Talking Realities
History
The "Talking Realities…Young Parenting" peer education program
was created by a group of young mothers in conjunction with
Adelaide Central Northern Community Health Service and Tafe SA. The
training materials and course structure were written in 1996; the
program continues in Adelaide and has formed 8 other project
partnerships Australia wide.
The Riverland was the pilot Talking Realities partnership
project, being implemented in 2002 in response to an identified
increase in the number of teenage pregnancies in the Riverland
region. The project is well established and highly regarded among
service providers and community members in the Riverland.
Riverland headspace (under Riverland Division
of General Practice) became the host of the Talking Realities
project in July 2008 as the program is specifically targeted to
positive health outcomes for young people.
Riverland Division of General Practice Strategic Objectives
are;
- To sustain, enhance and advocate for the capacity of general
practice to deliver improved local health outcomes
- To support the provision of accessible and equitable primary
health care services
- Leading and shaping health policy to improve health
outcomes
Riverland headspace maintains strong links with
ACNCHS and other project coordinators to ensure quality outcomes
for participants.
Aims
Talking Realities... Young Parenting has two main aims as
detailed below;
The goals of the program are firstly "to improve the social
health outcomes for young parents (peer educators) and their
children living in the Riverland" by means of:
- Increasing the ability of young parents to take on a peer
educators' role
- Increasing peer educators' access to formal and informal
education and employment opportunities
- Building resilience, self confidence and self esteem in peer
educators
- Increasing peer educators' access to education on nurturing,
child development and behaviour and health needs of children,
and
- Increasing peer educators' knowledge and use of community
services.
The parents are exposed to many support networks while
completing accredited training in order to further education and
career outcomes, in turn preventing the cycle of poverty and poor
health.
Knowledge and practice of positive parenting techniques are
fostered ensuring children receive the best possible care from
parents and significant others
And secondly "to improve the ability of young people in the
Riverland to make informed choices about parenting and their
health" by means of:
- Increasing young people's knowledge and realistic awareness of
the potential short and long term consequences of early
parenting
- Increasing young people's understanding of sexual health
issues, and
- Increasing young people's knowledge of local community based
support services
By training young parents to become peer educators and present
to groups the banner presentation 'Talking Realities....Young
Parenting' we aim to decrease the prevalence of unplanned teen
pregnancy in the Riverland community.
For more information
Contact Riverland headspace on: