EMAIL YOUR QUESTIONS TO US!
We are now able to answer email questions about sexual health!
You can email us at info@islandsexualhealth.org
or
educator@islandsexualhealth.org
We strive to respond to all email within 72 hours with factual information and/or referrals to appropriate agencies. We will not provide counselling advice/support, book appointments, or give results via email.
Peer Sexual Health Education Training
ISHS is pleased to announce our newest education training program, Peer Education Training
Island Sexual Health’s Peer Training provides students in educator supported peer helper/leadership/youth programs with specialized training in issues connected to sexual health and decision making. The training has been developed with the input of several local and national peer helping programs specializing in sexual health education for youth. The intent of the training is to provide youth with accurate and relevant sexual health information that will support them in their existing roles as peer helpers in their school communities.
Sessions are designed to build upon the students’ peer helper knowledge and help students further develop their skills for education, referral, and support.
This year, thanks to the generous support of Coast Capital Savings and the BC Gaming Commission – Direct Access, we are able to offer the training to 10 school groups (for students in grades 9-University) within the Greater Victoria Area at no cost to their school. Due to the limited number of training spots available, we will be accepting applications on a first come first serve basis.
Training is divided into 3 sessions. The first 2 sessions are delivered within 1-3 weeks of each other and the third session is delivered approximately 2 months later. Between the 2nd and 3rd session, with the support of ISHS, participating groups are encouraged to develop and deliver a sexual health awareness raising activity for their school community. All sessions combine facilitated discussion, group work, and individual exercises. Energy food and training materials are provided.
Please contact Jennifer at (250) 592-3479 (204) or email educator@islandsexualhealth.org for more information on the training opportunity.
Fun and Hip Events Crew Volunteers Wanted!
Are you interested in helping to create our fun and hip events crew at Island Sexual Health? Our crew helps to educate the public on sexual health issues through condom crew activities, welcome week displays and attendance at major events throughout greater Victoria. No experience necessary just a willingness to have fun and be part of a health education crew.
If this sounds like something you would be interested in email Brett, our events coordinator, at events@islandsexualhealth.org
*NEW WESTSHORE CLINIC LOCATION*
Effective immediately, our Westshore clinic location will move to #108-284 Helmcken Rd. Clinics will now be held on Tuesday evenings from 5:30-8:30 only. Our phone numbers will remain the same 888-6814 during clinic hours or 592-3479 any time. Our fax number will be 480-7335.
Check our new GLBTT2IQA links
We have recently updated our links page to include many fabulous LOCAL resources for the GLBTT2IQA communities. We really have a wealth of information, support and spirit here on Vancouver Island.
Changes to IUD Process
ISHS has made some changes to our IUD insertion process. For more information, please visit the IUD section
Join us at the PRIDE rally March 25/08!
We hope you can join us in the opportunity to protest violence against queer people. Please come and participate at the UVic PRIDE rally March 25 at 1:30 at the Uvic fountain. It will be followed by a workshop and movie. Read the details below from UVic PRIDE!
Friends and colleagues – Please read this message and consider joining us in the rally against violence against queer people that will be held on the campus, organized by people in UVic PRIDE. I can not tell you how much we appreciate the support of allies – queer positive people – in the struggle for acceptance for all people – regardless of their gender expression or sexual orientation.
This year has seen an unheard of number of queerphobic (transphobic, homophobic etc: a fear of people of different gender presentations and sexualities) acts of violence have occurred globally. Every year at the end of November campus groups, trans activists and LGBTTIQ groups world wide gather to remember the dead of the past year. Each year typically 15 to 20 names are read at Trans Day of Remembrance vigils from San Francisco to New York, and Victoria to Rio. Many of the victims are the result of unsolved crimes, bodies found floating in bodies of water, or shot on the street corners. Many of the crimes are obvious in their intention – hatred and fear of people living in a way that doesn’t fall within the “norm”. Many of the dead are former sex workers, a profession which is one of the few options available to some trans people, who have been judged, dismissed and fetishized.
This year since the 20th of November (less than 4 months) the world has seen the same amount of deaths as is usually seen in an entire year. One of the most recent was the death of 15 year old Lawrence King in Oxnard California on February 12th. He was shot in the head by a classmate, Brandon McInerney, 14 in the computer lab of their school. It is believed that he was killed for being openly gay and presenting in a feminine manner.
