The last term for Choices youth work team, Relationship Revolution, has been a busy one. Highlights included: piloting a series of sexual exploitation workshops, delivering positive relationships and pornography workshops, joining the international 16 Days of Action campaign and continuing with our regular youth clubs. In addition to all of this we completed our first Romance Academy programme with a youth group in Torry.
The group commenced in July 2013 and comprised around 10, 15 year old girls. The group was shaped by the girls themselves and they named it ‘VicTorry #NoFailure’ – such an epic name! The group was developed as a follow on to a lunchtime group which the Choices Aberdeen, Relationship Revolution team facilitate weekly for S1-S3 girls in Torry Academy. The girls moving on to S4 were keen not to miss out and so following a number of sessions during the summer holiday period, a weekly after school group was established particularly for their age group.
The girls identified that they would like the group to challenge, encourage and inspire them to make a difference in their local community. They had all previously participated in Relationship Revolution activities in Torry Academy which they enjoyed and they decided that within this new group they would like to continue with the theme of relationships and sex. Romance Academy is a 12 week programme which aims to equip young people to think for themselves, own their opinions and understand what it means to know what they want when it comes to sex and relationships. Statistics show that if young people are able to communicate and express what they want in a relationship they are far more likely to go on to pursue relationships which are healthy and positive. The girls and the leaders had lots of fun over these twelve sessions.
Reflecting on their time in Romance Academy the girls said; ‘’I felt embarrassed to answer questions but now I don’t mind”, “It’s good to feel part of something’’, “I was unsure of some things but now I’m more aware and understand.” When asked what they had learnt during the twelve weeks, they said, “how important it is not to push people out our lives, or know how to walk away when you deserve better” and “lots of things about relationships especially to be yourself”.
We celebrated the girls completing the programme with a meal out which was great! It has been a lot of fun and an amazing opportunity to facilitate the group as they each considered what they believe to be important when it comes to sex and relationships!
The group have exciting plans for 2014. They are beginning a film project which will give them the opportunity to plan, produce and feature in their own film. The film will draw on their own experiences and aim to look at what it feels like to be a fifteen year old girl in Aberdeen. The girls hope to inspire other girls of a similar age to stand up for what they think is important and promote healthy relationships. Watch this space for more for news on how we are getting on…
