Great news!

Great news!  I've been accepted to the Poster Presentations at the 32nd Annual Guelph Sexuality Conference in June!

I am very excited to be part of this incredible event.  When I was a student at U of G I volunteered at the Conference each year, and dreamed of being part of the conference itself.  I am now one step closer to that dream!

I wanted to share my news - yay!

:) Candice

Pieces are falling into place ...

Well, things are crazy right now!  I have a few weeks left in the semester, so I am trying to get through the last of the tests and assignments while planning my workshop and working on this awesome website.

I have been neglecting the blog a bit over the past week, in favour of getting some "content" onto the site.  If you haven't already, check out my other pages ... About, Workshop, etc.

Check back often as this site continues to grow and, hopefully, flourish!  I can't wait to see what happens!

Let's get connected!

Another week, another workshop!

This week, week 3 of my workshop, was a continuation off of last week's contraceptive session.  While last week was all about condoms, the pill, patch and ring, this week was about less common and less well-known methods.

I started by making big "info sheets" about each method.  These sheets include all of the "good to know" stuff, including how each method is used, effectiveness, protection offered, and any warnings or other info they should know.  For example, did you know using spermicide increases your risk of transmitting or contracting HIV?  Neither did I, until I did some research!  Wrap it up, folks!

I hung these posters along one wall of the OYC, where they would be visible to the youth.  I had 12 in total because I thought that a review of the four methods we covered last week would be a good idea!  I started the discussion with an overview of each method, complete with samples and explanations of how to use them.  I also talked about Plan B and made sure that they knew where to get it, how it worked, and how much it costs.

One of the BEST parts of this week's workshop was when I talked to them about the four methods we discussed last week.  In particular, I ended the "lesson" part of the workshop with another condom demo.  I asked the youth to walk me through it - two of them had been present at last week's session - and THEY REMEMBERED!  I was soooooo excited and so very proud!  One of the youth in particular walked me through each little step - including making sure there was air in the package and pushing the condom to the side of the package before opening it - and not using teeth to tear it open!

YAY!!!

This week's game was called "Contraceptive Connection".  Here are some pictures!

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The game is essentially a combination of Jeopardy, Sequence, and Tic-Tac Toe.  The kids really enjoyed it, although I will make a few revisions next time around, because they definitely wanted more competition!

I used rewards in the form of lilliput eggs, Kinder Surprise and Cadbury Creme Eggs ... go easter chocolate!  I'll have to stock up again this week to make sure I am well-equipped.

Oh, and the best "Session Eval" comment to date?  "This program is great".

I'm on top of the world!

Thanks for reading :)
Candice

Step by step!

So much is happening this week, and I don't have enough time (or energy) to tell it all right now. I was in Toronto today for "ASIST" - Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training. To get there, we left at 6am ... so it's been a long day. Not to mention, we're doing it all again tomorrow!

I have a surprise coming soon, and I can't wait to unveil it to you! All I can say is, this blog is going to be moving soon! In the meantime, I will try to keep you entertained by telling you about what I am doing in workshop this week.

This week's activity is called "Contraceptive Connection". I had the brainwave for the oh-so-clever name last week and I'm pretty excited about the activity (as usual!). It's like a combination of jeopardy + tic-tac-toe + sequence + Candice's awesome creativity. Ok I added the last part in myself ...

I haven't made the game board yet, but it will be more-or-less an oversized tic-tac-toe board. My objective is to engage the kids with the info (cleverly posted around the OYC) while encouraging fun and watching them strive for chocolate prizes!

I am continuing to spread the word about my workshop, as well as this blog. I am thrilled to say that I am making connections and - hopefully - building interest in what I'm doing. As I mentioned in my first blog post, I decided in the fall that this placement would be exactly what I wanted it to be - and I made that happen. I'm thrilled with the results.

Stay tuned ... for now, I must sleep, but I will write more as soon as I can!

:)
Candice

What's that in the giant box you're carrying around?

For those of you who didn't know, my wonderful college monitor put in a request for me, and the CYW program has purchased a SEX ED KIT! YYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!!

I'm soooooo thrilled and excited about this! If you click on the link, you will see that this particular (amazing!) kit is not all that cheap ... and definitely beyond my grasp at the time (if you want to donate to the "Candice needs a sex ed teaching kit" fund, please contact me! I'll thank you personally! Tee hee).

As soon as I could, I opened it up and went through everything ... and it has pretty much EVERYTHING I could want! Condoms, a woody, six different samples of the pill, a nuvaring, an IUD, samples of the patch, a sponge, a female condom, a cervical cap, vaginal film (spermicide), jelly (spermicide) ... the list goes on and on! To show just how excited I am about this kit, I had Mark take a picture of me holding it open! And yes, it's nearly as tall as I am ...


