also sign the petition.

Follow the campaign on Twitter @besexpositive and become a fan of our Facebook page

Let's get 21st Century Sex and Relationships Education

2011-10-11T01:17:00.000-07:00

At Brook young people have been telling us for decades they want better sex and relationships education and today The Guardian has published an article - http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/oct/10/how-good-is-sex-education - following a new survey carried out by Brook, that shows that not enough has changed.

Last night I was talking to a friend who is staying with us at the moment and she asked the straightforward question, 'what is all the fuss about'. And when you try and answer it, that is the question - we have to stop talking about whether to provide it, and instead move to how to do it - consider how we ensure teachers up and down the country are well trained and supported to provide young people with the sort of sex and relationships education they want, deserve and will need if they are to navigate the path from puberty, through adolescence and into adult with confidence and joy.

I feel like I am in a bit of a timewarp when it comes to SRE - the same debates rehearsed predictably often and we want to stop that circle and move on. Young people say they want good quality SRE, parents overwhelmingly support school SRE and professionals also support SRE because they know that young people need help and support to understand their bodies, their emotions, relationships and develop the skills to manage their lives. Indeed successive Government's point to its importance. Having been involved in this work for over 15 years, I and many others who have also been on this journey want to see a step change in commitment to SRE, and ask Government to mandate and support schools to deliver. I still believe that statutory SRE across the key stages is the best route to go down, but as I have said many times before as long as every child gets their entitlement to SRE to help them be confident, happy and safe I don't actually care what mechanisms are used to achieve SRE fit for the 21st Century.

This is a once in a decade opportunity to influence policy makers and parliamentarians make the changes all the evidence tells us are needed. We want to make sure the voices of the overwhelming majority who support SRE are heard. Help get this sorted once and for all. Visit www.sexpositive.org.uk and sign our petition to UK Parliament to create SRE fit for the 21st Century. Please help us spread the word - blog it, tweet it, talk about it so Brook can work with partners to make young people, parents and professional voices heard in the PSHE Review. We will be blogging and tweeting facts from the survey throughout the week - please join in the conversation.

Please take five minutes to help us achieve 21st Century Sex and Relationships Education - www.sexpositive.org.uk

The last few weeks

2011-09-29T01:46:00.000-07:00

It has been almost a month since I have blogged - during which time;

The Dorries Amendment on abortion counselling was defeated and Anne Milton confirmed that government will be consulting on proposals in relation to counselling. Is it possible to disagree with the notion that women who need counselling should have quick and easy access to non-judgemental, non-directive quality provision?

I do however remain concerned that the debate about counselling provision has led to the search for a solution where there is no problem to fix. There continues to be confusion about what currently happens and what does not happen, about what counselling is and what is isn't. At Brook we are completely committed to ensuring that everyone gets the support they need to make decisions about their pregnancy, and that where required they receive counselling. However the debate and the discussion is unhelpful because it perpetuates myths and misinformation about the current state of play. This is one to watch and to make sure the voice of the pro-choice majority is heard loud and clear - abortion care should be equal to and as good as all other aspects of health care but it should not be subject to unnecessary change, additional hurdles and regulation. And lets be very clear abortion provision is regulated by CQC.

I have spent a week in Cornwall enjoying extreme rain and late September sun with lovely friends. In the middle of the week I spent a morning with staff from Brook Cornwall about what the Brook change programme means for them and exploring their hopes and learning more about the particular local context they are working in. I then went to the stunning Dartington Hall in Devon to spend the evening at the SW Region Public Health Conference at which I was delighted to learn that Gabriel Scally has been appointed as Chief of the clusters of Strategic Health Authorities in the South of England. The pre-dinner presentation on the environment and health was fascinating particularly the pilots being undertaken in Cornish workplaces to improve the relationship between health and productivity.

The Family Education Trust has published their report Unhealthy Confusion, which unsurprisingly argues that a healthy school does not need to provide sex and relationships education. I of course do not agree with this supposition at all - how can a school be a healthy school if children are not learning about relationships both to help them in their relationships within school, their emotional development and ability to seek and ask for help as well as play a pivotal role in safeguarding and protecting children from harm?

The Lib Dems conference took place in Birmingham and the Labour Party Conference has taken place in Liverpool, with just the Conservatives left next week in Manchester.
It was great to see old colleagues and friends, as well as meet new ones and particular pleased at how many local councillors are really interested in ensuring the sexual health needs of their population are met in the changing context. I cannot emphasise enough how important it is for all of us interested in sexual health to make contact with local councillors to ask questions, provide information and ensure that teenage pregnancy and sexual health stays on their radar - they have a lot of plates spinning right now.

On being young and 'youngpeopleiphobia'

2011-09-03T03:15:00.001-07:00

I don't know whether I have a mid life moment coming on, but I tend to think a lot about age. A few weeks ago Miranda Sawyer wrote about being middle aged in the Observer. There are not many articles that I read more than once, but this one struck a chord. You can find it here http://bit.ly/nD986L

But thinking about age is not new, I have often written here about the importance of remembering what it feels like to be young - real empathy with and understanding about the realities of young people is an outstanding quality of Brook staff that I see time and time again as I visit Brook Centres.

On a day to day basis, like most people I don't feel too different than I did when I was in my mid 20s. Yet more and more I look in the mirror and am surprised to see my Dad looking back at me. There are tell tales signs that I am no longer 18; fast onset of greying hair, my increasing love of celebrating Friday with a quiet night in, rather than a night of partying that ends at dawn, I constantly check my watch if out in the week to ensure I am home before 10.30. These little things have all crept up on me without even noticing mostly.

We do however need to think and talk about age. We need to be clear what our offer is for young people in the UK. I want young people to be young. I want young people to have a chance to influence decisions that affect them, and I want young people to be treated like they are young - not in a patronising way but in a way that recognises a 15 year old should not have the same responsibilities as they likely will later in life. I know that circumstances mean that some young people - those who are carers for example - do have responsibilities and it is vital that they also are given the support to fulfil these, and the space to be young.

When I think about age a lot it is triggered by memories - in the last 48 hours I had a phone call from a friend I haven't seen for 20 years; on thursday friends I went to Ibiza with over a decade ago have gone again - I will never know on balance whether I am deeply envious or deeply relieved I said no. I know how tiring it is. Yesterday I cycled past the old site where our favourite club in Kings Cross - The Cross - used to be and smiled to myself remembering how wonky I often felt when we left. This morning I have been planning for our trip to Cornwall later this month with my group of friends who spent much of our late teens, twenties and thirties together. And as I have been planning I have reflected a bit on how our lives have changed and developed. How responsibilities and roles have shifted - as friends, partners, employees, partners, uncles and aunts.

I don't write this to be self indulgent but to reflect on what we want for our young people. At Brook we know that how young people's experiences of being loved and cared for and allowed to realise their rights impacts on how they manage their relationships and sexual choices. We also know that most young people want to be and are responsible.

There has been lots of talk of how young people are going wrong in the post riot weeks and the importance of instilling responsibility in young people. I agree with the premise of responsibility, and at the same time I worry about some of the suggested means to do so. I am a responsible active citizen. I want to contribute to making things better. But that was not instilled in me with hefty discipline or ASBOs. It was through being loved and cared for, having an extended family that introduced expectations, created boundaries and told me clearly when I had crossed the line. Through having the opportunity to take risks and (often) get hurt because I took them. It happened because I was allowed to be young - not treated as a child, but not expected to be a 'fully fledged adult' either, and it happened most of all because I had the opportunity and the encouragement to do things I wanted to do and to achieve. All young people deserve this.

Over the last few weeks I have been discussing the riots with people I count as socially liberal. The riots, or more probably the reporting of them, have sparked a deep belly anger in many of these people and specifically soured their views of young people. And some seem to have lost their skills of discernment, failing to recognise this was a small minority of young people (with adults) and that the majority of young people were not involved. I hope the post riot analysis takes us to the root causes of the problems and as a country we think carefully about what our offer is for young people. Without a firm offer for all young people that we make sure we deliver on, even without a crystal ball I predict further unrest. Worse than that, too many young people will not have the chance to be young and create a happy memory bank and learn vital skills to manage their lives now and in the future.

The government is currently consulting on its Positive for Youth initiative - find out about it and respond here - http://bit.ly/q673GQ.

If you, like me, think being young should be the time of your life please stand up for young people and continue challenging the negative perceptions and assumptions that underpin one of the socially acceptable prejudices of our time - 'youngpeopleiphobia'.

Stand up for women's right to choose

2011-08-31T09:38:00.000-07:00

Brook knows from our long history of providing pregnancy choices counselling that when a young woman finds out she is pregnant she needs support from a highly skilled professional who provides a safe space where she can understand her choices fully, and enables her to make her own decisions about whether or not to continue the pregnancy without fear of judgement or reprise. That is, I believe the right of any (young) woman who wants counselling.

This counselling for women (who may or may not go on to have an abortion) is in the news because the Health and Social Care Bill is before Parliament next week. If successful an amendment to the Bill, laid down by Frank Field and Nadine Dorries, would stop those who provide abortion such as BPAS and Marie Stopes to provide that counselling. This is an unnecessary and unhelpful amendment based on the premise that those who provide abortions are driven by profit - Hmm - interesting they are non profits. And they are regulated by Care Quality Commission.

Field said on Newsnight last night that he had no evidence of 'wrong doing'. He went on to say there was no evidence of mis-selling pensions until it was investigated. As Zoe Williams writing in the Guardian today http://bit.ly/nMcN8R said 'then lets investigate' instead of aiming to use backstreet politics to create policy and legislation based on myth, misinformation and lies.

I won't rehearse those myths and lies here, but this amendment is dangerous. It is dangerous for a number of reasons. Firstly it is not based on science nor is there evidence of a problem that needs fixing. Secondly stopping those who provide abortions will delay and block access - this still happens too much anyway. We really don't need more delays and blocks in the system. Those distressed young women who contact Brook because they have been blocked or experienced unbearable delays bear witness to that. And it is dangerous because the motivation of some organisations who currently provide counselling and seek to provide more 'independent counselling' is to frighten and scare women away from abortion thus restricting their right to choose (see Education for Choice mystery shopping report for more information http://bit.ly/mVCcP6.

Finally it is dangerous because abortion law and policy cannot be driven by anything other than science. That is wrong. Other attacks such as the one on the time limit can only have legs if abortion law becomes separated from science.

Those (young) women faced with a decision to make about whether to continue with her pregnancy WANTING counselling deserve the highest standard counselling which is non-judgemental, non-directive and impartial. Full stop. This amendment to the Health and Social Care Bill will not take us closer to that goal. I urge you to write to your MP NOW and tell them you oppose the proposed changes to pregnancy choices counselling. Follow this link to FPA's website and find out how http://bit.ly/nxbMmW

Chlamydia screening - tell us what you think

2011-08-11T03:12:00.000-07:00

If you are under 25, or work with people under 25 Brook needs your help! We have been commissioned by the National Chlamydia Screening Programme to seek young people's views on chlamydia screening. This is an important opportunity to ensure young people's views are heard in the next phase of development - so if you are under 25 please click on the link below and get your voices heard, and if you work with young people please can you disseminate this as far and wide as you can visit the Brook website or go straight to the survey here

Looking in and beyond the Brook gates

2011-08-03T22:40:00.000-07:00

Over recent weeks I have been travelling around the country visiting Brook services and meeting/seeing again the Brook staff teams working across Brook's clinical and support services, education and our advocacy and lobbying work. It is a true pleasure spending time with my colleagues who are working with young people day in day out; and from each and every session I have left energised, inspired by their creativity and passion, and with further clear ideas about what they want from their Chief Executive and their experience of the new Brook organisation.

As one person said, 'I come to work each day not quite knowing what I am going to find, and I always go home knowing that if I have helped at least one young person even just a little bit then it has been a good day'. And this sentiment was echoed often and I was particularly struck by one colleague who said 'in my work I do a lot of work with young women - lots of them are being hurt or not enjoying their relationships and through the work we do I try to help them see that is not good enough for them and they deserve me, and when someone comes back and says I've had enough, or I tried this instead today and it worked, that gives me a real buzz.'

Meanwhile in the national team in Kentish Town our cohort 3 volunteers left us last week - this cohort devised and developed the sex: positive campaign and worked hard and tirelessly to convince many stakeholders of its value. I am immensely proud of their work, and of their individual and group achievements. They brought their own buzz into the office and whilst we will miss them, of course most of all we wish them well and welcome the new volunteers working in both our Kentish Town and Oldham offices.

Whilst spending my hours on the train I am trying to both keep away from too many sandwiches, and keep on top of the policy documents and what is happening. Most notably Positive for Youth, and the PSHE Education review, both from Department for Education.

Positive for Youth is important because it sets the framework for a positive approach to working with young people. There is much to be liked about the tone and content of some of the discussion papers, and I am delighted the health and well being paper emphasises the importance of sex and relationships education and services, and highlights the Brook @besexpositive campaign (www.sexpositive.org.uk). Like many others I am keen to really understand further how this translates to action and dovetails with other initiatives.

The PSHE review was launched by DfE at the end of July and this is an important opportunity to influence the future of PSHE Education including sex and relationships education. In the scope of the document it states that sex education is statutory and that schools must have regard for the sex and relationship education guidance therefore no further changes are needed to legislation. It is absolutely true science contains some 'sex education' and that 'secondary schools must provide a programme which includes as a minimum teaching about STDs including HIV and AIDS' and it is true they must have regard to the sex and relationships education guidance. The unspoken bit here though is they must pay regard to the guidance IF they deliver SRE outside of the statutory minimum which we know so many many schools don't. And young people tell us they suffer from poor quality SRE as a result.

Brook is also concerned the review document does not include consideration of withdrawing the parental right of withdrawal. The UK is signed up to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and there is evidence of this government listening to young people - so I fail to understand a) how we will ensure the entitlement of all children and young people and b) why when there are so many young people telling us their sex and relationships education is not good enough decade after decade, and there is a huge majority consensus from parents and professionals about the need for SRE that it continues to be played a curriculum subject that gets politicised. Only when it becomes as normal and everyday as maths and english will children and young people get the education about relationships, emotions, sexuality and sex education they want and deserve to help them navigate their way through the complexity of the 21st Century.

We will be working with FPA to prepare a full submission to the PSHE Education Review consultation.

And whilst the Positive for Youth discussion papers and the PSHE Education review are in the public domain, we also know that proposals are being considered with regard provision of pregnancy choices counselling, and whether abortion providers will be able to provide this counselling in the future. You can see Brook and FPA briefing and advice about what you can do to let your views be known here http://bit.ly/owp9pG

Finally in the Westminster village, we await the Lords Select Committee report on HIV in early September which I am hopeful will provide strong support for improving the quality and quantity of SRE.

Tonight I am going to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival which I am looking forward to, and am taking the opportunity to visit the new integrated sexual health service recently launched in Edinburgh. To pack my shorts or my raincoat was a dilemma last night, but this morning I think it is definitely raincoat.

Have you pledged to be sex: positive? Its free, its easy and it takes two minutes, just click here http://bit.ly/nOphPt

'I will never forget how kind the Counsellor was'

2011-07-03T05:47:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went to a friend's birthday. The usual round of what do you do party conversations led a small group of us to talk about the abortion stories in the news recently, and Brook's role in supporting young women through their pregnancy choices.

One woman now in her 40s told me about her experience at Brook. She gave permission for me to tell her story here.

She became pregnant in her early 20s and really wasn't sure whether she wanted to keep the baby or have an abortion - her instinct said she wanted an abortion, but she needed both practical and emotional support to think. She spent time with a Brook counsellor working through her options and through that process she decided she wanted to keep the baby, even if it impacted on her relationship with her partner which she feared it would. She was helped to think through and prepare for the different scenarios, and practised how she would tell her partner and her parents about the pregnancy.

She described her experience like this; 'The counsellor was a wonderful woman who cared about what I wanted. She helped me by listening, asking questions and questioning my assumptions and later she offered practical tips about how to explain MY feelings about the situation and MY decision to keep the baby to my partner and family. She gave time for me to practise it'.

