How Do You Become a Sexual Health Educator?

[HoneyPot]

Can we share some info on how someone can become a sexual health educator? B)
This could include courses (at tafe/uni/wherever), organisations that teach sexual health education or volunteer opportunities that include being a sexual health educator.
I think some people on here do teach sex ed in someway which is rad! Or maybe you know someone that does! What do you/they do and how did you/they get there?

[NickiPower]

Hey @HoneyPot, that’s a great question! I’m going to tag @Nurse_Nettie just to see if she has some recommendations on how to get into the field! 

[DeftRat]

I know ACON have a Peer Education Program for gay and same sex attracted men. You can contact them through their website if you are interested in doing the training. I have done the training for it myself but have yet to facilitate any workshops. The topics are varied and they also cater to certain demographics. They have workshops for younger gay men 18-26, gay men over 26, as well as workshops for gay men newly diagnosed with HIV

[HoneyPot]

Thanks for that @DeftRat ! ACON does heaps of cool stuff!
@Nurse_Nettie have you any suggestions that could be accessed by the wider queer community and the hetero community?

[Nurse_Nettie]

Sure @HoneyPot, there’re many courses, depending on your background & level of experience. You’ll find in sexual health people come from all different paths to get into this area. Family Planning NSW is a good start. Sydney Uni also have a sexual health educators course.  The Albion Centre for HIV and Hepatitis courses for all types of health workers. The Multicultural Sexual Health Network offers a range of courses too. The  Australian Society of Sex Educators, Researchers & Therapists (ASSERT) is a key organisation to be aware of.  Some of these courses are for one day or a whole module, depending on how much you want to learn.  Good Luck!

[Aunt_Flo]

@Nurse_Nettie none of your wonderful links are working for me! 🙁

[Nurse_Nettie]

Hi Aunt_Flo,  my links were seriously broken! I’m getting it checked by the IT doctor now. Thanks for checking in!

[HoneyPot]

Amazing! Thanks @Nurse_Nettie keen to check these out!

[tea]

@HoneyPot Thank you so much for asking this!! I’ve been wondering this for such a long time now and find that it’s actually a really difficult area to get into? Even with some of the things that @Nurse_Nettie linked to, I’ve found you need to be a certain age, have a prior degree or be a health care professional to even engage in a lot of opportunities in the public health sector. I mean I guess it’s a privacy concern with engaging in such a sensitive topic with young people, but it can be frustrating sometimes when there are limited options available. I didn’t realise there was a national association for Sex Educators though which is amazing!!! Thank you so much for the links, I’ll definitely check those out! :smiley:

[Aunt_Flo]

I’ve also come across the need to be a health professional @tea – very frustrating to have all this passion and limited avenues to explore it!

[champagnepapi]

Also i think it’s tougher to get into teaching in schools because often they have their own teachers who run classes (albeit really terrible and archaic ones, but thats a debate for another day). I would say if you can’t find any opportunities you should create your own @HoneyPot! Do your courses and then start approaching different organisations seeing if they need health promotion workshops run. I volunteer for a women’s shelter in sydney who might need a sexual health educator actually, so if you do get around to studying it i could put you in touch with them!

[HoneyPot]

Thats a great idea @champagnepapi ! Thanks for that!

[peachy]

@HoneyPot you might find this group interesting too! They’re student volunteers who run feminism workshops for high school students. They’re not directly sexual health educators but they do touch on issues like media representation and sexual harassment. Might be a good way to get some relevant sex educator experience!  

[tea]

@peachy The link doesn’t work 😥 I assume you’re talking about FemPower though? 10/10 recommend :heart:

[peachy]

Thanks @tea ! 

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