July 2015 Newsletter
Partnerships improving rural women’s
sexual and reproductive health
Message from Women’s Health Grampians Chief Executive Officer, Marianne Hendron.
We are delighted to welcome you to our new and exciting bi-monthly newsletter. The aim of our newsletter is to keep you up to date with WHG projects, initiatives and insights affecting Women’s Health in the Grampians Region. Our items will continue to focus on regional updates, highlights, new research and PD opportunities.
We look forward to working and partnering with you.
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Regional update:
Continuing on with our regional service mapping, Women’s Health Grampians have developed a Sexual Health Services Guide for the Wimmera. The aim of this guide is to improve access to sexual and reproductive health services for those living in the Grampians Pyrenees region. As well as to increase understanding of local referral options of health (and other) professionals and those who work with women within the region.
We have been able to use information collected in the service mapping project as a basis for a gap analysis of service and information across the region. Women’s Health Grampians are working in partnership with state-wide services to address issued identified in the gap analysis to improve access for rural women through improved service provision and increased capacity of current local service providers.
The Grampians Pyrenees PCP Sexual and Reproductive Health Working Group continue to meet on a monthly basis. The group focus has recently been on assisting schools and communities to build their capacity to deliver effective sexuality and relationships education.
The Grampians regional sexual and reproductive health partnership group has begun to regularly meet again, after a hiatus and period of significant staff changes for all organisations involved. The group has representation from; Family Planning Victoria, The Royal Women’s Hospital, Ballarat Community Health, Medicare Local and Women’s Health Grampians. It has been fabulous to reconnect and discover a common theme, which is to focus on improving the sexual and reproductive health outcomes for women in the areas of highest need in the region.
Research, publications and resources:
It’s time we talked about the impact of pornography…
Reality & Risk is a community-based project that supports young people, parents, schools, government and the community sector to understand and address the influence of pornography.
Pornography has become a default sex educator for many young people. This has serious implications regarding consent, risk assessment, mutual respect, sexual health and gender equality. Maree Crabbe delivers training to understand porn’s influence and explore how we can address it.
http://www.itstimewetalked.com.au/resources/guest-speaking-and-training/
Sexual Health Service Guides
Following a mapping project of sexual health services across the Grampians region in 2014, Women’s Health Grampians have worked in partnership with Grampians Pyrenees Primary Care partnership to develop a Sexual Health service guide for the Grampians Pyrenees region. We have also recently launched a guide for the Wimmera region.
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Professional development resources and events:
Online webinar: Adolescent Fertility and Pregnancy
In this free 90 minute Webinar you will be given an overview of adolescent fertility and pregnancy, including strategies to identify at risk young women, their risk taking behaviours and the potential implications on adolescent fertility. You will also be given information on the variety of contraceptive methods, the implications of untreated sexually transmitted infections (STIs) on future fertility as well as the many issues relating to adolescent pregnancy including the use of resources and support services.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqcLzrIgyqk />
CERSH 2015 SEXrurality Conference July 2015
Building on the successes of the inaugural conference in Shepparton in 2013, the SEXrurality 2015 conference aims to provide a forum for the presentation of high quality professional practice and research papers on sexual and reproductive health in rural settings. The conference also aims to encourage growth in the capacity of rural practitioners and early career researchers in the confident presentation of their work.
http://www.cersh.com.au/cersh-2015-sexrurality-conference/
Sexual and reproductive health FIRST AID - Education and Training for health & allied health professionals
A non-clinical course that has been designed for social workers, youth workers and other allied health professionals and service providers who provide sexual and reproductive healthcare. Participating in this course will enable you to provide sexual and reproductive health information to clients, particularly young people, for improved health outcomes.
http://bit.ly/1Bzye3k
Grampians Region: Partnerships improving rural women’s sexual and reproductive health
Women’s Health Grampians along, with our key partners have been holding discussions about how to support regional services to improve women’s sexual and reproductive health across the Grampians region.
Our focus is on family planning services including contraception, pregnancy counselling, abortion and the professional development needs of service providers.
We readily acknowledge that many organisations across the region have a long history of working hard to address these issues. With this in mind, the aim is to build on existing relationships, and develop new connections, to enhance current work, add capacity, and where relevant, provide a new range of initiatives.
Please contact Women’s Health Grampians if you would like to contribute ideas or feedback to this newsletter.
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