And that for me is a perfect example of how pregnancy choices counselling should be - focused on the needs and choices of the woman, providing a safe space for her to explore the choices available to her and having done so to make her decision without any bias or direction from the counsellor about what is the best option. As always when I hear these types of stories I felt proud of the work of Brook staff - this just one example, of which I hear so many, about the difference Brook has made and continues to make on a day to day basis over the decades to many individual woman's lives. Women's right to objective pregnancy choices counselling must be preserved, maintained and protected. That is an absolute fact.

22nd June - my big day

2011-06-23T14:22:00.000-07:00

For two reasons;

Firstly I was appointed as Chief Executive of Brook which is an absolute privilege and an honour. I am really looking forward to working with colleagues, partners and stakeholders.

And Brook held our first ever joint parliamentary reception at the House of Lords with the FPA (www.fpa.org.uk). Brook and FPA recently announced a formal collaboration to ensure we make the greatest difference for those we serve. I am really grateful to Brook's President Baroness Massey of Darwen and FPA's President Baroness Gould of Potternewton for hosting the reception which was a wonderful opportunity to see friends, colleagues and partners who make such a difference to sexual health.

Public Health Minister, Anne Milton spoke and confirmed that sexual health is an important issue for the Government. She also reminded us that it is always the squeaky wheels that get oiled, and that constituency MPs need to be influenced - get writing and contacting them about the importance of sexual and reproductive health.

So I urge you, the majority who support people's sexual rights to get your voice heard, in a non squeaky way to make sure the views of the majority are the wheels that are oiled. We as the majority who support sex and relationships education, who trust young people, who are pro-choice and want people to be able to enjoy and take responsibility for their sexual health need to take heed of Anne's message. It is important not to be complacent or take those rights for granted because the small, but vocal, minority are ensuring that MPs, Ministers and other decision makers are hearing their views. Just look at Hansard and the increasing number of questions for evidence.

We have to ensure our support for contraceptive and reproductive choice, sex and relationships education and positive sexual rights is heard loud and clear - from Brook's perspective that means making sure young people get evidence based, accurate and factual information, skills development in education, as well as clinical services and support.

Also speaking at our reception was Gabriel Scally, regional director of public health for the SW who urged all of us to make Director's of Public Health our allies as responsibilities for sexual health move to Local Authorities; Ian and Carol, parents involved in FPA's Speakeasy Programme told how the programme had helped make a real difference to the way they communicate with their children about relationships and sex; and Brook's Sex: Positive campaign volunteers Lucy, Chris and Gloria told the negative attitudes about young people and sex have to change (see www.sexpostive.org.uk) and why we must support the sex: positive campaign. All the speeches inspired and inspiring.

The reception was a wonderful celebration of all that is good in sexual health work and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Speaking truth to power

2011-06-20T04:52:00.000-07:00

Last week we saw the news that STI rates amongst young people had reduced. Over a decade ago when developing the sexual health and HIV strategy many of us predicted this would happen as we tested more young people and diagnosed previously undiagnosed infection. We also predicted it would initially look like rates were increasing. Great news that we are now seeing a reduction in STI rates amongst young people.

Similarly when the last TP rates were released we again saw a reduction in the number of teenage pregnancies. Both of these stats, coupled with evidence of a growing majority consensus about the importance of good quality sex and relationships education and improving access to services for young people indicate that at the end of the original TP strategy and the strategy for sexual health and HIV we are making headway in improving young people's sexual health - it is clear that we are on the right track and we must continue being driven by the evidence of what works.

But it is increasingly obvious that this progress hangs in the balance. I am having an increasing number of discussions with colleagues in the public and voluntary sector across the country who are facing cuts which they are really concerned put improvements in young people's sexual health at risk.

The math behind this one is simple - if we don't invest in education and prevention including contraceptive and sexual health services, then significantly more investment will be required to test and treat for sexually transmitted infections and for maternity and abortion services. And of course these costs will not be incurred 5 years down the line - they will often be in the same financial year.

At the same time, for whatever reason it seems the message that progress has been made, is not being heard by some. Some journalists and others are clearly reluctant to agree or report on progress, opting instead for tales of 'soaring rates'. Locally the champions for young people's sexual health are reducing in number - many are being made redundant, redeployed or with a generic/wide brief.

Like hundreds and thousands of others, I have worked too hard over the last 15 years, I don't want to see the progress in provision of support to young people decline. We know so much more about what young people want and need to be confident in their sexuality and sexual choices. We also know so much about what works. So its important that we replace some myths with facts and speak truth to power truth clearly and consistently. Here are some of the things I keep saying, and encourage you to do the same.

young people have a right to high quality sex and relationships education at home and school, and they must be able to access services

neither teenage pregnancy rates, or sexually transmitted infections are soaring: data demonstrates that we are on the right track and we need to do more, not less, learning the lessons of the past decade about what works

good quality SRE and services does work in improving young people's sexual health - our evidence is there

investing in sexual health makes good economic sense - if we don't invest early then we will pay later

teenage pregnancy and sexual health continue to be important issues for this Coalition Government and this priority must be translated into local delivery.

Desiderata states we should speak 'our truth quietly and clearly'. In the context of structural change and cuts to services I shall continue to do so at every opportunity, and I know I will not be alone. If you haven't already visit www.sexpositive.org.uk and support our young people's campaign to create a sex: positive future. Its quick, free, easy and important as it will help create a positive open culture where young people can both enjoy and take responsibility for their sexual and relationship choices and sexual health.

Follow me on twitter @simonablake
Follow Brook @brookcharity or @besexpositive
Be our friend on facebook - brookcharity

Slutwalk: rape and sexual assault

2011-06-10T00:33:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow's SlutWalk in London, and the slut walk movement across the world has sparked a lot of debate in our office and having talked to our colleagues in FPA we know there are differences of opinion at FPA too. Not the stand it is making - everyone agrees that sexual assault and rape is always unacceptable and that it is always always always wrong to blame victims of sexual assault for the crime. But mirroring discussions on the street, in schools, women's groups and households across the world we are divided about the use of the term 'slut' and about the ambition of the campaign to 'reappropriate' the word.

These questions are really useful and interesting questions and ones that I hope will continue to be debated and discussed - there is no doubt the debate about language can be useful - but like so many things sometimes the process of debate and discussion can become polarised and the debate and discussion becomes the task rather than actually getting on and changing attitudes and behaviours about the core issues. So to be absolutely clear on this one, whatever you or I think about the term slut and the validity of reappropriation lets us all be very clear that that rape is always unacceptable. Attackers are responsible for rape and sexual assault, never, ever the person who is raped or assaulted.

Brook and FPA respond to the Bailey Review

2011-06-06T14:15:00.000-07:00

Below is a joint statement from Brook and the sexual health charity FPA responding to the Bailey Review and its recommendations:

We welcome the publication of this report, ‘Letting children be children’, and its recommendations on addressing the commercialisation and sexualisation of children and young people.

Schools have an important part to play in helping children and young people build confidence and self esteem, so they can understand and critically analyse sexualised images and messages enabling them to be resilient to their impact. Therefore we believe this is a missed opportunity not to recognize the role of good quality relationship and sex education in schools, as one of the report’s key recommendations.

We welcome measures that help parents voice their concerns, but we also think more can be done to support parents to have a dialogue about these issues in the home. In our opinion it's far more beneficial for parents to have a discussion with their children about why, for example, pornography presents an unrealistic picture of sex, than to just report the fact that their child accessed it.

FPA and Brook work with thousands of young people and parents every year. Young people tell us they are often ill-equipped to deal with a highly sexualised society. Parents want to work with schools to address this hugely important issue. We urge the Government to consider the role of statutory sex and relationships education along with the other recommendations proposed in ‘Letting Children be children.'

Clueless to some: reasonable to others

2011-06-03T09:25:00.000-07:00

I grew up in Cornwall by the sea. I am there now, overlooking the beach and talking to a few old friends who know what I do. As you would expect given the last few weeks comments ranging from 'saw you in the paper; heard you on the radio; what's that MP woman on about?/she's got a point you know; why should/n't Life be on the group?

And as I listened and talked to liberal people, it becomes more and more clear that even though the majority of people in the UK are pro-choice, want to make sure children are not 'sexualised' early and want good sex and relationships education at home and school, Nadine Dorries call for 'abstinence education for young women' has come across as reasonable to some, even though it is clear to some experts in sex and relationships education that she is clueless.

And the difficulty we have is that whilst there is no evidence that abstinence education (for girls and or boys) works, all of us would agree that we want young people - women and men - to be able to say no to sex unless they are ready to enjoy and take responsibility for it. So Dorries is linking an outcome we would all agree with (being able to say no to sex), with an input that the evidence doesn't support (abstinence education). And so for the average joe on the street, her argument can sound reasonable. And that is especially true when it is combined with fear generated from confident stories of seven year olds being taught to put condoms on a banana (who would want that IF it happened) and that sex and relationships education doesn't include saying no (where it doesn't include saying no it isn't good SRE).

So whether we like or not the majority in support of SRE need to have soundbites - a simple narrative that reassures parents, carers and others worried about sexualisation, who reads the papers and believes that people are having sex earlier and earlier and teenage pregnancy rates are rocketing (neither is true). As I understand it from the parents I have spoken to today they need to be reassured that SRE is a good thing, that it helps prepare children to move from puberty through to adolescence confidently, that the evidence shows that good quality SRE actually delays sex and equips young people to negotiate and use contraception when they choose to have sex. And that it reassures them that sex and relationships education is a sensible part of the solution to TP, STIs and sexualisation, not part of the problem.

So the task we have on our hands is a major task of education about what sex and relationships education is, and a real imperative not to be clumsy with language about these issues.

A decade ago, I visited the USA to learn more about their work to teach young people about sex (or not) and it was clear that it wasn't working then - luckily Obama finally listened to the evidence and withdrew funding. To summarise some of the things I learnt;

don't mix up abstinence with abstinence education - abstinence - not having sex is fine, good, proper and healthy. Abstinence education is not fine, good, proper or healthy because its value base is wrong and there is no evidence to support it.

recognise there is no such thing as an 'abstinence based approach to sex and relationships education' - abstinence education is different in values and approach than sex and relationships education.

good quality sex and relationships education should be called sex and relationships education, full stop. Comprehensive sex and relationships education makes it sound like there is a different sort - non comprehensive. There isn't, sex and relationships education is either good quality or it isn't. If it isn't comprehensive then it isn't good quality. When it is good quality it includes relationships, real life dilemmas, saying yes, saying no, saying maybe.

we must not allow the public to misunderstand what sex and relationships is about, what it includes, how it is delivered and to believe that it only focuses on sex.

we must ensure everyone knows that parents are/should be the first sex educator, that children want them to be; and that schools and youth services work in partnership with parents to ensure children and young people get a rounded education, as you would expect in all other walks of life - maths, food, diet, safety etc. The myth that some perpetuate that parents are undermined by education about sex and relationships is pernicious

The full report is available from from National Children's Bureau - Just Say No! to sex and relationships education; Blake and Frances (2001)

Finally, it is probably time we stopped talking about changing the order of the words from sex and relationships education, to relationships and sex education, and just do it. If we do that it seems there will be more time to actually do the work - after all, we must not mistake the process (talking about SRE/RSE) for the task (delivering SRE/RSE).

The Bailey Review on sexualisation is published on Monday - let's hope that recognises that RSE is part of the solution to help children grow up confident about relationships and sex, and that it recognises the excellent work that programmes like the FPA's Speakeasy programme helping parents get confident talking about sex and relationships do.

15th birthday celebrations for Brook Manchester

2011-06-03T03:46:00.000-07:00

It’s Brook Manchester’s 15th birthday this year for which we are celebrating by holding a fundraiser. It’s taking place at the MacDonald Hotel, Piccadilly, Manchester on Saturday 11 June at 7:30pm.

If you would like to come along to help celebrate the tickets are £15 (one pound for every year) and this includes entry, food, comedy, music and some excellent prizes on offer. These include football memorabilia from Everton FC, Bolton FC and Manchester City FC, original art work and tickets for a variety of events.

You can contact alih@brookmanchester.org.uk for tickets or ring 0161 233 2192.

Guest blog from Jules Hillier, Brook’s Interim Deputy Chief Exec

2011-05-26T06:52:00.000-07:00

Today, I’m handing over to Jules Hillier, Brook’s Interim Deputy Chief Exec, who is guest-blogging her thoughts on the presence of Life on the Sexual Health Forum.

Jules says,

“Like many, my first response to the news that Life had been given a place on the Government’s Sexual Health Forum was a sharp intake of breath and a rush of anger. There’s so much history between the pro-choice and the anti-choice movement and much of it is bitter and personal.

Anyone who’s been on the sharp end of anti-choice campaigning tactics – the call I had when I was pregnant saying they hoped my baby died of a sex infection, having to draft ‘parcel bomb policies’ to protect staff in the 90s, the name-calling (we’re baby-killers, pornographers and child sex advocates, don’t you know), the intimidation of young people accessing services - will struggle with the idea of sharing a platform with any anti-choice organisation.

When my first flush of anger subsided, I reflected for a while to see if I could find a less emotional reaction, and I thought about Brook’s work. Here, through our education work, we aim to help young people to set, understand and respect boundaries, to develop and hold values, to negotiate relationships and to build a level of self esteem and self confidence which will enable them to navigate whatever life and relationships throw at them.

We do all this, and more, not just because we are passionate, committed and motivated to improve young people’s lives, but also because we have the evidence which tells us that this work, combined with our clinical, advice, information and counselling services will make a difference.

It would be a shame, wouldn’t it, I told myself, wagging my finger, if we weren’t able to adopt the same approach to difficult situations as adults that we aim to help young people develop through our work.

So, I took a deep breath, thought about the 260,000 young people who come to us for help and support every year, thought about the 600 talented and committed staff who work with them and thought about all the other excellent organisations in the field who make a difference to young people’s lives every day. And I realised that all that good work will continue regardless of the make up of a government forum on which Brook still has a confident, values driven, evidence based position. And from that position, we can ensure that the voices of young people are put front and centre and their needs are always paramount, just as we have always done.”

Just Love Safe - National Condom Week 2011

2011-05-16T14:47:00.000-07:00

Another year has gone by quickly, too quickly, the arrival of National Condom Week is testament to that. Last year I wrote this;

'I am starting to measure my years in how quickly national condom week comes around - this is now the fourth NCW since I have been at Brook, and it seems inconceivable that it is a year since I was setting the challenge to answer condoms to any questions you are asked, just for a laugh, and to see people's face as you do so. Over the last four years, this challenge has been met with extreme reactions - at the one end, it has been suggested I should be punched and at the other people have emailed to say it has made them laugh and the other person bemused, and others have said it stimulated some really interesting conversation. Try it and see what response you get. I take no responsibility if you get the punch.'

And, I challenge you again this year - my fifth NCW since being at Brook - to see how many times you can talk to people about condoms during NCW. Talk about them even when it doesn't make sense to talk about them, find out and tell people facts about condoms - there are lots of them - it doesn't matter which facts, just find ways to talk about them.

This year NCW theme is about protecting yourself this summer. Supported by boy band, JLS. And Durex in conjunction with the JLS Foundation and Brook has launched a Just Love Safe survey - www.durexsurvey.co.uk - do the survey and have your chance to win tickets to meet the band backstage or win an ipad.

Join us in campaigning for a sex: positive society at www.sexpositive.org.uk

@brookcharity

@besexpositive

@simonablake

Become a friend on Facebook @brookcharity

Radio 4 Woman's Hour yesterday

2011-05-10T04:10:00.000-07:00

I was interviewed yesterday morning on BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour about abstinence/sex and relationships education and the ten minute rule motion by Nadine Dorries MP last week.

I highlighted how important it was that we listen to what young people tell us. For well over a decade young people (both boys and girls) have been saying that they want to learn more about emotions, and more about relationships and real life situations.