This is great!!!! I couldn't possibly ask for anything better! In addition to all of the teaching supplies, it comes loaded with some print materials too ... pamphlets, booklets, and educational resources. I'm sure I'll add a few things to it while I'm using it! After all, there's no such thing as too many sex ed resources!

In addition to the arrival of "my" kit (yes I know, it's not mine, but I'm going to refer to it as "mine" rather than "the CYW program's sex ed kit") ... I have had a great week in terms of spreading the word about my workshop. Which reminds me - if you know of ANYONE whom you think might be interested in what I'm doing, please pass this along! I am trying to spread the word as much as I possibly can, and I appreciate any and all networking assistance! I've been talking with several people who are interested in what I'm doing, which is wonderful! The word is spreading amongst the youth as well!

THANK YOU for reading, THANK YOU for following, THANK YOU for forwarding, and THANK YOU for your support and well-wishes!

What's Your Plan "A"?

Another week is almost done and it has been crazy busy! Here's an update:

Workshop number two was last night. There were not as many kids as the first week (there were 10), but the ones who were there were really engaged and participated fantastically! The staff participated as well, and to them I say a huge THANK YOU for their support!

Activity number one - Condom Lineup - was hilarious! Both teams did their best and really engaged with the activity, so I was thrilled! We had some fun with "the Woodster" and I showed them that a condom easily fits over my fist ... so no "it's too small" excuses!

The second activity was officially named about 1/2 hour before I left for placement ... thank you Kristin for your suggestion. I adjusted it slightly, and the name is now "What's your Plan "A"?" Your prize is in the mail! Stay tuned for more pleas for help!



Yesterday afternoon I made a quick trip to WalMart and picked up a variety of "prizes" ... mmm chocolate! Easter chocolate to be precise! Bribery is GREAT and works like a charm! I offered the youth a "prize" to whomever helped me with the condom demo by holding Woody ... only one volunteered, without knowing what the prize was. Now that they know I am armed with Kinder Surprise eggs, I think I might get more volunteers!!!

Overall, it was a great session. I had hoped for more youth, but it worked out very well with the number who were there. I'm getting a better idea of how long to run the sessions for and what kind of activities to use. And the way I see it, if even one of the youth learned something last night, I was successful!

Thanks for reading!

p.s. Alexandra, I am still keeping your name suggestion in mind for further activities! I will let you know if I use it!

Another activity ready!

Okay folks, the board for my second activity is finally finished. The only problem remaining is that I don't have a clever or witty name for this one!



Essentially, I present the methods, give them each an info sheet about all 4 (with the main points) and then have them fill out this board with the cards I've also made (e.g. under "Effectiveness" they would select the card with "88% effective" written on it and stick it in the "Condoms" column). Repeat until completed! Of course I'll endeavour to make it more interesting than that, but I'm sure you get the essence of the activity!



So ... any great name ideas? Help me out and I'll send you a surprise! Mailing address required :)

*note* THANK YOU TO KRISTIN for your great name idea!

Aside from the tremendous amounts of work I've done today, it's been a GREAT day and I have lots of things to write about! However, it's late and I am exhausted, so they will have to wait. Keep reading ... I will keep posting!

:)

Making a game of it!

Week 2 of my workshop is upon me. Yesterday I realized that next week is going to be extremely busy, which means I have this week to prepare for both this and next week's workshop sessions!

The topic of this week is Condoms and Contraception. However, after last week I realized that we need to start with the very basics - a look at anatomy (particularly female!). The youth need to know what I mean when I say "cervix" and I'm not sure all of them do.

After I cover the "moose" (Sue Johanson's word to describe the appearance of a woman's inner reproductive system) and external genitalia, we'll move on to the fun stuff -- CONDOMS! I have just finished preparing the activity boards for my rendition of "Condom Lineup". I am taking the original idea from the Advocates for Youth website.

I'm quite pleased with how the boards have turned out!



After we cover everything condoms, I will be talking about the pill, patch and ring. I haven't finished the board for that activity yet - that's tonight's task!

Stay tuned!

The path to sex ed is long and convoluted ...

When I decided to go back to school for Child and Youth Work (go Georgian College!), I didn't really think too much about my human sexuality related ambitions. After graduating from U of G, I had briefly considered doing an MSc in Human Sexuality but decided that research wasn't really my thing ... I prefer to get "in there" and connect with people, and CYW seemed a great way to do that.

Jump ahead to April 2009, at which point I found myself on placement at a really great elementary school in the Orillia/Barrie area. My supervisor gave me the freedom to schedule my time however was best suited to everyone involved, and also gave me the opportunity to pursue what I REALLY wanted to do. At that point I began offering to teach sex ed to the seventh and eight grade students at the school - and all of the teachers went for it! Needless to say, I loved every moment of it and learned more than I had ever anticipated.

