Naturally Curious
Talking about sexual health is okay.
How do you talk about sexual health?
Do you get checked for sexually transmitted & blood borne infections?
Be curious and join the conversation.
Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada is proud to launch the Naturally Curious project that engages Inuit adult and youth to talk about sexual health and the prevention of STBBIs!
www.facebook.com/NaturallyCuriousProject
Background
This project and its resources are giving parents, caregivers, frontline workers and others an increased capacity and ability to communicate with youth about healthy sexual behaviour. More specifically, the project is intended to communicate the need to reduce high-risk behaviours related to reducing the spread of STBBIs in Inuit communities.
The project focuses on informing adults about sexual health and to encourage them to educate and influence youth about it and about STBBI testing. The long-term desired outcome is that youth (and adults) will understand what sexual health means and, as a result, they will practice safe sex and seek STBBI testing. While youth are a target audience, it is recognized that adults in the communities need to be supportive of healthy sexual behaviour and be willing to talk about it to create an environment in which young people will see healthy sexuality as the norm.
The project addresses four goals:
- Encourage adults to talk to Inuit youth about STBBIs
- Normalize conversations among Inuit about sexual health
- Promote awareness and prevention of STBBIs
- Encourage Inuit to be tested for STBBIs
Phase I of the project included pre-campaign surveys and site visits to eight communities across Inuit Nunangat. Phase II was aimed at developing a resource toolkit that addressed the needs identified by the communities from their surveys.
The communities:
- Nain and Rigolet – Nunatsiavut
- Kuujjuarapik and Tasiujaq – Nunavik
- Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk – Inuvialuit
- Arviat and Cambridge Bay – Nunavut