The evidence about what works supports their view, it’s time to stop the circular debate and for government to provide a clear mandate and ensure the mechanisms are in place so that teachers can get on with the delivery of high quality sex and relationships education.

Any debate that polarises views about SRE is unhelpful when there is a broad consensus amongst children, parents and professionals about what needs to be delivered. It’s time to recognise that abstinence education has been so discredited by the evidence that it’s hardly worthy of debate.

The link to listen to the interview again is: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b010xw4x and the piece starts about 12 and a half minutes in.

Lies, misinformation and circular debates

2011-05-06T10:07:00.000-07:00

This week gave me another reason to believe Brook's sex: positive campaign is vital. More lies, more misinformation and more circular debate - this time about sex and relationships education.

On Wednesday a 10 minute rule Bill brought forward by Nadine Dorries which was voted to pass to second reading. The 10 minute rule Bill proposed providing girls aged 13 - 16 with lessons on abstinence. This completely disregards what children and young people have been telling us for decades - sex and relationships education needs to include more about relationships, real life dilemmas, emotions, peer pressure and influence, gender, sexuality etc etc.

I agree completely with Chris Bryant that it is ludicrous legislation and thankfully I agree with John Smeaton from SPUC who noted there is a slim chance of it going anywhere at the next stage.

But of course it did provide another liberal dusting of misinformation and myth about what teachers do in the classroom. It is disrespectful of and can frighten those doing a good job helping children and young people navigate their way through a sexualised world. Given that we know providing good quality SRE is part of the solution, not part of the problem we really don't want to undermine people's confidence.

The premise underpinning the Bill is wrong on many levels. It is wrong because it disregards the broad consensus amongst parents, children and professionals who agree that we should be providing comprehensive sex and relationships education in schools. It is wrong because it ignores completely the evidence that discredits abstinence only education and it ignores the evidence that shows comprehensive sex and relationships education helps delay first sex and ensures young people use contraception when they do choose to have sex.

And it is wrong because it feeds the myth making and fear machine that prevents real progress in this area. I have never seen or heard of 7 year olds being taught how to put a condom on a banana in the classroom. Have you? And if I did I would think it was inappropriate. Would you?

Finally it is wrong because it suggests we don't know that learning about saying yes, saying no, saying maybe, learning about consent and pressure, individual choice and autonomy and developing self respect, confidence and communication skills is a fundamental part of sex and relationships education at the secondary school.

A small minority of people may support this Bill. I, like most people, am not of their number. Are you? So to the teachers, youth workers and others doing excellent sex and relationships education thank you for the work that you do day in day out to help support our children and young people. Most sensible adults appreciate the work you do enormously.

Pledge for the sex:positive campaign at www.sexpositive.org.uk

Why it's so important to listen to young people - latest blog from our young volunteers

2011-05-05T08:27:00.000-07:00

One of our young volunteers has published a fantastic blog on the recent tackling teen pregnancy seminar and the ‘sexualisation’ of young people.

http://besexpositive.tumblr.com/post/5215387084/volunteer-lucy-on-the-tackling-teen-pregnancy

Follow their Sex:Positive campaign on Twitter @besexpositive and pledge your support (free) for a Sex:Positive future http://www.sexpositive.org.uk/

Watch this: evidence of the importance of listening to young people

2011-04-28T04:01:00.000-07:00

A great new video from the V team at Brook about why it is so important to listen to young people as part of the sex: positive campaign. I really recommend watching it and ask you to tweet it, share it and recommend it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-xejm0jTRM

DH court ruling on late abortion data

2011-04-21T09:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the Department of Health lost a court battle challenging an Information Tribunal decision from October 2009 which means that data on late abortions must be disclosed.

This is extremely disappointing and the potential for individual women, particularly young women, and doctors carrying out the procedure to be identified is deeply worrying and unethical.

The link to an article in the Telegraph (which quotes Brook) is here.

Just a kiss

2011-04-17T22:31:00.001-07:00

It is when I hear stories about two people of the same sex getting thrown out of a pub for kissing that I realise how vital Brook's sex:positive campaign is.

Now I wasn't there, and I don't know the details but on face value, being thrown out of a pub in the 21st Century for a 'gay kiss' is quite remarkable. Perhaps even more remarkable because this was a pub in Soho in our capital city. And I am delighted there was direct action taken by hundreds on Friday night. Voicing our immediate objections about unfairness, prejudice and social injustice is vital.

And so is taking the long term view - changing our still wonky culture about sex and sexuality is key to enabling young people to grow up able to enjoy their sexuality and safe from harm. This remains one of the most important tasks we face.

Day in, day out at Brook we see young people who are ashamed, worried, embarrassed and confused about sex and sexuality. Young people who want and need adults to help them navigate their way through adolescence and into adulthood. And it makes me both angry and sad that our society is willing to judge and demonise young people: on the one hand chastising them to be more responsible and more moral, yet at the same time denying them the basic information, education, support and access to services that is vital in helping them to manage their lives both now and in the future, and enabling them to make relationship and sexual choices they can both enjoy and take responsibility for.

And that is the basic premise of the www.sexpositive.org.uk campaign - we must all do our bit to ensure that young people grow up in a sex:positive world. A world where they grow up confident in their own skin, equipped with the full range of life skills they need to take control of and responsibility for their choices and only choosing to have sex when they want to, because it is right for them. So are you doing your bit to improve the culture for young people? It doesn't need to cost money - simply speaking out in support of young people, listening to their views about issues, challenging the sensationalist journalism that reports on increasing rates of teenage pregnancies when the opposite is true, challenging the outrage that comes pouring in when skilled professionals are putting the evidence about what works into practise, providing access to information - none of these things costs money.

And if you are committed to the cause and doing your bit, have you pledged to be sex:positive yet? If not, please go to www.sexpositive.org.uk and pledge now. Its free, its easy and its important. We cannot allow another generation of young people to grow up without the education and support they need. It is morally wrong to do so and unless we take an active stand, situations like that reported at the John Snow pub will continue to happen far too frequently. Most of the time we will never hear about it but that doesn't make it any less wrong.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
follow us on twitter
@simonablake
@brookcharity
@BeSexPositive

Become a friend of brookcharity on facebook

Pledge for the sex:positive campaign

Recruitment of new trustees

2011-04-06T05:20:00.000-07:00

Brook is looking for six trustees who will lead the organisation through an unprecedented time of organisational change.

At Brook we are passionate about young people’s sexual rights and as a trustee you will provide commitment and direction to advance our radical approach to young people’s sexual health.

The specific roles Brook is recruiting are:

Treasurer: to provide financial leadership to the board.

Service users (two vacancies): to ensure the perspective of actual or potential service users on the board.

Lead trustee – clinical governance: to provide leadership on clinical governance and chair the sub committee on clinical excellence.

Lead trustee – safeguarding: to provide leadership on safeguarding and protecting young people, and chair the subcommittee on safeguarding.

Trustee: parliamentary experience - to provide expertise on influencing parliamentarians across the UK.

The commitment equates to between 8 – 12 days a year and the roles are voluntary (with out of pocket expenses paid).

If you are interested in applying you can download further information here.

Scout Association - new sex and relationships programme and resource

2011-04-05T02:33:00.000-07:00

Today the Scout Association launched a national relationships and sexual health programme, My body, my choice, and published a resource for Scout Leaders plus a handout for young people.

Local leaders will run the programme aimed at Explorer Scouts (aged between 14-18). Brook really welcomes the initiative and the introduction of this type of no nonsense material, and commend the Chief Scout Bear Grylls for being so supportive of this important area.

The resource provides guidance for leaders on how to approach sex and relationships issues, as well as activities and games to help young people to think about various issues.

The material is clear and simple and is exactly the type of information young people tell us they need to help them understand how their bodies work and to help them make informed decisions about these matters.

You can find out more about the resource here.

-------------------------------------------------- Help us create a sex:positive society - pledge your support (free, quick and very easy) at http://www.sexpositive.org.uk/. Follow us on twitter @simonablake @brookcharity @BeSexPositive. Facebook - BrookCharity

Saturday 2nd April 2011 - my big mixed week

2011-04-02T04:14:00.001-07:00

Its been both a joyous and a sad week. And a very big and momentous week at Brook. And as a result this morning I was so tired this morning I could hardly stand up. It was the need for breakfast that finally forced me to get out of bed.

Yesterday we launched the new Brook organisation. To make this happen, on Thursday the national office board who owned the Brook licence, brand and trademarks etc, assigned all the rights to the new Brook board and the Brook Network of independently constituted charities became part of one new Brook organisation. Although Brook in Northern Ireland did not join the organisation at this stage discussions continue and all of us remain focused on and committed to meeting the sexual health needs of young people in Northern Ireland with its particular culture around sex and sexuality.

The face of the voluntary and community sector is changing, with unprecedented mergers and collaborations being developed to find creative and thoughtful responses to weather the economic environment and continue delivering services for their users as best as possible. And whilst the economic environment is important and there will be financial benefits in our new structure, Brook's change was based on our strategic requirements following the publication of our strategy over two years ago. A proactive rather than reactive move. And I am sure it is absolutely the right one.

The strategy set out an ambitious goal to double the numbers of young people we reach each year. This change in our organisational design and governance structure will enable us to better achieve this goal. And the discussions and work that got us to April 1st have been robust, challenging and enormous. I am immensely proud to have been part of the process and thank everyone - trustees, staff, consultants, lawyers, supporters for making this incredible journey happen. I particularly want to thank the outgoing national trustees who have been there from the beginning and whose vision, boldness, support and challenge has been truly remarkable. They have been a pleasure to work for and with since I started at Brook in 2006. I will miss them enormously.

And now the real work starts - I keep reminding myself that this is the starting line, not the finishing line! The interim senior management team meets on Monday and Tuesday to identify how we will work effectively together, and establish our priorities for the year. The interim team led by me brings together a mix of existing Centre Directors, national office senior staff and someone new to the organisation which is a heady mix that is absolutely right for the transitional year.

The second phase of trustee recruitment has already begun. We are looking for six new trustees to join an already strong board. We are looking for a 2 service users, a treasurer, as well trustees with expertise in safeguarding, clinical leadership and parliamentary and policy. Further details will be on the brook.org.uk website next week. Do look if you are interested. Recruitment also starts for the permanent CEO later this month with the aim being to get the permanent CEO in post from October 2011.

Thursday was also a sad day: like many other organisations across the country we closed the doors on services for the last time. For us it was our service in Stockton. Young people are now expected to use all age services with a new provider. I cannot believe young people will not lose out under the new arrangements. Whilst I do not agree with the rationale to close specialist services for young people and I don't believe it will generate the savings Stockton is looking for, I sincerely hope the new services provided by sexual health Teeside will be used by young people, particularly the most vulnerable, and that the hard work that has gone into reducing teenage pregnancy rates which remained stubbornly high until the last couple of years, will not be undone. I will watch closely with interest.

I went to the Stockton team's closing party on Wednesday night, and despite the uncertainty for many of them about their individual futures, I was impressed and humbled by their spirit, solidarity and continued commitment to young people in Stockton and to Brook. In the face of difficult cuts, it can be hard to focus on the successes of the service and what has been achieved for young people over the last four years since it opened. The closure was particularly poignant for me as it was the first new service that opened under 'my watch'. Of course it had all the normal bumps along the way, and some more. And through the dogged determination of staff Brook Stockton we had quickly become a respected provider of services and an expert in young people's sexual health. It is ironic and sad that it is closing down when it had really started to fly and make a difference.

I have just had a call from my father whilst I was typing this blog. When I was at Uni in the early 90s I was tipped off about some shares to buy. As far as we knew I had wasted the £100 which I had scraped together from an overdraft, but a letter has arrived and it looks like I may have made 500% on them. A pleasant surprise.

So, tonight I look forward to seeing my partner. It is fair to say I have been absent from home both mentally and physically for the last month or so, and I look forward to spending some proper time catching up on our tales.

Brook and other organisations develop shared messages in response to Public Health Service consultation documents

2011-03-30T06:31:00.000-07:00

Brook has been working together with other sexual health charities and professional bodies to develop shared messages in response to the Public Health Service consultation documents.

These shared messages are from: British Association Sexual Health and HIV, British HIV Association, Brook, Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare, FPA, Medical Foundation for AIDS and Sexual Health (MedFASH), National HIV Nurses Association, Terence Higgins Trust, and National AIDS Trust.

These shared messages address issues raised in the Public Health White Paper, Healthy Lives, Healthy People, and also consultations on the proposed Public Health Outcomes Framework and on funding and commissioning routes for public health – they can be found on Brook’s website at http://www.brook.org.uk/professionals/application/brookpr/index.php?option=com_brookpr&view=article&id=84&Itemid=640

The forthcoming youth policy and less than one week to go

2011-03-28T23:49:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I attended the Minsterial Summit hosted by Tim Loughton and NCVYS to participate in early discussions about the Youth Policy paper due out later this year. Josh Harsant from UKYP along with one of Brook's volunteers and a representative from Young Minds spoke about the importance of getting quality health education, support and services in place for young people. Brook as usual argued about the need for statutory sex and relationships education, high quality young people friendly services, workforce development and a strong shift to develop a positive culture about sex and relationships. Here is the link to an article about the policy in Children and Young People Now http://bit.ly/g8tfmE This week - April 1st - is a landmark in Brook's history as we move from being a Network of independently constituted organisations to one organisation. I have learnt a lot about legal structures, jersey law, due diligence and deeds of assignment over the last year or so. The move is an important one because it was driven by a need to deliver our strategic goal of doubling the numbers of young people we have direct contact with, be a continuously improving organisation, demonstrate our impact and provide value for money. In becoming one organisation there will be many opportunities to share learning more effectively across Brook and maximise the skills and talents of Brook's exceptional staff. I am really looking forward to working with colleagues over the coming months to realise the benefits of coming together in this way in pursuit of improved sexual health for young people. As this will be my last blog before April 1st I want to pay tribute to the outstanding work of all the outgoing trustees across the Brook Network who have spent unknown hours and provided untold expertise and support over many years. Huge appreciation on behalf of the thousands and thousands of young people they/you have helped. -------------------------------------------------- Help us create a sex:positive society - pledge your support (free, quick and very easy) at www.sexpositive.org.uk Follow us on twitter @simonablake @brookcharity @BeSexPositive Facebook - BrookCharity

Using soaps for discussions - Waterloo Road

2011-03-20T10:57:00.000-07:00

Last year as part of the Sex: Worth Talking About campaign, Brook worked with the Department of Health on developing ideas for soap writers to contribute to a positive culture about sex.

And over the last year we have seen many examples of great opportunities for discussion with young people as a result of story lines in a number of soaps such as Christian and Syed in Eastenders, Chesney and Katy, and Sian and Sophie in Coronation Street.

Last week EastEnders featured sexual violence, and similarly today I watched Waterloo Road which has a story line involving Bex and Jess, two sisters, that many young people will already be talking about.

Yesterday at the Brook clinical leads conference, Dr Maddy Coy from London Metropolitan University gave an excellent presentation about sexual violence and exploitation. She told us the evidence from young people is clear - discussion on consent, exploitation and sexual violence is too often absent from sex and relationships education.

So the challenge is in our hands - we all want to reduce the levels of exploitation, coercion and sexual violence so what are we going to do about it? At Brook in Blackburn they have a programme called 'Telling Everyone About Sexual Exploitation', and the clue is in the title - at its most simple we need to talk with everyone about it - young people and indeed adults - so that everyone is aware of the issues; and as parents and professionals we must be able to have a genuine dialogue with young people and be able to recognise the signs.

And this soap coverage of the issues gives us a good trigger for discussing an issue that is still taboo. It was also good to see Waterloo Road with two gay young lads who are fairly comfortable with their sexuality. About a decade ago I wrote a book for Working with Men called Young Gay Men Talking. In the research the young men said they just wanted some everyday story lines in soaps which were not extreme and showed gay young people being happy. This story line does just that.

From sexual exploitation, to gay sexuality, to trust and pregnancy and early fatherhood - in just one episode, Waterloo Road covered a whole multitude of issues. If I was doing face to face work with young people, Waterloo Road is a programme, alongside many others that I would be 'taping' and using clips of.

