SASH — Sex and health
Recently I have been working with the SASH team to plan the workshop for accessible sex and health training. At Equal People we are working with SASH (Support and Advice on Sexual Health) to support service users to understand more about gender, identity, LGBTQQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, Queer, Intersex and Asexual) boundaries and consent.
I have conducted over 200 in-depth interviews and contextual enquiries over the last year. As well as in-depth there are many themes emerging around the need for more in-depth education around sex education and understanding identity.
As of October 2021, according to LGBTIQ+ Health Australia, LGBTQI+ people aged 14–25 are 15 times more likely to commit suicide that non-transgender people and 25.6% of LGBTQA+ young people aged 16 to 17 attempted suicide in their life time.
In America one study (UCLA, Williams Institute) showed that 60% of suicide attempts happen 5 years after a person realises their identity.
90.2% of transgender and gender diverse people aged 14 to 21 reported experiencing high or very high levels of psychological distress.
Goal of the project;
We need to encourage awareness and good conversations so that this can reach children AND adults; in community, local, national and global learning and working environments.
By using an external object of focus like a persona, we will be able to take the focus off the individual situation and onto the ‘persona’.
Potential outcome;
We think the outcome will be some kind of theatre performance with the objective being to create awareness, resources and toolkits to be able to discuss complex issues such as gender and identity in accessible formats and interactions.
We had a first meeting to find out if this was something that people would enjoy doing.
What we did
- Our first step was to understand some scenarios that capture the most challenging issues when navigating sex and relationship with adults with learning disabilities. We have decided to try and see if creating role plays will help the understanding better, to take the focus of personal issues and of course, make it fun!
- We identified situations, events, and feedback we have through our activities program or that have happened at our centre and in residential settings over the years and which need urgent attention.
2. We then thought about other factors we may need to take into consideration such as language, standards and laws around consent and sex.
3. Used a ‘made-up’ character called Tim to create scenes. We used real research to inform a ‘scenario’. We looked at the main challenges Tim faces;
- Depression due to confusion over identity
- Isolation
We decided to take one key scenario from the challenge list “I don’t know what sexuality I am and I want to know more”. And we applied it to Tim’s situation.
We then looked at the opportunities that he has to change his situation.
We role played the scenarios from different perspectives — Tim and his friend/ Tim and his current girlfriend / Tim and his friend. We worked in pairs and improvised scenes.
The scenes were
- Tim/ friend: talking in a coffee shop about Tim’s feelings.
Goal> to encourage talking about feelings with a trusted other, observations about his mood reflected back by his friend, helping with decisions.
2. Tim and his current girlfriend: talking in a private place about real feelings.
Goal> Respect the other person, speaking openly and honestly with the right intentions, being kind. Making decisions together in the best interest of both human beings.
3. Tim and his friend: Talking on the phone for support after the event.
Goal> Support from friend, respect for doing difficult things.
Service users said the sessions were fun and they want to do more of them. I am planning more sessions.
My final thoughts — If we are aware of our differences, we can celebrate them. If we respect each other, we will respect our selves. We will get closer to peace.
