Community Direct
Northern Ireland has one of the highest rates of teenage motherhood in Europe, with 1,700 births a year and recent research found that young people who were less able to talk to their parents about personal or sexual matters were less likely to use contraception when they first had sex.
Community Direct launched the Parents Promoting Sexual health programme to raise awareness and knowledge of sexual health amongst adults and increase their confidence in talking to children and young people. In June 2006, eighty six people from nine community groups participated in the programme.
The training was carried out over six three-hour interactive sessions and were held in the local community and within school hours to enable parents to attend. Everyone completed the course.
After the training, participants felt they could communicate with their children about personal issues, and knew the most appropriate response to children if they asked a question regarding sex. They learned about different types of sexually transmitted diseases and the types of contraception available.