The winter ‘Discovery café’, a health information and education event, was held on Wednesday at Gallery Oldham. The event provided a way for young people not attending school, to find out what advice and support is available for them across different organisations in Oldham.
‘The purpose of the event is to engage young people who are not currently attending school, and provide them with access to sexual health, education information, advice and support which they are not currently getting at school.’, explains Steve Murphy, Director of Operations for Connexions.
‘Statistically non attenders are a greater risk of becoming teenage parents than those attending school, and are obviously not benefiting from the PHSE (personal, health, social and education) lessons in school. The aim of the event was to engage these young people, and show them the sorts of agencies in Oldham who are on hand to provide information advice and support, so that these young people know where to go if they do need further information
’ Young people aged from 12-17 years old were engaged in a variety of activities. These included demonstrations of the Health4me website (www.health4me.org), using Health Power Cards and health checks. The young people were also involved in information sessions and received ‘goody bags’ from Brook, School Health Advisers and Oasis (Oldhams’ young people’s substance misuse service).
Staff were on hand throughout the afternoon to answer queries from young people. The partnership event was organised by Oldham Teenage Pregnancy Strategy Group, and delivered by Positive Steps Oldham, Oldham Primary Care Trust, Brook, and Oldham Sports Development. All agencies are committed to providing information, advice and support to young people on a variety of issues.