Here is the link to Barnardos briefing on sexual exploitation http://bit.ly/hmzt8w

-----------

Help Brook create a sex:positive culture - pledge your support - its quick, free and easy - at www.sexpositive.org.uk

Facebook - Brook Charity

Twitter - @simonablake; @BeSexPositive and @Brookcharity

Red Noses and two weeks to go

2011-03-18T13:27:00.000-07:00

I write this watching Comic Relief - getting upset and inspired at the same time and wishing I could do so much more to make a difference. They have just shown the EastEnders clip from last night about Whitney and sexual exploitation. Excellent that EastEnders are tackling head on another important issue. This provides a real opportunity to start the conversations that will ensure young people and adults are aware of sexual exploitation, the process of grooming and how to get help if they are concerned. Brook has a number of projects across the UK working with young people at risk of or involved in sexual exploitation including a project funded by Comic Relief. And we do a lot of training for and working collaboratively with professionals to protect and support young people at risk. The real risk over the coming months and years is that funding for this vital work with some of the most vulnerable young people being exploited through prostitution will not get the support they need. Two weeks today - Friday 1st April - Brook moves from a Network of independent charities to become one organisation. This week I have been continuing visits to Centres and have really enjoyed talking to a number of staff and trustees about the work they are doing, the opportunities to improve young people's sexual health and the challenges in such a fast changing external environment. I have also learnt a lot more than I expected to about Jersey Law this week. Amazing what you learn as you go through change programmes. From Jersey laws I turned to effective organisational decision making. I really recommend Decide and Deliver - 5 steps to breakthrough performance in your organization published by Bain and Company.

On Tuesday I spoke at the Westminster Forum session on Teenage Pregnancy. Alison Hadley did a great presentation on the lessons on reducing teenage pregnancy from the last decade. The key messages are simple - sex and relationships education at home, school and the community and access to young people friendly services are vital. Alison also reminded us that to prevent pregnancy those young people who are having sex need to have access to and use contraception. Lisa Hallgarten from Education for Choice (www.efc.org.uk; @EdforChoice) challenged the notion that we can't talk about sex and relationships in this country - many people can and do, very very well, day in day out.

Lucy and Chris, two of the young volunteers working with Brook, who, despite some nervousness, did brilliantly and talked eloquently about the need to sort out education and services for young people. They challenged us all to think carefully about the messages we give young people about sex.

The meeting was an interesting and lively discussion. I was rather surprised when two delegates took a view about the V team's sex: positive campaign without having looked at it. The suggestion that we call the campaign 'relationships: positive' somewhat missed the point in my view. I encouraged them to look at the campaign pledges (www.sexpositive.org.uk) before deciding what they thought about it. I hope they have because the pledges make sense.

Wednesday I was pleased to be at the first of the Department of Health's Sexual Health Forum set up to advise the Department of Health on sexual health and HIV. I look forward to taking young people's voices and the experience of Brook to inform sexual health policy over the coming months. Today I met with colleagues from the Institute of Ideas and the National Chlamydia Screening Programme before going to the National Audit Office to discuss their forthcoming work on the Compact.

Tomorrow over 20 clinicians from across Brook come together for a conference and I look forward to spending the morning with them. Sexual violence and exploitation is on their agenda. Its a really important issue - well done Comic Relief for bringing the issue into our consciousness.

Three weeks to go!

2011-03-10T22:41:00.000-08:00

Three weeks today - Friday 1st April - Brook moves from a Network of individually constituted organisations to one organisation. The move comes following extensive review and consultation which began in 2009.

In these last few weeks before the change I am travelling to many Centres with the new trustees and the more Centres that I am visiting the more excited I am becoming about the change.

Of course there are many unanswered questions as there always will be in a change programme and through dialogue we are developing the answers. What is so compelling about Brook is the passion for young people; there is so much expertise, so much creativity and so many different areas of excellence and expertise that we will be able to utilise to help us continuously improve, and to drive even greater levels of sharing and innovation.

The visits are making the change exceptionally real. And each time I am at, or leave a Centre after talking to staff and trustees, I am grateful to everyone for participating so thoughtfully and positively through the process, but particularly the trustees - 100 + of them - from across Brook who have invested enormous, time, energy and quality thinking into the process.

In the next two weeks we will begin recruiting for six new trustees including two actual or potential Brook service users. Watch this space for the link to the recruitment pack.

Some people have joked that launching the new organisation April Fools Day is unwise - whilst Brook is a lot of fun, young people's sexual health is no joke, and I look forward to working with colleagues across Brook, young people and partners to achieve our stated intention of becoming bigger, bolder and better to make an even greater impact on young people's sexual health.

Follow me on twitter @simonablake , follow Brook on twitter @brookcharity and @BeSexPositive

Help us achieve long lasting change for a more sex: positive society - sign up to be part of the sex: positive campaign at www.sexpositive.org.uk - its free, quick, easy and VERY important

Brook conference and awards 2011

2011-03-05T05:18:00.001-08:00

On Thursday Brook held our 4th Annual Conference and Awards and many people told me how stimulating and motivating it was. It was from my perspective the best one yet, and the team at Brook who organised the whole event were just brilliant. The theme of the conference was young people, sex and consent. Chaired by Professor Roger Ingham, we had an excellent range of speakers and workshop facilitators, including the V team of volunteers from Brook responsible for http://www.sexpositive.org.uk/ and Anne Milton, Minister for Public Health. Three of the V team talked about their research into young people and consent - as always they took a deep breath and performed brilliantly in front of two hundred delegates. Anne Milton talked about the forthcoming sexual health strategy and the DH sexual health forum which will advise the DH in developing the strategy - I look forward to taking the views of young people and professionals who work with them to that table. In the Q and A, Minister was asked about statutory sex and relationships education. She rightly said statutory does not mean quality. I wholeheartedly agree with that assertion - statutory SRE does however provide a lever for systemic change and I question the viable alternatives to achieve the step change that children and young people tell us they need. None of us want SRE to become a tick box exercise and discussion will continue about statutory SRE and improving quality - but the lesson is clear - don't use statutory as short hand for quality. The policy discussions must run side by side. Minister also commented that more progress needed to be made on reducing teenage pregnancy and improving sexually transmitted infection rates. None of us would disagree with that. Both in the session and at coffee, the challenge back from delegates was how this will be achieved with the level and depth of cuts currently underway. Anne Milton was clearly interested in and committed to sexual health - when asked she was clear that there will be no 'Just Say No' policy discourse under her watch. She was also very clear that young people must of course be supported to develop the confidence and skills to say no to sex. Later presentations included; a young woman who had received excellent SRE and said it was vital guidance that helped her understand her choices - the passion and committment of her teacher who also spoke was so evident. A direct challenge to those who say SRE cannot be done well in school. It clearly can and must be. some evidence from the research and a focus on young men and young women, and it was clear from all the presentations that consent is an important issue that we need to talk about more and more in a positive context - helping young people to develop boundaries and a clear understanding of their right to consent, as well as the skills and confidence to assert their sexual rights, including this fundamental of all them - the right to consent. The Awards were begun because whilst you can win an award for pretty much everything else, there were no awards to celebrate the excellent work that people, young and old, are doing with young people on sexual health. We were delighted to welcome our hosts Marc Elliot and Johnny Partridge (Christian and Syeed in Eastenders) who were brilliant - even though I had to hold my breath through their opening speech as they had promised me it was a 'bit blue' they made me laugh. JLS who are such great champions for young people's sexual health joined us for the evening and presented the Brook/JLS young person of the year award. Their foundation, the JLS Foundation launched at the same time as the Durex JLS range of condoms made its first donation to Brook recently and we are grateful for their financial as well as moral support. Tracey Cox, Zoe Margolis and Carrie Quinlan strong ambassadors and supporters of Brook presented the other awards. The awards winners were;

Sufyaan Patel - Brook/JLS young person of the year

David Bigglestone - UK Sexual Health Professional of the Year

Duke of Edinburgh and Young Parents Project - London Borough of Hounslow

Jennifer Hill from Brook East of England - Brook Employee of the Year

Brook Northern Ireland - Brook innovation of the year

A stunning performance from Heart n Soul concluded the evening (www.heartnsoul.org.uk)

The sponsors of both the conference and awards are absolutely vital in making the evening happen and I am grateful for their ongoing support. My evening was made when a young person who used to volunteer in the national office and her father described to me that working at Brook had been a major turning point in her life.

I finished for the weekend exhausted and very proud. -------------------------------------- help create a sex positive future http://www.sexpositive.org.uk/ ; follow us on twitter on @brookcharity, @simonablake and @BeSexPositive

Teenage Pregnancy - what will the cuts mean?

2011-02-27T13:42:00.001-08:00

Last week the Office National Statistics showed a reduction in teenage pregnancy rates for 2009. It was reported widely in publications from the British Medical Journal through to the Sunday Sun. Yes it is February 2011, and yes it was the data for 2009.

This timelag is really important to register because it will be 2012 before we get the teenage pregnancy data for 2010, and 2013 before we get the data for this year - 2011.

This data timelag means we won't have timely evidence of the devastating impact that savage cuts to young people's sexual health services, diminished support to for sex and relationships education alongside high youth unemployment will have on teenage pregnancy rates. If Local Authorities and the NHS do not prioritise teenage pregnancy and young people's sexual health the work force will be obliterated, the services available to them diminished and as a consequence teenage pregnancy rates will go up.

Footnote: I believe it is important to reduce teenage pregnancy and I know young people are very good parents with the right support, and support for young parents must not be compromised as a result of the cuts either.

Third Sector magazine identifies Brook's Sex: Positive as digital campaign of the week

2011-02-25T07:01:00.000-08:00

Delighted and proud that Sex: Positive is Third Sector's digital campaign of the week.

http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/News/DailyBulletin/1056907/Digital-Campaign-Week-Brook/75ABF2E988487F215358AFFFE9DB51E0/?DCMP=EMC-CONDailyBulletin

What will you do to be sex: positive - make your pledge

2011-02-11T11:01:00.000-08:00

Our brilliantly talented group of young volunteers have developed and today launched a new campaign www.sexpositive.org.uk - JLS have pledged to help create a sex: positive future - follow the link, find out about the campaign, and tell everyone about it

www.sexpositive.org.uk

Let's hear it for the boys - SRE and services must meet their needs

2011-01-25T13:19:00.000-08:00

Today Children and Young People Now published an article about the importance of meeting the sexual health needs of boys and young men. In it they mentioned new guidance published by Brook - Young Men, sex and pregnancy. You can read the article here http://bit.ly/hP9KSI

Young men, sex and pregnancy commissioned by the Teenage Pregnancy Unit sets the context of a growing realisation that sexual health services and sex and relationships education generally haven't served the needs of boys and young men as well as they should.

The guidance provides a summary of the evidence relating to young men and sexual health, the views of workers and young men themselves; it also sets out 16 core elements which help in supporting and engaging boys. The most obvious is that we must like and trust young men, adopting a positive approach which is aspirational - and addresses the issues they want to learn about, setting high expectations for young men so they have high expectations for themselves and their relationships.

It sets out the importance of considering the needs of boys on the basis of varying attitudes and behaviours and proposes 5 tiers of activity that will help meet the needs of all boys. It concludes with some advice on evaluation and proving effectiveness, and four detailed case studies. Details about the guidance can be found here http://bit.ly/eyIFiU

Katy Perry - Firework

2011-01-24T13:16:00.000-08:00

I have been a bit slow to realise what Katy Perry's single 'firework' on her album Teenage Dream is about - when my partner was watching the video tonight on You Tube, I realised that the lyrics and video could be a great resource for working with young people about individuality, confidence and self-esteem.

The link to the video on You Tube is here http://bit.ly/eT0LBQ and the link to the lyrics is here

http://bit.ly/g8YItr

Video of debate on teenage pregnancy policy at Battle of Ideas, October 2010

2011-01-19T00:55:00.000-08:00

In October I participated in a session at the Institute of Ideas, annual Battle of Ideas weekend. The session focuses on teenage pregnancy policy. In advance of the session I wrote a blog for the Independent website called 'A Policy Obsession with teenage mothers - yes please!'. You can view the blog here

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2010/10/22/a-policy-obsession-with-teenage-mothers-yes-please/

The session was recorded and you can watch it here;

http://www.youtube.com/battleofideas#p/u/18/bMpqKViS0Gs

Learning a language of hate

2010-12-21T23:49:00.000-08:00

Today is my last day in the office until January 5th. It has become something of a ritual for me to take the first day back to work after the new year off - it feels like a sneaky duvet day. As usual on the last day in my office I have the inevitable cold which as my lovely mother would say is because 'you've been burning the candle at both ends': and she is right I have. In recent weeks I have set myself ridiculous false deadlines (again) and been out far too many nights in a row to meet up with friends and colleagues (again). It has, however, been fun.

Last night I went for supper with some friends and we had a really interesting discussion about the changing way we are using communication and concluded rightly or wrongly that across the generations we have started to express 'hate' more and more openly - lets use X factor as an example - how many times did you hear people say or write on twitter and facebook I 'hate' one or more of the finalists? Hatred moving easily from person to person as the finalists whittled down. Lots of people denounced as rubbish - mostly because we don't like them, not because they were rubbish (ok lets be honest sometimes it wasn't good); and then being jubilant when they get knocked out of the competition (track facebook comments at the time that Katie Waissel or One Direction were knocked out for example). Wouldn't it be better to say who we did like and who we did want to win, rather than who we 'hate', think is 'rubbish' and want to be knocked out?

If we learn to express dislike as 'hate' easily and can want to see people fail, there are at least two challenges. First we need tough, resilient children who can shrug off 'hate' and succeed even if others do not want them to. Second we need to start talking about what 'hating' really means so it doesn't become the new way of being happy. If anything we dislike or disagree with becomes a target for 'hate' we will struggle to be genuinely happy and to develop young citizens who respect differences and want to see people succeed. We still have a culture in which bullying is rife in schools; and prejudice and discrimination is an everyday reality for so many children. Learning a language and easy expression of 'hate' cannot be a good thing.

So to end 2010 with some loving....it has been quite a year at Brook - the Network of Brook charities decided to become one organisation that will launch in 2011, new contracts, Care Quality Commission registration, new campaigns, publications, conferences, seminars, uncertainty about future funding, young people working full time in the national office, the launch of the worlds first contraception decision tool in partnership with FPA, education, clinical and support services delivered week in week out to thousands of young people, information over the telephone and the web etc etc. And I am immensely proud of everything that staff and volunteers including trustees across the Brook Network have achieved - even if they didn't always do it my way!

Working year of 2010, over and out.

Working with boys and young men – new guidance from Brook

2010-12-21T10:48:00.000-08:00

Brook has developed new guidance which if used to inform commissioning and practice can dramatically improve the way we talk about sex and sexual health with boys and young men, and the way we think about addressing the needs of particular groups of young men.

In developing the guidance I had the privilege of working with Trefor Lloyd who has more experience than most of working with boys and young men and one of the highlights of this year has been running a series of workshops with highly skilled professionals across the country and seeing how much more sophisticated our understanding of the need to engage boys and young men is, and the levels of creativity in engaging them effectively.

The guidance addresses topics such as consent, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), sexual violence and teenage pregnancy and is designed to ensure that across the country education and services better meet the needs of boys and young men.

Ensuring we meet the needs of boys and young men is vital to improving the country’s public health. It is particularly important to focus on education which tackles homophobia, sexual consent, infection and asking for support if we are really to make a difference.

Children’s Minister Sarah Teather made the following statement about the guide:

“Teenage pregnancy rates in this country are falling but remain disappointingly high, particularly compared to our European neighbours. Some parts of the country have had great success in reducing teenage pregnancy rates but other areas have not. It is important we understand how and why.

“In the current economic climate it is more important than ever before for professionals to work together. Family and Health Services should be sharing best practice and affordable, innovative solutions for reducing teenage pregnancies and supporting teen parents. It is particularly important for professionals to take account of good practice when developing new services.