Fast forward a few more months, to September 2009. Although I was only anticipating completing my second (six week) placement in the upcoming spring, I was determined to make it the best placement I possibly could. A few revisions and suggestions later, I found myself planning instead for my final 400 hour placement, which was even better! I started phoning and emailing and visiting agencies in the area, offering to do sex-ed outreach, to teach, to run a workshop ... whatever they needed and wanted! At first I didn't have too much success ... I quickly discovered that Simcoe county is rather conservative in many ways, and doesn't offer much in terms of sexual health resources to youth. Even an offer of free labour and an independent student wasn't enough to entice!

My luck turned around when I was referred by one of my fabulous teachers to the Orillia Youth Centre. Kevin quickly agreed to take me on as a student and let me develop, implement, and evaluate my own workshop. He offered me free reign to do as I pleased ... topics, content, guest speakers, activities ... it was all up to me! At that point I was ecstatic, though I was still looking for a second agency to partner with; my ultimate goal was a split placement with an agency whose name and affiliation could benefit me in the long run.

On January 8 I was attending a Leadership Conference at the Georgian campus in Barrie, where I noticed that one of the agencies attending the "networking lunch" was the AIDS Committee of Simcoe County. I introduced myself and explained what I was trying to do, and my ultimate goal of having a "split placement" with an organization such as the ACSC and the OYC. Karyn immediately agreed and said that a split placement would suit her perfectly. If I had been ecstatic before, now I was bursting with excitement!

Now that I had both of my placement supervisors arranged, I started to think about everything involved with planning and running a sex-ed workshop. Of several things I was certain: that I would be working 95% independently, that I wanted to give myself lots of time to plan the workshop, and that I wanted more than 8 weeks to run it. I talked to a few people, did a little self-advocating, and within a few days I had made the arrangements to start my placement two months early, on a part-time basis. I officially began my placement on February 8, 2010.

Though nowhere near over yet, this journey has taught me a great deal. I have realized, among other things, that I am a strong advocate for myself as well as others. I've learned that if I am determined to make something happen, I can do it! And now, as the workshop really gets going, I'm learning that I'm a pretty good sexual health educator as well!

Let's hear it for comprehensive sex ed! :)

And ... success!

Tonight was my first workshop session. Granted, it was just the intro ... I talked about myself, let the youth ask questions (they mostly just wanted to know how old I am), we talked about ground rules (confidentiality, respect, listening and being nonjudgemental), and then talked about what's coming up with the next few sessions! I asked them what kind of things they'd like to learn about and, although they were fairly quiet during the actual workshop, I received some great feedback at the end.

There were 17 youth there to start with, and 13 of them were there long enough to fill out evaluation forms! I'm pleased to say that nobody said "that sucked!" ... yay! The staff were also full of positive feedback, and I had a few good chats with youth who approached me afterwards with questions. So, the ball is rolling!

Thanks for reading :)

p.s. Two veggie trays and one fruit tray, as well as a package of cookies -- GONE in 20 minutes. They were hungry, but not for me! Phew! :)

There comes a day ...

There comes a day when you have to throw yourself to the sharks ... and hope that they're not too hungry!

That day has arrived for me ... it is officially "start my workshop" day!

I consider today to be more of a "soft start" ... like the "soft openings" before the Grand Opening of a new store. Tonight we're talking about me, the workshop, ground rules, and what the kids want to talk about over the next 10 weeks. I'm taking lots of fun stuff (handouts, resources, flipcharts, booklets, condoms) but it's not until next week that the REAL teaching starts.

It's all coming together ... the posters are being printed, schools have been contacted, public health has been called, and the veggie trays have been ordered! Wish me luck!

Let's Talk About Sex

My involvement with the field of human sexuality began several years ago, with an "Intro to Human Sexuality" course in University. This course, in conjunction with my extra-curricular activities, ignited a passion for sexual health education which has continued to grow over the years.

My goal is to get "out there" and connect with young people; to get them to talk and learn about a topic which so many feel uncomfortable discussing. The reality is simple - the decisions people make regarding sex can permanently and drastically impact the rest of their lives. My current project is a joint venture between the AIDS Committee of Simcoe County and the Orillia Youth Centre. I am designing, running, and evaluating a 10 week sex ed workshop, geared towards at risk youth in the Orillia, Ontario area.

In addition to this project, I have several years of involvement with the Guelph Sexuality Conference and spent two years as a volunteer with a group called NAKED at the University of Guelph. Last year I spent six weeks in an elementary school; among other things, I taught sex ed to all of the seventh and eighth grade students.

These experiences, as well as my discussions with young people regarding all things sex, have ignited within me a determination to make my goals and dreams a reality.