A doorway to positive sexual health education
Hundreds of local high school students are better informed about sexual health, wellbeing and relationships thanks to the annual PASH conference held at Lennox Head.
PASH stands for Positive Adolescent Sexual Health, and is a consortium of around 40 organisations, including North Coast Population and Public Health, together pool resources, knowledge, understanding, and best practice to support sexual health and related issues affecting young people and families.
With expert presenters (including some very well-known names!), the PASH conference gives kids aged 16 and up, the opportunity to hear from professionals in a safe space away from the classroom for the day, with 16 topics ranging from drug use, to consent, safer sex, mental health, where to get local help and much more.
The format is designed to start building conversations and connections among students and schools so students know where to go for reliable health information from local organisations and services, in a bid to address stigma and access issues that can hamper young people in seeking healthy behaviours.
Associate Professor Melissa Kang, a well-known adolescent sexual health clinician, academic, author and educator, said the positive philosophy and collaborative approach behind PASH were some of the reasons for its success in this challenging space.
“PASH takes a positive approach to adolescent sexual health, so it’s really about acknowledging that young people deserve to know all the positives, as well as the things they need to be wary of,” Melissa said.
“The students get to know all the places they can go for help. Obviously, the information they’re getting is fantastic, it’s evidence based expert information, but it’s having those networks that really are the strength of PASH.”
Criminal defence lawyer, Tracey Randall, presented a session on consent and the law. She has been involved with PASH since its inception in 2014 and is passionate about working with young people.
“In the last few years there’s been a dramatic change to the law of consent. It now talks about consent being a mutual agreement, which is a big change to what we had in the past. I hope it means we have healthier sexual relationships,” Tracey said.
“I think PASH is a fantastic forum to deliver information about consent and other sexual health topics because young people are exposed to people who are professionals in their industry. It’s conducive to kids asking questions to information they want to know about.
South Grafton high school teacher, Gareth Smith, brings a large cohort of kids each year, and sees the benefits.
“It’s so refreshing to get them out of the school. They come here with a different mindset, and they absorb so much more.
“They’re used to the google generation where they want information immediately. With the doctor, the presenter, the lawyer literally right in front of them, they can ask the question and get it immediately.
“The expertise and the time and effort that goes into it, just screams to the kids the level of importance that people place on this, and the level of importance they need to place on their own sexual health.”
Associated Professor of Social Marketing at Griffith University, Sameer Desphande, is leading an evaluation of the PASH program.
“I don’t think this kind of program exists elsewhere in Australia,” Sameer said.
“I’ve worked in sex ed in India and in the US and Canada, and it’s very medicalised; push the condom use and contraceptives and off you go. We need that in the toolkit, but sex is much more than just about condoms and intercourse, it’s about consent and relationships and many aspects. The holistic nature doesn’t get delivered, or it’s intermittent or inconsistent. PASH fills this gap.
“I wish this was done 100 times a year, and every student was exposed to this. It’s a solid program, you’ve got to start somewhere.”