“I am glad Brook have chosen to focus on young men in this guide, whose needs are not often given enough priority in teenage pregnancy plans.

“Local authorities are best placed to tailor services to suit the young people in their region; but guides like this provide tangible examples of successful practice.

“I would like to thank Brook for their contribution to this important area.”

You can read the full press release here or find out more about the guidance here.

Brook’s Christmas and New Year campaign, teenage pregnancy and access to emergency contraception

2010-12-21T10:44:00.000-08:00

This year Brook has launched a new version of our Have fun. Be careful campaign. Official statistics show that more teenagers get pregnant in December and January than any other time of year and our campaign reminds young people that if they are going to have sex to make sure they feel ready, to use contraception and always use a condom to also protect from sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The new posters can be found here.

I am concerned that this year because of the way the Christmas and New Year holidays fall emergency contraception may also be harder to access with some clinics not open for more than 72 hours from Christmas Eve and limited opening times during the break. It is vital therefore that young people are given as much information as we can provide about where and when they can get help during this time if they need it.

Pharmacies will be a vital provider of emergency contraception - here is the link to Ask Brook and the NHS Choices website where you can search for sexual health services by postcode, and if you select emergency contraception this also includes pharmacy provision.

Tough choices or simple math?

2010-12-13T22:41:00.001-08:00

Today, the Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group, of which I am a member, publishes its final report. In it we warn that teenage pregnancy rates will start to rise again without strong national leadership, continued investment in contraceptive services and renewed urgency behind improving sex and relationships education.

Yes there are some genuinely tough choices to make about spending, but when it comes to preventing teenage pregnancy, it is a matter of simple math. As the TP IAG states in the report, if we disinvest (cut) contraceptive services now, it will cost councils, the NHS and the Treasury more. And quite simply it isn't a cut now, pay later deal.

So I recommend those councils and PCTs that are drawing up plans to cut services take heed of the advice from TP IAG and think hard and think again.

Here is a link to the BBC coverage of the TP IAG report

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11981626

TP IAG has done some really important work over the last decade and whilst this group is coming to an end, as this report states, the policy focus on teenage pregnancy and parenthood must not for at least two reasons;

young people need education and support so they can both enjoy and take responsibility for the sex they have and use contraception effectively

those who become young parents need really high quality support so they can be brilliant

V team cohort 3 debut speech at the House of Lords

2010-11-28T21:34:00.000-08:00

Rarely do I get a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye as quickly as I did last Thursday when cohort 3 of the young V team did their debut presentation on their work. Little more than two months into their 44 week placement, the team of nine volunteers made it very clear that society needs to change its attitude to young people and sex, that government has its part to play in improving education and services, and we all have a part in getting more sensible and most of all to trust young people.

They also made it clear that they don't want to put up with second best for themselves or future generations of young people, and that they are determined to make some loud noise about this over the coming months. They teased us with a glimpse of the determination and verve with which their sex positive campaign is being developed, without telling us what they were going to do and how. So watch this space, follow @brookcharity and @simonablake on twitter, visit our website www.brook.org.uk to find out more about their campaign and how you can get involved in making a noise when it launches.

The V team may have stolen the show, and I was enormously proud of them. And I was equally proud of the the rest of the Brook team from across the Network and the national office. Margaret Mead's quote 'don't ever think a group of committed citizens can't change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has' was certainly fitting for Brook's Parliamentary Reception. When I looked across the room at our partners, stakeholders, colleagues, friends, members and supporters we were there united in our commitment to enable young people to enjoy their sexuality without harm - a force to be reckoned with indeed.

It gets better....

2010-11-26T11:34:00.000-08:00

This video by Pixar Animation Studios about being gay is utterly inspiring..... and inspired. Well done Pixar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a4MR8oI_B8

Teenage Conception Statistics published by ONS

2010-11-23T22:26:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the Office National Statistics published their conception statistics for Quarter 3 of 2009. The statistics are really starting to show the impact of sustained activity and resource to educate young people about relationships, sex and contraception, and provide them with the support to make active choices about sex and pregnancy.

· The rate of under-18 conceptions was 36.3 per 1000 girls aged 15-17 – 6.2% lower than the rate of 38.7 for third quarter 2008. For under-18 conceptions, the rolling quarterly average continues to fall and has now fallen over the last eight quarters. The rolling quarterly average for under-18 conceptions is at its lowest rate since quarterly data collection.

· The rate of under-16 conceptions was 7.0 per 1000 girls aged 13-15 – 7.9% lower than the rate of 7.6 for third quarter 2008.

This welcome news comes hot on the heels of an article in Children and Young People Now in which Gill Frances, Chair of the Independent Advisory Group on Teenage Pregnancy, whose work ends in December, warns that without strong national leadership, and continued investment at the local level teenage pregnancy rates will rise. The link to the article is here www.cypnow.co.uk/news/1042283/Teenage-pregnancy-services-risk-funding-diverted/

Inaccurate report from the Times on the future of 'sexual health lessons'

2010-11-22T02:01:00.001-08:00

Last week The Times reported that 'lessons in Citizenship, sexual health, thinking and functional skills are set to be dropped by many in a radical slimming down of the national curriculum'. It is based on the information on an unnamed Government source and perhaps more solidly on a paper written by Tim Oates, director of research at Cambridge Assessment, parent body of the OCR exam board.

Now the headline was clear - 'sexual health lessons to be scrapped in review of the curriculum', and understandably there was a little twitter of concern about the implications of this. I read the paper this weekend to ascertain the truth.

The paper Could do better: using international comparisons to refine National Curriculum in England does indeed mention sexual health on page 2. It says;

Adjustments have occurred not only in the 'core' material of the currculum (e.g the removal of the cross curriculum themes and skills: the move from ten levels to eight) but in the repeated addition of new material (e.g functional skills, Citizenship, sexual health as a theme in biology), changes in assessment (e.g the incorporation of mental mathematics in testing......

But that is the only mention, and Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education in his Foreword states that Department for Education will 'launch its own review of the National Curriculum and the remit will explicitly, for the first time, require benchmarking against the most successful school systems.'

So my conclusion is that we don't know whether or not sexual health lessons will be scrapped in the review of the national curriculum, because the review hasn't happened yet - the only exception to my conclusion would be if the government source quoted in the article told The Times more than 'the national curriculum MIGHT be reduced to 20 or 30 pages and gave a more detailed account of what it would include. Unlikely if the review hasn't happened.

For those of you interested in the national curriculum, Oates' paper is worth a read.

Goodbye and thank you to our second group of Campaign Volunteers

2010-11-03T09:35:00.000-07:00

This week we wave a sad goodbye to our second group of Campaign Volunteers. It has been fantastic and inspiring working with them and I would like to wish them all the best for the future.

Talking about their time with Brook one of the volunteers said:

"So its two days before we leave, and as we look around watching everyone type away and talk to each other like in any ordinary office – we remember the things that don’t make this an ordinary office at all. We think about all the crazy things that have happened over the past year, to make it an extraordinary office.

"That meeting room has seen hundreds of meetings between us, in building the Big issues don’t have to be a big deal campaign to what it is today. It echoes of pitches from agencies, decision making, debating on the right copy, slogan, colour and theme. And if you listen hard enough, you can hear hammering and noise from the back of the office where we were preparing for the Stockton launch making piñatas and a face in the wall – ready to take the campaign to Stockton.

"Stockton didn’t know what hit them when we arrived – in two days we spread the message of self-esteem to the young people of Stockton resulting in 25 young people getting tested for Chlamydia, giving over 150 young people goodie bags with details of Brook’s local services, condoms and educational leaflets, and collectively speaking to at least 200 young people. It was inspiring to see our campaign in action and to see other young people’s reactions to it - especially when they came back later in the day just to say ‘hello’ wearing our t-shirts. It was a really positive two days and all the hard work definitely paid off.

"Through volunteering at Brook, we’ve had an eclectic mix of things to do and places to go. Seen cities we’ve never been to before, and been able to represent the views of young people. Brook provides a really nurturing environment to volunteer in and has allowed us to grow and develop as individuals. We’ve been able to give speeches about issues we’re passionate about, network at Brook 100 events and meet people we’d never have met if not in Brook.

"Talking of meeting new people, a key date in the diary was 10 September 2010 – the day JLS came to national office and talked to us about sexual health. They were really cool and believed in what we’re doing at Brook.

"They share our aspirations for young people’s sexual health, which is to see more young people looking after themselves and their sexual wellbeing. The impact that they have was evident in Stockton, where we saw the interest young people had on a campaign supported by JLS.

"Our time at Brook has been a journey, taking the rough with the smooth and learning about ourselves every step of the way. We wish the next group of nine volunteers all the best in their journey. We’re sure they’ll all shine as a group as well as individuals – and will continue to make this an extraordinary office."

Youth parliament talking about sex and relationships education

2010-11-03T03:11:00.000-07:00

Nothing more needs to be said from me, it just has to be time to listen......

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00vmvk4/UK_Youth_Parliament_Debates_2010_29_10_2010/

Battle of Ideas - policy and teenage mums

2010-10-22T06:15:00.000-07:00

Brook is taking part in Battle of Ideas on Saturday 30 October, an annual festival of a series of open discussions and debates about the challenges facing society.

I am taking part in a debate called Too much, too young: why is policy obsessed with teenage mums? If there is a policy obsession, I hope that this continues through the deep public spending cuts. Whilst many young people are making active choices that are right for them, far too many young people can’t access contraception easily and many come to Brook unsure if they had sex or consented to it, without the confidence to take control of their sexual lives.

Throughout October and November The Independent is publishing a number of blogs from speakers on the issues – to read my article please click here.

Young people and STIs - hear our young volunteers, JLS and Brook staff

2010-10-20T05:01:00.000-07:00

Below is the link to a Guardian podcast on sexually transmitted infections. JLS, supporters of Brook's 'Big issues don't have to be a big deal campaign', the young volunteers who produced the 'Big Issues campaign', and Brook's Jules Hillier and Gillian Vanhegan are interviewed for the podcast

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/audio/2010/oct/15/focus-podcast-sexually-transmitted-infections-audio

A long couple of weeks at party conference

2010-10-07T02:02:00.001-07:00

Anyone who remembers freshers week, or their first holiday with friends, and the extreme fatigue one has at the end of the week will empathise with how I felt climbing into my bed when I got home from the Conservative Party conference earlier this week knowing that the party conference season was over for another year.

The good news is there were reassuring noises being made at the Tories about the importance of sex and relationships education for children and young people, and about the inclusion of sexual health as part of the public health service (white paper to be published this year). Of course we must now all be working hard to ensure the translation of these reassuring noises into policy and practical delivery - and particularly in the context of the Public Health White Paper we must not lose sight of the fact that sexual health is about more than sexually transmitted infections - contraception and abortion services, underpinned by a sex positive approach are an integral part of a successful public health approach.

Sexualisation of young people, particularly via new media and phone technologies was a heated area of debate and discussion in the bar - clearly a vital area that we must be on top of. Of course young people need to know and understand the legal context and the social and personal impact of sharing their own pictures willingly (now), or distributing pictures/stories of others. When thinking about the challenges technological developments present we must keep this in context and our wits firmly around us. Using text, the web and other new media is for some a consenting act and for others a new mode of an age old problem - sexual harassment and sexual bullying.

If you are interested in thinking more about the issues, here are links to a documentary and an article in the Times Educational Supplement on the issue of sex, pornography and new media. I was interviewed for both of these.

- Weblink to Radio 4 documentary ‘Sex, porn and teenagers’: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00v1nkx

- Times Education Supplement, 1 October 2010: http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6059641

Sexual health must be a key part of the Public Health White Paper

2010-10-04T02:13:00.000-07:00

Brook, together with leading charities and specialist professional associations in the field of sexual health, are calling on the Government to make sexual and reproductive health a central plank of the forthcoming Public Health White Paper in England.

Sexual and reproductive health and HIV are an important part of the nation’s public health. There will be real benefits from including these within the scope of national and local work to improve public health.

Please click here to see the joint paper which outlines why sexual and reproductive health must be prioritised.

To find out more about sexual health in your local area visit http://www.shoutloud.org.uk/. SHout Loud is a website for individuals and communities to have a say about sexual health and to receive information updates as they become available.

Sex, religion and the pope

2010-09-15T21:37:00.000-07:00

There are pages and pages about the pope's state visit this week - whatever you think about the visit and whatever your religious views and perspectives, one thing is sure, his visit is causing lots of opportunities to discuss (often passionately) how we teach children about relationships, sex and keeping safe with people with all sorts of different beliefs.

I have come across the following articles and letters which are interesting perspectives. I was privileged almost a decade ago to work with a multi-faith group to develop a framework for teaching about sex and relationships in a multi-faith and multi-cultural society. The book, Faith, Values and Sex and Relationships Education published by the National Children's Bureau. The links at the end of the blog provide a link through to the factsheet that came from that work, and some recent case studies of practical work that is being done working with Faith Communities and teaching about sex and relationships.

Report in the telegraph on survey about Roman Catholics views on traditional teaching about sexuality issues, including contraception and homosexuality.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/the-pope/7995094/Pope-visit-Most-Catholics-oppose-church-teaching-on-sex.html

An open letter from FPA and NAT about the pope and his teachings

http://www.fpa.org.uk/Campaignsandadvocacy/Advocacyandlobbying/pope

An article by Polly Toynbee

http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/pollytoynbee

And finally, here is an excellent factsheet and some case study examples from the Sex Education Forum about how to teach about sex and relationships in a multi-faith and multi-cultural society

http://www.ncb.org.uk/dotpdf/open%20access%20-%20phase%201%20only/ff_faith02_sef_2005.pdf

http://www.ncb.org.uk/sef/practice/faith_and_values.aspx

Youth Parliament survey on their priorities

2010-09-13T22:51:00.001-07:00

The UK Youth Parliament will be discussing their lobbying priorities in the coming weeks. To help them they have done a survey monkey which sets out a range of options. They are asking 11 - 18 year olds to vote on their choices in the survey monkey below. Sex education is one of the options. Please forward the link to anyone you know and ask them to fill out the survey.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/S9JHWL9

JLS visit Brook offices

2010-09-10T23:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, following the successful launch of their Just Love Safe condom range in partnership with Durex and the JLS Foundation, JLS visited Brook's offices in Kentish Town to talk to the V team and Ask Brook volunteers about young people and sexual health about their views on sex and relationships education, sexual health services for young people, using condoms and their campaign and other voluntary work at Brook.

The room had a group of young people who do different things at Brook and have been learning about sexual health, understanding their thoughts and feelings, gathering their ideas, generating campaigns and helping other young people for different lengths of time. Before JLS arrived they were talking to a journalist, in full flow, articulate, clear and forceful as always and then JLS arrived..... for a few moments it was clearly overwhelming, and whilst the guys were talking and asking them questions it was clear that brains were going blank with star struck terror and it only took a few moments before they were back on form discussing ideas about how to improve sexual health, and the difference such a high profile band can make to improving the country's attitude to sexual health, young people and our appalling rates of teenage pregnancy and sexual health.

I am so impressed with a) their willingness to be such high profile models for this work b) their creative approach to partnership with Durex that will both make condoms more palatable for many as well as raise funds to be put back into improving sexual health and c) their determination to really understand the issues, to spend time finding out by talking to Brook young people, staff and others and their passion to make a difference and be part of the recipe for the needed change. And I am also proud of the team of young people from across Brook and my team at national office for containing themselves beyond the occassional squeal and for some people holding a particularly hard confidence about what was happening, when and where: it was a great team effort the last few days and I proud of the team for working together to make it a useful experience for JLS, and for Brook.

JLS get behind improving young people's sexual health

2010-09-09T06:27:00.000-07:00

Two of Brook's young volunteers and I have just come back from the launch of JLS' charity, JLS Foundation, and their new range of Just Love Safe condoms in partnership with Durex. And to clear this one up at the start - all the profits from the condom sales are going to the JLS Foundation which will support sexual health.