This has caused action to be stirring in lgbttiq circles and activist networks around the world including the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), Gay-Straight Alliance Network (GSA Network), and locally UVIC Pride.
We’re having a rally on March 25th at 1:30 at the UVic fountain to draw attention to these deaths, since they get very little media attention. Our demonstration will include speakers, the names of those who were murdered being read out, and a “die-in” (people collapsing/lying down in the crowd) to represent those who were killed this year.
We will also have a collection of stories recorded on squares of fabric which will be hung on a line around the fountain on the day of the rally. Later we will be making these squares into a quilt together at a Queer Quilting Bee.
We need your help! To help with the rally, please come to the Pride office on Thursday at 4:30 to add your ideas, create future quilting squares with your stories of queer oppression you’ve experienced on them, and learn how to participate in the “die-in” at the rally. We need lots of people to “die” to make a statement that will be noticed. We will be inviting members of the media to cover this event, but we will also be issuing a statement that anyone they take photos of must give them consent, so this should be a safe event where you will not be “outed” publicly by accident.
At 2:30 in the Student Union Building, after the rally we will have a workshop on gender analysis and how to intervene with queer violence and how to be an awesome ally.
At 4:00 after the workshop we will screen an awesome queer movie. The title is “She’s A Boy I Knew,” Vancouver filmmaker Gwen Haworth’s newly released film documenting her transition from male to female.
It’s so important that we get the word out about these deaths and the systems that perpetuate them. Hope to see you there!
ISHS Fundraiser March 13, 2008
Please join us on Thursday, March 13, 2008 for a Fundraising dinner and Silent Auction.
6:30 pm, Pacific Ballroom at The Marriott Inner Harbour, 728 Humboldt Street, Victoria.
Tickets $100
No-show Tickets – $50
All Proceeds from this event will support educational and clinical services delivered by ISHS.
For more information, please contact 592-3479 ext. 205.
Please take this quick survey!
Canadian Federation for Sexual Health (CFSH) is launching a quick and easy survey about condom use in Canada. We’ve heard lots of stories and anecdotes about why people choose not to use condoms; we would like to hear from Canadians about the reasons why they do use condoms.
We hope you will take the time to answer this quick survey, and to pass it along to your friends, family, neighbours, partners, lovers, and colleagues – anyone who might shed some light on the sex-positive aspects of condom use.
You can find the survey by clicking on this link -Condom Survey
or by visiting the CFSH website.
This survey will only be available online for a limited time, and will only take a moment.
Thanks a bunch – Happy Sexual and Reproductive Health Day!
Celebrating S-E-X on Valentine's Day
The Island Sexual Health Society, in conjunction with the University of Victoria Students’ Society Women’s Centre, is hosting an event to celebrate Sexual & Reproductive Health Day.
This event will be held in an effort to familiarize participants with a vast array of community and on-campus resources. Participants will also be empowered with knowledge, leading to informed decision-making regarding their own sexual and reproductive health.
WORKSHOP/DISCUSSION SCHEDULE:
9:30 am – 10:15 am: Jennifer Gibson (Island Sexual Health Society) – Contraceptives
10:30 am – 11:30 am: Tracey Coulter (Sex Ed Exchange) – Sex Toys
12:00 pm – 12:45 pm: Anna Stein/Susan Dempsey (UVic Counselling Services) – Healthy Relationships
1:00 pm – 1:45 pm: Jennifer Gibson (Island Sexual Health Society) – Sexually Transmitted Infections
2:00 pm – 2:45 pm: Susana Guardado (Project Respect) – Consent & Communication
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm: Heidi Exner (AIDS Vancouver Island) – HIV/AIDS
The following information booths will also be on site: UVic Pride, Anti-Violence Project, Victoria Youth Clinic, Students Protecting Choice, and UVic Health Services.
There will be giveaways for all participants in addition to prizes to be won throughout the day. To close the event, a grand prize gift basket will be raffled away to one lucky individual.
The event will be held on Thursday, February 14th, 2008 from 9:30 am-4:00 pm in the Michèle Pujol Upper Lounge of the University of Victoria’s Student Union Building. The event is open to all students and community members. Walk-in participants are welcome, but registration for the workshops is preferred.