Teenage pregnancy and young people's sexual health has long needed celebrity support and leadership and now at last we have it - incredibly high profile role models who millions of young people respect (and adore) who have already starting speaking out loudly, confidently and intelligently about the need to improve our culture towards sex in this country so that young people can enjoy, take responsibility for, and protect their sexual health.

And in our recent meetings it has been clear that Aston, Oritse, Marvin and JB all know their stuff and they mean business - they know there is no quick fix; today when asked what other causes they may support they said (about sexual health) 'we are in this for the long haul, for as long as it takes'. It is clear that all of them have taken time to understand the issues behind the teenage pregnancy and STI statistics and all of them talk passionately about the need for change.

All of us at Brook are looking forward to working with them over the coming months, years and decades - as long as it takes - so this peculiar 'Benny Hill culture' about all things sexual becomes a thing of the past and all young people get the education, services and support they need so they can have sex when they are ready, with someone they trust, safely.

STIs - education is the answer not outrage

2010-08-29T05:30:00.001-07:00

A good article in the Observer today on the STI data published last week - as a round up of the week the article ncludes some snippets from other newspapers that conclude the increase in diagnosis of sexually transmitted infections as indicative of increasing sexual immorality amongst young people, and make some predictable pronouncements that increases in STIs are a result of sex and relationships education, rather than the increased awareness and testing http://gu.com/p/2jact

Sexually transmitted infections - latest statistics

2010-08-25T08:21:00.000-07:00

Today saw the release of the latest statistics on sexually transmitted infections by the Health Protection Agency.

While the headlines reported on the increasing rates, much of the rise in the overall figures will also be a result of increased awareness and testing which is good news. Quarterly data also shows that teenage pregnancy rates and abortion rates have fallen, showing that we must continue to support young people to make good decisions about their physical and emotional health.

Young people tell us their sex and relationships education (SRE) is too little, too late and too biological and it needs to address emotions and relationships more effectively. Done well, SRE provides an important antidote to the confusing sexual messages they receive in the playground and from the media day in day out.

We urge government to make sex and relationships education statutory in all schools, and to ensure that young people's sexual health is a core part of the forthcoming National Public Health Service.

Interesting research on girls and puberty

2010-08-19T14:19:00.001-07:00

There is an increasing body of research about the earlier onset of puberty. This particular article in the Guardian this week focuses on girls in the USA.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/aug/09/us-study-early-onset-puberty-girls

Over recent months I find myself in more and more conversations with people across Brook about the younger clients that we see and the questions they have about relationships and sex. The age of puberty, sexual development and sexual activity has been the subject of much discussion ever since I have been working in sexual health over the last 15 years.

This type of research shows yet again that we must work with the fact and science that many children are maturing faster than in previous generations and as adults - parents, teachers and other educators we must ensure we provide timely education and support so they do not grow up with the fear, embarrassment and silence that so many of my generation did.

And of course yet more reinforcement of the need for compulsory sex and relationships education in schools. Not that we require any more evidence of its need.

Sex and relationships education

2010-07-23T02:26:00.000-07:00

So another Ofsted report today shows that young people are still not getting good enough sex and relationships education. A timely reminder for the new government that it is not working leaving it up to individual schools and reinforces the importance of making it statutory so we can develop a system which trains and supports teachers so they can feel confident in their skills to teach and avoid the embarrassment which leads to clumsy, boring lessons for young people.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/teachers-embarrassed-over-sex-lessons-2033654.html

From car tax to sexual health MOT

2010-07-14T06:59:00.001-07:00

I was trying to sort out a refund on my car tax after writing off my car a couple of weeks ago at directgov and I was really really really pleasantly surprised to see an advert for getting a 'sexual health MOT and a link to the NHS Choices sexual health site - it has put a smile on my face as I try and make sense of what Liberating the NHS, and some of the emerging and very rapid local responses to it may mean for the commissioning of young people's sexual health services.

If you fancy a smile here is the link, but if you are going through this link I have probably ruined the smile of surprise;

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/HowToTaxYourVehicle/index.htm

The Ugly Face of Beauty....

2010-07-13T13:21:00.000-07:00

...is the name of a TV programme tonight on Channel 4 about plastic surgery. I found much of the information in the programme unsavoury and reinforced some of my questions about the ethics of some plastic surgery/surgeons.

The programme highlighted again how many young people do not like/hate their bodies. It quoted a survey that found body image is one of the biggest causes of unhappiness amongst young people. Whilst I don't know the details of the survey or the questions asked, this echos my experience and that of colleagues at Brook, and I do know from talking to a lot of young people over the last 15 years that it is an issue for both girls and young women as well as boys and young men. With an ever watchful eye on celebrity, we all as parents, carers, educators and service providers must do a lot more to help children and young people grow into young adults who are confident in their own bodies and have the skills and understanding about diet, exercise and its relationship between emotional health as well as physical well being.

But we must take heed of young people's warnings that simply saying nobody is perfect, we all come in different shapes and sizes, and who cares what other people think without taking their concerns seriously won't make any difference to how they feel about themselves.

We have to understand what influences thoughts and feelings, and changes in gender stereotypes and expectations as well as lifestyle changes to understand what needs to happen at both individual and societal levels to turn the tide on young people's loathing of their bodies.

If you didn't watch it, it is worth viewing.

World first in sexual health as ‘My Contraception Tool’ launched

2010-07-01T04:56:00.000-07:00

Simon is away so we wanted to make sure readers of the blog are aware of this outstanding tool to help people make effective contraveptive choices.

Sexual health charities Brook and FPA today launched My Contraception Tool (v1.0) a unique, evidence-based web tool designed to support people’s contraceptive choices by evaluating their preferences and priorities as well as their physical needs. This new web tool is expected to fundamentally change contraceptive consultations - empowering people’s choice and giving invaluable support to busy health professionals.

Eighteen months in development, and launched simultaneously on both organisations’ websites, the tool combines specialist software, research, expertise in decision making and sexual health and months of user involvement and consultation. Using the latest research into every method of contraception, the circumstances, medical history and personal preferences are input by the user online. These data are then processed and each contraceptive method is ranked in order to suit individual needs.

People can log on to My Contraception Tool at www.brook.org.uk/mycontraceptiontool or www.fpa.org.uk/mycontraceptiontool and answer questions about their lifestyle, medical history and their priorities in terms of contraception.

For the full press release please click here.

Brook Wirral is joint winner of FPA national award for sex education

2010-07-01T04:48:00.000-07:00

I am delighted and would like to congratulate Brook Wirral who have been announced as joint winners of the FPA Pamela Sheridan Award for their All Different, All Beautiful programme.

All Different, All Beautiful is a personal development programme aimed at vulnerable and at risk young people in the Wirral. It is aimed at small groups of vulnerable 13 to 19 year olds and runs in schools, hostels and communities with high levels of deprivation. A series of sessions delivered over five days helps participants to explore values, interpersonal skills, confidence and self-esteem within the context of sexual health and relationships.

A key part of All Different, All Beautiful was the development by Brook Wirral of Bitesize Brook, an innovative approach which provides a learning opportunity for young people. BiteSize events take place in large, open areas and enables young people to access information about STIs including HIV, risk taking, alcohol and other drugs in fun, interactive and memorable ways, as well as acting as a bridge to the range of support services available to them in the community.

Last year we saw the roll out of BiteSize Brook through our network, providing training and resources to several other Centres to deliver the programme – a brilliant example of sharing best practice.

The Pamela Sheridan Award is a prestigious national award for excellence in sex and relationships education. Brook Wirral were joint winners of the award this year with Education for Choice. See the link to the full press release here.

Thinking about risk

2010-06-22T22:32:00.001-07:00

Lots of professionals are rightly talking about young people and risk taking behaviours. When thinking about sexual health, we need to think about how alcohol and other drugs for example impact on sexual decision making and choices.

I have been doing an assessment of my own risk taking behaviours overnight as I couldn't sleep - the heat combined with hay fever, combined with a couple of frightening near accidents on my bike made for a restless night.

Without doubt the biggest single risk to my health is cycling about 8 miles across London to work 3 or 4 times a week. Yesterday I almost knocked an elderly woman over which frightened us both, this came shortly after a car pulled out very fast in front of me and just before a bus 'made contact with me' as it pushed its way across the road.

This type of incident is not that unusual, it is the fact that three near misses happened within 15 minutes of one another, plus the discomfort of riding in the heat that made me question how sensible it is to cycle and to unconsciously go through a process of assessing the risk.

But what interested me is that i didn't start processing the information thinking in terms of risk, but by the time I was done I had gone through a clear process of risk assessment - what benefit I get from cycling in London - do i like the buzz from these near misses? How likely am I to get hurt? What are the alternatives? What is the impact of not cycling on my health and frame of mind at work and at home? What can I do to minimise the harm if I am going to continue to cycle?

And it is that process of knowing why we do things and whether we like the buzz or not, identifying and assessing the risks, and then finding ways to manage them that we must teach children and young people - from crossing the road, to jumping out of an aeroplane, to having sex - the process of identifying, assessing and managing risk is the same - and we continue to do young people a disservice if we focus on risk taking behaviours without teach them this formula and provide structured opportunities for them to think about their own buzz and how that influences their risk taking behaviours as well as develop the skills to think through risk, including at the times when they are experiencing the fear or a buzz.

FPA wins charity award

2010-06-11T08:37:00.000-07:00

I am delighted that FPA won the disability category at the Charity Awards last night for their ground breaking CD Rom 'All About Us' for people with learning disabilities. All About Us was developed in Northern Ireland, who have really pioneered excellence work in disability and sexuality this is a fantastic recognition of the outstanding work.

You can find out more about the awards at www.charityawards.co.uk or about the work at www.fpa.org.uk

Interesting reading

2010-05-25T14:17:00.000-07:00

I have just finished reading two books that are interesting reads;

The biography of Harvey Milk - the first gay politician in San Francisco and 'Castro area revolutionary' who was murdered by a colleague in 1978 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Milk)

As many areas of the world get real to the rights of gay people, we do well to remember that in some countries people are still sent to prison, as the couple were just this month in Malawi and we cannot be complacent waiting for someone else to fight on their behalf - it is the responsibility of all of us to stand up for their rights in whatever way we can. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/18/malawi-gay-couple-jailed

I have also just finished reading Impossible Motherhood - testimony of an abortion addict by Irene Vilar. It is a brave book which challenged some of my thinking and understanding in a number of ways. I recommend it.

Finally, see the interview with Sam Roddick in the Observer on Sunday http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/23/sam-roddick-coco-de-mer

I am delighted that Brook and our team of young volunteers are working with Sam and her colleagues to enable young people to enjoy their sexuality without harm. Sam talks about consent being at the Centre of a truly sexually liberated society and I completely agree that consent, learning that you have the right to consent which means saying no is central to young people's development. Our annual conference on 3rd March 2011 - Say yes, say no, say maybe - focuses on consent. Visit our website (www.brook.org.uk) for further information

National Condom Week - AGAIN

2010-05-18T03:18:00.000-07:00

I am starting to measure my years in how quickly national condom week comes around - this is now the fourth NCW since I have been at Brook, and it seems inconceivable that it is a year since I was setting the challenge to answer condoms to any questions you are asked, just for a laugh, and to see people's face as you do so. Over the last four years, this challenge has been met with extreme reactions - at the one end, it has been suggested I should be punched and at the other people have emailed to say it has made them laugh and the other person bemused, and others have said it stimulated some really interesting conversation. Try it and see what response you get. I take no responsibility if you get the punch.

It has been a good year for condoms the regulations were finally changed and condoms can now be advertised on TV subject to some being kept away from the under 10s and complying with strict rules on taste, decency and socially responsible advertising.

Given the changes to condom advertising, Durex, has this week launched a competition to 'create the next ad' asking people to create the next TV ad for Durex. You can find details at www.durex.co.uk/durextv

Clint Walters 'farewell to a hero in the fight against HIV'

2010-04-21T12:16:00.000-07:00

Clint Walters, a young man diagnosed with HIV when he was 17 years old died of a heart attack on Easter Sunday aged 31. Below is a link to an article about him and his work.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/farewell-to-a-hero-of-the-fight-against-hiv-1938713.html

Clint was a brave and determined man who I was privileged to know over many years. He was relentless in telling me that education and services were not good enough, and I agree - too many young people do not know enough about HIV infection, how to protect themselves, and too many young people don't know where, or are scared to get tested, and too many young people who are diagnosed with HIV are frightened, isolated and hurt.

Clint and I didn't always agree what good enough would look like, but that is irrelevant detail here. It is his passion to change attitudes towards people living with HIV and to improve services for young people with HIV that led him to spend much of his life challenging attitudes and supporting others selflessly and with boundless energy. Ultimately he was also frustrated about the services and support that are, or not available for young people that need them.

Clint's legacy must be a step change in attitudes towards young people and HIV from both professionals and young people themselves. His legacy must be our commitment to ensure children and young people get the education and support they need to protect themselves against HIV infection, that testing is free and easily accessible, and that when a young person is diagnosed with HIV they get the help and support they need.

At his memorial party reflecting on how we can all make a difference, I asked his friends and families to invest their time and support in those charities that aim to improve sexual health, prevent HIV and support those infected with HIV and to hold those same charities and the NHS to account in delivering the services and support young people need. None of us can rest until we there is a lot more progress.

Whatever happened to our hope of statutory sex and relationships education

2010-04-07T07:01:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning feeling perky, hopeful that sex and relationships education would make it through the 'legislative wash up' and become statutory in all state funded schools. So imagine my disdain and concern when I found out earlier today the clauses to make sex and relationships education statutory in the Children, Schools and Families Bill have been dropped over the parental right of withdrawal.

I was hopeful with good cause I think - we have loads of evidence about the importance of SRE in preventing teenage pregnancy and improving young lives and there is a strong broad consensus amongst children, parents and professionals that it is important in helping keep children safe from harm.

This section of the Children, Schools and Families Bill must not be allowed to fall at the last hurdle. Regardless of the politics we must hang our heads in shame if we let down another generation of children and young people by failing to ensure sex and relationships education is statutory in every school.

It is inconceivable that more young people could be allowed to experience the shame, fear and embarrassment about sex and their bodies that we see at Brook clinics every single day. Sex and relationships education is vital to protect children and young people from harm and enables them to enjoy their relationships safely. It is right and moral that schools provide it to complement and supplement what children are taught at home or to fill the gap if they are not.

The link to Brook’s full statement is here:

Article on abortion written for Progress magazine

2010-03-29T10:07:00.000-07:00

I recently wrote an article for Progress about abortion and that there are really good reasons for maintaining the current time limit of 24 weeks.

Every woman has the right to make informed choices about legal, safe and confidential abortion. The ability to choose legal abortion allows young women to make their own decisions about their futures, including when and whether to have children, and prevents risk to their physical and emotional health.

There is no scientific evidence to support a reduction of the 24-week time limit and reducing it would affect women at all ages of the spectrum, particularly some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged women. This may result in women being rushed into decisions about abortions or forced to continue a pregnancy against their will.

To see the full article please click here.

Launch of the Brook 100 Club

2010-03-21T03:57:00.001-07:00

On Thursday Brook launched the Brook 100 Club, a major donor fundraising programme in the run up to our 50th Anniversary. The Brook 100 Club is for individuals who commit to donating or fundraising £1000 for Brook and we aim to have 100 members each year. The funds raised will be used to achieve three promises;

to provide sexual health and relationship information in innovative and creative ways

to identify excellent projects being carried out in local areas such as the sexual bullying project and training up staff across Brook to replicate them quickly across the country

to campaign fearlessly for improved sexual health with young people at the heart of all campaigns

The event was great fun and was hosted by Sam Roddick, creator and owner at Coco De Mer (www.coco-de-mer.com). In the introductory speeches Sam told guests of how she has been inspired from the Brook v talent volunteers - by their energy, insightfulness and passion. She reminded guests of the importance of listening to and learning from young people and supporting Brook's work because it reduces pain and increases confidence and pleasure.

Alaina one of Brook's full time young volunteers told guests that we must do more to provide information and education to young people at a younger age, at the time that is right and in ways that meet their needs. In my remarks I asked people to join Brook in changing our ridiculous culture towards sex and sexuality and that we need to brave and bold in saying enough is enough - we cannot allow another generation of young people to grow up without accurate information and a positive culture which says sex must always be consensual, based on respect and communication and between people who are able to both enjoy and take responsibility for it. The time for change is now. If you want to help us in achieving long term cultural change do find out more about or become a member of the Brook 100 Club.

If you want to become a member of the Brook 100 Club please email emily.haynes@brook.org.uk to find out more - you can also go onto our just giving site www.justgiving.com/Brook-100-Club to donate to Brook. You can also fundraise to help achieve our goal of enabling young people to enjoy their sexuality without harm. Contact Emily if you want to find out more (emily.haynes@brook.org.uk).

New advertising codes and condom advertising

2010-03-17T04:52:00.000-07:00

It was great to see the announcement yesterday by the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) launching new UK Advertising Codes.

One of the key changes was around the relaxing of the watershed on condom advertising.

The launch of the new codes followed a public consultation to which Brook contributed and young people working with Brook were also involved in work through the Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV (SHIAG).

SHIAG challenged the guidance on condom advertising and restrictions on showing a condom out of its wrapper. The group was concerned there is still embarrassment around condoms, which inhibits the normalisation of condom use, and called for the guidance to be reviewed.

A survey carried out by young people at Brook in 2007 showed that most young people (91 per cent) were unaware that guidance exists prohibiting showing unwrapped condoms on television and many (90 per cent) thought that this was wrong. 81 per cent felt that allowing condoms and condom use to be shown in advertisements and programmes would encourage young people who were sexually active to use condoms.

In addition young people thought that condoms should be shown on TV at peak times but also that this should be scheduled sensitively and appropriately. The research found that putting information into adverts round peak-time viewing for teenagers – for instance Coronation Street, Hollyoaks and Skins – or feeding it into the story line would hit the target audience and avoid offence.

Relaxing the rules around advertising condoms would normalise condom use and make young people feel more positive and confident about using them and carrying them.

Improving knowledge about contraception is key to reducing unplanned pregnancy and rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) – condoms protect against both.

PJ, one of Brook’s young volunteers who was involved in the work through SHIAG, said: “It was great to be involved in the process – this is something that is aimed at and will benefit other young people so it was good to be able to input my ideas.”

The new Codes will come into force on 1 September 2010.

Brook Awards

2010-03-05T03:10:00.000-08:00

Last night we held our third annual awards dinner to celebrate the outstanding work young people and professionals are doing to improve the lives of young people all over the UK. This took place after our conference which focused on gender.

All the shortlisted nominees deserve the recognition, congratulation, applause and cheers they received last night, and special congratulations to the winners. The award winners are:
•UK sexual health professional of the year – Gail McVicar, Swindon Borough Council
•UK sexual health project of the year – In Touch, Leonard Cheshire Disability
•Young person of the year – James Langley, Terrence Higgins Trust Young Leaders programme
•Brook employee of the year – Arlene McLaren, Brook Northern Ireland
•Brook innovation of the year – Brook Blackburn with Darwen, Engage Project. This award was voted for on the night.

Thank you to Carrie Quinlan for hosting the evening, Tracey Cox, Jasmine Lowson, Zoe Margolis and Matt Rawle, our Brook ambassadors for presenting the awards and contributing so brilliantly to the evening. Also thank you to Lizzie Emeh who performed tracks from her fantastic new album, Loud and Proud.

I was delighted to see such a high standard of nominations showing the fantastic work that people are doing for young people all over the country every day.

The judging panel also included many key figures working in sexual health as well as young people and I would like to thank all those involved.

And thank you to my team and the conference organisers, NSA, who made the event run smoothly - you were brilliant. Final thank you to our sponsors and supporters.

A day to be pleased with

2010-02-24T08:23:00.000-08:00

Today the Office for National Statistics released the latest teenage pregnancy data for 2008 and Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, announced the continuation of the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy in England.

Since 1998 teenage pregnancy rates for under 18s have reduced by 13.3% to 40.4 per 1,000 for 2008. This is good news and we now need to continue doing what we know works; improving access to sexual health services, good quality sex and relationships education in school and the community and supporting parents to talk to their children about relationships.

I really welcome the refresh of the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy and the renewed commitment to young people’s sexual health. There is some excellent work taking place in some areas and what we need to do now is to learn from those areas who have seen the biggest decreases and make that excellent work the standard for all teenage pregnancy programmes.

Yesterday the Children, Schools and Families Bill which includes making Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) Education statutory completed its report stage and third reading in the House of Commons.

We eagerly await its progress through the House of Lords and the Bill receiving Royal Assent before it becomes law. Making PSHE Education statutory will provide a clear framework and ensure that it will be inclusive of every child and young person combining legal/civil rights, health, and cultural and religious perspectives.

Every day at Brook we see young people whose education about relationships and sex has not been good enough. For too long young people have been saying that the sex education they receive is too little, too late and too biological because schools are only required to teach what is in the science curriculum. Statutory PSHE will mean that all children and young people will receive the education and information they are entitled to.

Statutory PSHE Education

2010-02-23T08:44:00.001-08:00

Children and young people want it, most parents want it and in October 2008 at long last this government showed leadership on it by announcing the intention to make Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education statutory. For many of us campaigning with and for children and young people this signalled the end of an era. The door was open. It was going to happen. Albeit slightly slower than expected. And as we gallop towards a general election with a short parliamentary session, I believe the door is still open.

Has the amendment laid down by Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, that provides school with right to teach PSHE Education in line with their religious character really provided an opt out for faith schools?

Was the amendment necessary? Not in my view. Is the amendment devastating? Probably not as long as schools know what they must deliver. Will it reassure some? Probably.

It is always important to know what you are arguing about. It seems to me that PSHE Education is becoming a battleground for age old arguments about state aided 'faith based schools'. Regardless of the school, PSHE Education has to be as good as it can be, and that is what this legislation must seek to ensure.

Legislating for Statutory PSHE Education is morally and socially right. It should have happened at least five years ago and must get through now. If it gets through, it will bring about systemic change and real, lasting benefit to children and young people in line with the Every Child Matters agenda. Let's keep our eyes and our minds on the big prize, statutory PSHE that will help drive standards up. This legislation, with all its limitations is worth our support.

Link to the Today Programme piece on the 'mis selling sex report' story

2010-02-22T14:25:00.000-08:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/listen_again/default.stm

'Mis-selling sex': calling for collaboration between broadcasters, producers and organisations like Brook

2010-02-21T05:20:00.001-08:00

Soap operas have long been the stimulus for family conversations about sex and sexuality and bringing socially taboo issues onto our screens and into our homes. If you just think about Eastenders over the years, I can remember Michelle's teenage pregnancy, Tony and Simon's teenage kiss and more recently Peter and Lauren in EastEnders talking about sex responsibly, getting condoms and then deciding to wait.

Brook has been working with DH and DCSF following some research called Mis selling sex which analysed the sexual content of TV programmes, and showed that of all the sexual content on the programmes audited, only 7% had safer sex messages.

First and foremost of course TV is about entertainment it is also the place that over 40% of young people say they get information about sex and relationships. At Brook we have direct contact with over 1500 young people every day. We know the power of TV in generating discussion amongst peers, and we believe more can be done to include 'reference to contraception and condoms to build on the excellent 'sex' story lines that already exist.

This is absolutely not about wanting regulation or guidance. It is about voluntary collaboration between TV broadcasters and producers and organisations like Brook who can provide information, advice and support so the stories are realistic and factually accurate - we know when it works it can be incredibly powerful and I am looking forward to the discussions with broadcasters and producers in the coming weeks.

Teenage girls in crisis?

2010-02-21T05:09:00.001-08:00

Gender it seems is making the news again. At last. For far too long we have stopped talking about it in public spaces.

There is a really interesting article in the Observer today (I tried to get the link for this blog, but doing this via phone and it won't work for me) called Are Britain's teenage girls really in crisis? It is well worth reading as I am sure the book Living Dolls: the return of sexism by Natasha Walter will be too. The article concludes with the paragraph;

'The message is that for modern teeange girls the encouragement to do better, look better and have more has become almost unbearable. They need help and they need it urgently - not only for themselves but for the next generation, whose mothers they will be'.

And I agree with much of the sentiment in the article. And we have to be really clear here, the arguments about whether teenage girls are the most vulnerable group in society need to be heard. But for me, what i hear from young people and staff at Brook is that it is gender - growing up as a boy, or a girl and what that means that we have to address. We have to really think about what we are teaching boys and girls, and what boys and girls are learning about themselves, their bodies, their aspirations and about sex. And unless we do so we will miss the point in the development and implementation of youth policy.

That is why Brook's conference this year is on gender - at this conference we will premier a film about gender made by young people who work at Brook and have a real opportunity to spend quality time focusing on how we put gender back central stage in a way that is relevant and meaningful for this century. You can see the trailer for the film on You Tube by searching for Brook Gender 2010 and you can find out more about the conference by visiting brook.org.uk

Wow!

2010-02-09T07:12:00.000-08:00

Over the last fifteen years or so I have seen some pretty grim use of statistics and reporting about sex and relationships education, the age of consent, youth sexuality and sexual health services. But over the past couple of days even I have said Wow this reporting of teenage pregnancy and the blatant use of shock tactics to overstate the problem of teenage pregnancy in this country is grim.

The government released, to The Sun, following an Freedom Of Information request, figures about the rates of pregnancy amongst 10-15 year olds between 2000 and 2007. The resulting headline focussed on the youngest children about whom data was released. Leaving aside for a minute the fact that the figures were mangled and presented an extremely inaccurate picture, I ask you to consider what anyone could hope to gain from a story about pregnant 10 year olds.

Of course it is not acceptable that even a single 10 year old has ever become pregnant. No sensible child, young person or adult wants that. It is particularly terrible because we are not talking about teenage pregnancy, ‘over sexualised’ children, or any other ‘Broken Britain’ indicator. We are talking about children who have been abused.

The abuse of children has been used to score a cheap point about teenage pregnancy rates and the government policy on teenage pregnancy. And be in no doubt that some journalists want to track down some of these children. Brook’s press office received calls yesterday asking our help in providing ‘case studies’ of pregnant 10 year olds.

This deliberate misrepresentation of facts, the sensationalising of the impact of sex and relationships education and misreporting of the truth about teenage pregnancy creates fear and misunderstanding that permeates throughout society and fails to protect children and young people. Brook carried out some research last year which showed that 95% of us seriously overestimate the numbers of young people who become pregnant. Small wonder, when some part of the media continue to insist on inaccurate scaremongering fronted as public interest journalism.

And for the record, most young people under the age of 16 do not have sex and our teenage conception rates have, overall, decreased by 10.5% since 1998. Higher numbers of young people having an abortion if they get pregnant, which means that overall we have about a 24% reduction in teenage births in England.

We need to build on this success and ensure that young people are only having sex when they are able to consent, enjoy and take responsibility for it, and we need to ensure that young people are able to use contraceptive services and contraception effectively when they do have sex.

The power of young voice

2010-02-07T14:03:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday the Department of Health held a consultative conference on the future direction of sexual health policy - 'sexual health - worth thinking about'.

One of our young volunteers was invited to be on the panel of speakers at the conference. I was unable to attend the conference in the morning as I was at the NICE meeting on Personal, Social and Health Education. However, as soon as I arrived people started telling me what a brilliant job she had done. Sometimes adult compliments of young people's input can feel patronising, but it was clear this was not the case from the way they talked specifically about what she had said, not just that she had said something. I felt very proud that she was able to do such a good job in front of 400 skilled professionals working in sexual health - enough to make many people quake just thinking about it!

I also felt proud of my team at the national office who have created an office environment that works for the young people so that their volunteering experience is positive and productive for them and the organisation, and enabling such a positive platform for young people to be able to find the power of their voice and their influence.

We now have 10 young people developing their own campaigning work on sexual health. They are particularly interested in pressures. Over the coming months they are going to be taking their ideas and work out with the aim of influencing young people and the adults who work with them. Watch this space.

Brook's conference on March 4th

2010-02-03T08:53:00.000-08:00

See the trailer for Brook's conference Boygirlmanwoman by clicking here http://www.youtube.com/user/BrookYP1964

Chlamydia screening Programme is a central plank in improving young people's sexual health

2010-01-27T22:37:00.000-08:00

Today the Committee of Public Accounts Select Committee publish their report, Young people’s sexual health: the National Chlamydia Screening Programme. In response I have issued the following statement;

“There has been duplication of effort. The programme has not always been as efficient or effective as possible. It was clear from the National Audit Office report there is much to learn and much to do. The good news is that much is already underway to make improvements.

We support the PAC conclusion that better commissioning must take place. We must develop services that make sense for young people and get the best value for each pound spent. As such a national online testing service for all, regardless of where they live, should be commissioned as a matter of urgency.

We cannot throw the baby out with the bath water. The National Chlamydia Screening Programme must continue so we can find and treat infections that would otherwise have gone undiagnosed. The programme is one plank, along with the teenage pregnancy strategy that will ensure continuing improvements in young people’s sexual health.'

The urgent thing now is to learn from history, from what has worked and from what has not worked to ensure the right balance of locally driven and locally determined responses, with national direction to reduce effort and duplication, ensure services are relevant and make sense to young people and ensure best value for money. Steps have already been taken by DH and NSCP to address many of the issues the PAC report raised and I look forward to doing all I can to help them.

Brook in Milton Keynes is 20 years old

2010-01-27T13:12:00.000-08:00

Today was a very proud day for Brook. The Brook service in Milton Keynes was 20 years old and today they opened new premises. As I arrived for the launch, my first thought was wow - it was a bright entrance and Brook's logo proudly across the entrance. The building is not on the high street, and it is not down a back alley either. It seemed to be just the right balance - absolutely clear to young people that we respect their desire for somewhere discreet AND that sex is not something dirty and round the back, and sexual health services are there as an important part of the community.

I was asked to speak at the launch and as I was preparing to do so, I was remembering my early experiences of Brook at Milton Keynes over the last ten or fifteen years. My first was meeting one of Milton Keynes' earliest staff Sue on a training course when I had just started working with young people in sexual health. I had never heard anyone talk so passionately, fondly and warmly about young people before. I remember it now so clearly. It made a real impact. And it is what i have learnt over the past three years makes Brook people special in my eyes, and more importantly in the eyes of the hundreds of young people who trust Brook staff day in day out to help them, advise them and support them. The magic ingredient is genuine care.

Then as assessor for Milton Keynes Healthy Schools Programme I saw tremendous partnership working between Brook, Relate and Healthy Schools to get sex and relationships education on the agenda in schools. Respectful partnership working using the skills of the different partners to best effect. And then between appointment and start date I met my Chair for champagne (and lunch). He told me I needed to talk to Jackie because she was running an excellent service, and i needed to visit Brook in Milton Keynes because they had a model that was replicable and needed replicating. Lots. And over the last three and a half years I have seen excellent replicable work being done with boys, in c card scheme, in schools and healthy schools, in colleges, with the chlamydia screening programme and much much more within Milton Keynes. And as evidence of that brilliance, there were so many people from MK at the launch today, partners, stakeholders and supporters from both the statutory and voluntary sector. And over the last two years Brook in Milton Keynes has become Brook East of England as they have won contracts and set up services in Luton and Bedfordshire.

Back to the building, one of the things that really bothers me about many health service buildings is they are a bit dank and dingy, and in need of a bit of health promotion themselves. And in an increasingly consumerist society where you go to shops and get an experience rather than just a clothes rail, we need to make sure that health levels up to fashion or the best computer game store, otherwise we send a message, that four stripes on your shoe, or getting the new X box is more valuable than health, and that to me is a wrong message to give. And it is a message that this building, 624 South Fifth Street certainly isn't going to give young people.

As I said in my speech at the launch, I have no idea exactly who the people were involved in making this building happen, but it was a 7 year journey to get to there, and on behalf of all the young people who have used and will continue to use Brook's services in Milton Keynes thank you to each and every one of them.

Young mums speak out

2010-01-25T00:42:00.000-08:00

A group of young mums challenge the stereopypes and are taking their message to the Prime Minister this week.

An article in the Independent on Sunday reports....

independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/promiscuous-scroungers-or-living-parents-teenage-mums-fightback-1877268.html

Sexual violence, trafficking and rape

2010-01-14T14:29:00.000-08:00

I have just watched some of Stag Weekends: the Dirty Secrets and if you didn't catch it I recommend watching it on BBC iPlayer. I thought Simon Boazman, the journalist investigating did a really good job - he remained calm, compassionate and clear, as well as fantastically human - as he interviewed a range of people including a woman who had been trafficked and forced into the sex trade, and a pimp. Uncomfortable viewing, but not something any of us can afford to stick our heads in the sand about.

The challenge for many of us is recognising this goes on, and not thinking about exploitation and trafficking as something that happens to others. Sexual exploitation is real in the UK. Each year far too many girls and boys are sexually exploited and forced into prostitution. Today Brook ran a training course for professionals called TEASE - telling everyone about sexual exploitation - based on the brilliant work done by Brook in Blackburn to address sexual exploitation.

Several years ago, Barnardos produced a pack for working with young people about sexual exploitation called 'things we don't talk about'. Today on the tube I noticed a new campaign from the NHS The Havens about rape. The advert pictures a young woman wearing a t-shirt saying wake up to rape and then the text - Michelle tells her friends everything, but explaining to them that she was raped isn't something she feels comfortable about.

For far too long, we have stuck our collective head in the sand about sexual violence. Thankfully programmes like this, done well, start the conversations.

For Rari, or For me - the importance of clear communication

2010-01-10T02:54:00.000-08:00

Over Christmas I watched a couple of You've Been Framed episodes - for me there is a guilty pleasure in a) having time to watch whatever is on the TV without having to worry about time and b) watching the everyday mishaps of people's lives, with the clear knowledge that a fall on the bum may have hurt at the time but was unlikely to have long lasting consequences because the video has been sent in for other people's viewing.

There was one programme which profiled children's adventures. Amongst many funny head butting birthday cakes, being frightened by talking Christmas tress and mowing down the Christmas tree with the life size toy care, there were two particular clips which highlighted the importance of good communication.

The first was the birthday party of a girl still in a highchair so 2 - 3 years old. The family were singing happy birthday to you and she got quite upset and indignant - NO! Happy Birthday to me, happy birthday to me. The adults continued with Happy Birthday to you. Probably a lesson for another day - at that point in time the birthday would have been enjoyed more had they starting singing happy birthday to me. Or indeed pointing at the girl if they were going to continue with singing 'happy birthday to you'. Somehow the communication needed to change for her to feel happy and enjoy the moment.

The second, really made me laugh when the boy opened a toy car and someone said is that a Ferrari and the boy shouted no it is For me. Maybe there is a Rari in their family and in any case the boy heard its For Rari.

Both highlight that what is said doesn't have to be wrong to be misunderstood or problematic. And sometimes when I train professionals they will say well I told them the truth, I used the right words and pass the problem of miscommunication onto the young person. Communication is a two way thing, and when we are working in any professional role, but particularly with young people, it is our responsibility to ensure we are understood, and that we understand.

Of course, nothing I have said is new, but to communicate effectively we must recognise that the way that young people are accessing information and communicating with each other is changing (as indeed it is for all of us - how many managers would have baulked at the idea of being told a member of their team is sick by text 5 years ago, but accept it now; and how many of you will now say can you give me a few bullet points, sometimes to explain quite complex issues?).

So, when texting and social networking is common, many professionals have 10 minutes for a consultation with (young) people, and the world can be reduced into bullet points, when it comes to young people's sexual health only good communication that both parties understand will cut the mustard.

Rhiannon Holder gets MBE

2010-01-05T09:51:00.001-08:00

Rhiannon Holder got a well deserved MBE in the Queens New Years Honours list. Rhiannon is a young woman aged 22 who works for Brook in Bristol, and until recently worked with me as a member of the Independent Advisory Group on Teenage Pregnancy.

Her MBE was awarded for services to young people's healthcare. I am delighted that her work has been recognised for a number of reasons;

1) because Rhiannon really deserved it - she is talented, inspired and inspiring and shows exceptional compassion, wisdom and tells it as it is, nicely.
2) because it is great that the issue of young people's healthcare is recognised as important in this way
3) because it is absolutely right that young people should be honoured. Too often honours are awarded when many many years of service have been accumulated. And whilst this is right to a point, rewarding young people who have shown exceptional talent and motivation relatively early in their career can inspire them and others around them to become even more brilliant, and become the next generation of innovators, leaders and changemakers.

Well done Rhiannon. It is January, so detox for me at the moment, but I will raise my fizzy water for you tonight.

Editorial in the New York Times

2009-12-21T09:39:00.000-08:00

It was with great delight that I read the editorial today. Almost a decade ago I was lucky enough to go on a study tour to the USA to learn more about abstinence education - the why, the what and the how. In the report of the study tour, 'Just Say No! to abstinence education published by NCB (www.ncb.org.uk) we wrote 'we returned to England proud of what we had achieved and determined to build on our successes. The potential for the development of abstinence education in the UK was just not something we wanted to imagine, and we were determined that any attempts were they made to do so were curtailed.

Now, at last, the official policy of the USA is taking a somewhat different and more positive approach to educating young people about relationships and sexuality.

The colleague who sent it to me, was even more elated - she has spent years living with and fighting federal and state policy and can now see light at the end of the tunnel.

Editorial

End to the Abstinence-Only Fantasy

The omnibus government spending bill signed into law last week contains an important victory for public health. Gone is all spending for highly restrictive abstinence-only sex education programs that deny young people accurate information about contraceptives, sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. The measure redirects sex-education resources to medically sound programs aimed at reducing teenage pregnancy.

Federal support for the wishful abstinence-only approach, which began in the 1980s, ballooned during George W. Bush’s presidency. As the funding grew, so did evidence of the policy’s failure. A Congressionally mandated study released in 2007 found that elementary and middle school students who received abstinence instruction were just as likely to have sex in the following year as students who did not get such instruction.

Many states rightly declined to participate in the abstinence program, forgoing federal money. Most of the nation’s recent progress in reducing the abortion rate has occurred in states that have shown a commitment to real sex education.

The last Bush budget included $99 million for abstinence-only education programs run by public and private groups. The new $114 million initiative, championed by the White House, will be administered by a newly created Office of Adolescent Health within the Department of Health and Human Services with a mandate to support “medically accurate and age appropriate programs” shown to reduce teenage pregnancy.

Unfortunately, some of this progress could be short-lived. The health care reform bill approved by the Senate Finance Committee includes an amendment, introduced by the Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, that would revive a separate $50 million grant-making program for abstinence-only programs run by states. Democratic leaders must see that this is stricken, and warring language that would provide $75 million for state comprehensive sex education programs should remain.

In another positive step, the spending bill increases financing for family-planning services for low-income women. It also lifts a long-standing, and utterly unjustified, ban on the District of Columbia’s use of its own tax dollars to pay for abortion services for poor women except in cases when a woman’s life is at risk, or the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

Ideology, censorship and bad science have no place in public health policy. It is a relief to see some sense returning to Capitol Hill.

Festive fun

2009-12-21T04:00:00.000-08:00

With Christmas and New Year approaching it is a time for parties and celebrating, and a time when many of us will be drinking more than usual.

Many adults and young people will be celebrating and as professionals we have a job to make sure that young people are prepared and safe. Each year in December and January there is a peak in the teenage conception rates and research has shown that young people are more likely to regret having sex and less likely to use contraception if they have been drinking.

People drink for many different reasons but alcohol reduces our ability to think clearly so when people drink too much, they are more likely to take risks. We can do well to learn from Australian colleagues who really emphasise safety and the important role of helping to keep friends safe by thinking ahead about contraception, knowing limits when it comes to alcohol, not leaving drinks unattended, looking after friends, making decisions and talking to partners about boundaries before drinking, knowing how you will get home and who to call for help if things go wrong.

Brook's Have fun. Be careful campaign reminds young people that if they are going to have sex to always make sure they use a condom to protect against boths STIs and unplanned pregnancy.

As well as a mistletoe and 2010 version of the Have fun. Be careful poster, Brook has also produced and alcohol themed poster, alcohol themed fortune teller and 'Christmas cracker' postcard. We have also just launched a new booklet as part of our 'Ask Brook' range, Ask Brook about sex and alcohol. All of these are available to order by contacting 0870 750 3082 or by emailing publications@brook.org.uk.

It is also imporatant to remember over the festive season that sexual health centres and clinics may not be open at their usual times yet many young people phone us surpirsed that the service is closed - do what you can to alert young people to any changes in service provision over Christmas and New Year.

Pink Pink Pink Pink Pink

2009-12-12T03:29:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year Brook set out our belief that we will not reach our targets to reduce teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, or improve the quality of young people’s relationships unless we address gender in policy and practice. Through the contact we have with approximately 1600 young people every day at Brook, we recognise that how boys learn to boys, and girls learn to be girls has a huge and often negative impact on their relationships and sexual choices.

And an ex colleague of mine, Emma Moore clearly thinks the same. She and her sister, Abi have developed a campaign www.pinkstinks.co.uk

There is an article about the campaign in today’s Guardian called The Power of Pink. The campaign set out to offer girls positive alternative role models and ‘trying to stop the seemingly unstoppable tide of pink was simply another way they felt, of challenging what was rampaging and unacceptable stereotyping, from earliest childhood.’

The article describes some of the challenges the sisters have received which demonstrate how deeply gender is embedded in our society – from claims the sisters are lesbians (how original – nobody who has dared to challenged stereotypes has had that allegation thrown before!) to questions of their sanity.

But much more moving and important are the emails from little girls along the lines of ‘carry on and make it easier for girls like me to try different things without feeling like an outsider’ and ‘girls like me shouldn’t be forced to like pink. Can you think of a good name for girls who don’t want to be girly girls but aren’t tomboys?

So does pink matter – yes, not because it isn’t a nice colour, not because nobody should like it, but because when there is only one game in town it narrows perspectives, slims down the possibilities and restricts people’s ability to be themselves. So I go back to my original assertion that it is time to turn the gender air conditioning off, and notice how tightly we define the possibilities for boys and girls. It starts early, it’s pernicious and its important that we challenge it.

I don’t want to return to the past where girls were made of all things nice and boys were made of slug tails. We cannot allow the power of marketing to turn the tide on social change and progress it isnt fair on boys or girls.

To find out more about Brook’s conference on March 4th 2010 visit http://www.brook.org.uk/

HIV and stigma

2009-12-08T14:32:00.000-08:00

Last week was World AIDS Day, and you could be forgiven for missing it if you blinked. Discussing this with colleagues and friends, there were a range of views on this from ‘well it is not such a threat anymore and so of course it will be lower profile’ to ‘this is seriously worrying – the press don’t report it as they did, people don’t wear red ribbons and it is an opportunity missed’.

For many of course, the day will not have gone by unnoticed, as they remember the long list of friends, lovers and family members who have died from AIDS related illnesses over the last twenty years. And for some, diagnosed with HIV in a different era when diagnosis equalled imminent death the day is a reminder of how advances in treatment have changed their future and life expectancy radically.

So whatever our views on the importance of a high profile World AIDS Day, the stark and unpleasant fact remains, stigma towards people living with and affected by HIV is a significant reality. According to new research funded by the Department for International Development and the Internal Planned Parenthood Federation stigma in Britain is worse now than it was a decade ago. Shocking findings if you expect more from the people of this country.

So as official figures showed the number of people living with HIV in the UK has reached 83,000, an 8% increase on the previous year, with approximately a quarter of those people unaware they have HIV, this is not the time for complacency.

I support calls for a cross government action plan to tackle discrimination, and I completely agree with David Borrow MP, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on AIDS, that the ‘public sector has a special responsibility to treat everyone it serves with respect’. We must continue to raise awareness of HIV in schools and communities and whilst we wait for government’s action plan, and even when we get it, we must all take personal responsibility for educating against ignorance and challenging robustly the unacceptable stigma towards people living with HIV.

Bitter blow for women in Northern Ireland

2009-11-30T08:12:00.000-08:00

The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Services in Northern Ireland published guidance on abortion. SPUC launched a judicial review to get the guidance withdrawn. We have today learned they were successful which is a bitter blow for women in Northern Ireland.

Responding to the news, FPA said

Reacting to today's ruling by Lord Justice Girvan in the High Court in Belfast, granting the withdrawal of the Guidance document on abortion from the DHSSPS following a Judicial Review instigated by SPUC, Dr Audrey Simpson, OBE said 'this is bitterly disappointing and a huge step backwards. Women with a crisis pregnancy and health professionals trying to carry out their duty of care have been badly let down by today's ruling which, again, leaves the entire situation in a state of limbo. We would urge the Department to re-write the Guidance as soon as possible'

New campaign to promote open conversation about sex

2009-11-30T04:24:00.000-08:00

Today the Department of Health and Department for Children, Schools and Families has launched the first phase of their Sex: worth talking about campaign in England.

The first phase focuses on contraception and is called contraception: worth talking about.

I am pleased that this campaign has been launched. We know that many many young people still do not know everything they need to about contraception, and time and again they tell us that adults do not talk openly and confidently about sex.

High profile campaigns can help change the way we understand things. The fact this campaign has been launched marks a shift in our attitudes towards young people, sex and contraception. The fact that it starts from a positive position of encouraging open communication marks it out from sexual health campaigns that have gone before it which have generally focused on some of the negative consequences of having sex such as sexually transmitted infections.

Lets hope its positive and slightly different approach will resonate with young people and get them talking.

To find out more about the campaign visit www.nhs.uk/sexualhealthprofessional

A new headline and my tube friend

2009-11-25T21:44:00.000-08:00

Thankfully I rarely use the tube to get around London, preferring instead to hotfoot it on my fold away bike, but yesterday I didn't have the physical energy to cycle so I ended up on the tube.

As I sat down, the man next to me was reading his Metro paper. As he turned the page I saw the headline 'transexual lessons for five year olds'. Now I have seen plenty of 'sex lessons for five year olds' and 'gay lessons for four year olds' headlines and expect to see many more, but this was a first.

So i (annoyingly) tried to read the article over his shoulder. He (annoyingly) decided he didn't want me to read over his shoulder and repositioned his paper. Normally the tube is littered with people's read free papers by 7.30, but not yesterday. So unable to wait I had to ask if I could please read the article about transexual lessons for five years.

He gave me the paper, i scanned the article as quickly as possible to learn that this is a non story. And that it was reporting on the fact that as part of PSHE Education children will learn about equality and domestic violence. There was nothing new in it, so why the new headline? As i read the article I sighed and shook my head and muttered this is ridiculous. I thought I was quiet, but my fast becoming friend - lets call him Sam - agreed, although misunderstood what i thought was ridiculous, so actually we disagreed because he thought transexual lessons for five year olds was ridiculous and a signal this government had lost the plot.

Now what annoys me to hell about this is that in the space of three tube stops he learnt quite a lot about PSHE Education and cheerily claimed to be an advocate as I hopped off at Euston. And I learnt first hand from your average (sorry Sam you were by no means average) about the insidious role of those tedious headlines on rational people's understanding of what children will be taught in school, and it breeds fear and suspicion and contempt about an area of education that is absolutely right and moral that it is taught in schools working in partnership with parents.

So the curriculum isn't changing, but the headlines are - what will the headline be next? Ideas on this blog!

Brook has a new website

2009-11-17T13:30:00.000-08:00

The Brook team has worked fantastically hard to update, extend and develop our website (www.brook.org.uk).

Young people have helped with both the design and content of the site and we are confident that it will really meet the needs of both young people and professionals - feedback from young people and professionals so far tells us we have got it right.

Take a look - there is a section on the website for feedback - please let us know what you think.