Tips for Sexual Health Programming on Campus

With Sexual Responsibility Week and our recognition of campus efforts towards sexual health and responsibility, we’ve asked UConn Sexperts Melisa and Mary to help with a few tips on effective sexual health programming on college campuses. These are experiences they have encountered as individual peer educators, and collectively as a peer education group group.

First and foremost, it is important to understand the campus climate. Not all college campuses are the same. It is necessary to be mindful of both the needs of the student and the mission of the institution. This includes understanding the limits of what the group can and can’t do on campus in addition to pushing limits appropriately. That needs to be guided by our advisor. For example, being on a religious campus may seem limiting, but students may be able to discuss relationships which may lead to sexual health questions and answers.

Facts are fun! On our campus, we recognize that there is TONS of information out there about sexual health and not all of it is fact-based or accurate. When presenting information that may directly impact a student, accurate information is incredibly vital!

As a peer education group, addressing comfort levels and boundaries is important. We recognize the sensitivity surrounding the topic of sexual health. Establishing how comfortable we are with disclosing information is a great way to keep the group and the advisor on the same page. Comfort levels help with setting boundaries for how much information we wish to share. We also need our advisor’s guidance in this process so that what decisions we make will be supported. Helpful questions to consider are, “Will we be open to sharing information individually? Or do we want to establish uniform answers to be more objective to our audience?”

Communication is key! As UConn Sexperts we use a public speaking tool known as “I” statements. When discussing more sensitive issues like sexual health, the way things are phrased can make all the difference! For example, “If I were to use an internal condom I would first…” or “When I am finished with sex act…”.  A group can also adopt third person language such as “when a student puts a condom on” to be inclusive if they aren’t comfortable with “I” statements

Communicating this way indicates to our audience that we are not making assumptions about their personal behaviors. Using “I” statements is a helpful technique that places assumptions on the presenters (us) and we also share with our audience that it does not actually reflect our personal behaviors.

Using “you” statements can cause assumptions to be made about our audience. If an educator were to say “When you have sex…” or “Roll the condom on to your penis…”, this assumes that everyone is having sex or that everyone has a penis. This type of language can be interpreted negatively or even offensively.  We want to remain as objective as possible so that students feel comfortable to both attend and engage in our programs. Sexual health programs are for ALL students!

Our energy as presenters is another means of communicating! We’re college students. Studying is  our top priority. In addition to being peer health educators, we may have other leadership positions on campus like Marching Band or a part-time job. However, when presenting to our campuses it is best to maintain high, positive energy to engage an audience. Also being engaging is important. As a student we may attend classes where we are taking in a lot of information. When we program, we have the opportunity to involve students in the learning. In fact, having students practice skills such as how to use safer sex products or how to negotiate getting tested is more helpful than just providing information to students. It can also be more fun! Having students actively participating in programs can help with our energy and theirs!

Assume that every question is coming from a good place! As UConn Sexperts, we have been asked loads of excellent questions from our campus. Sometimes in sexual health, students may feel uncomfortable discussing topics or even saying certain words. As peer educators it is helpful to assume that our fellow peers are coming from a positive place. It is best to view “iffy” questions as a student genuinely seeking more information about a specific sexual health topic. However, there will be times where folks might try to “stump” the peer educator or even be slightly snarky. This is where boundaries and comfort levels come back into play and as a group, having a way to deal with situations like this is essential.

Self-care is the best care! As mentioned before, we might have many roles outside of being a peer educator. Some weeks may be more challenging or demanding than others and we have to know how to balance our commitments so as not to interfere with our personal health and wellness. Taking care of ourselves first helps to ensure that we can give our best to our campus presentations/programs.

Learn from experiences! Often the most challenging experiences being a peer educator can be the most rewarding. When we have had groups that have been rowdy or small, we learn how to adapt to meet their needs. This helps us to grow as a group as well as individually with our public speaking and our group management skills. It can also bring us closer together when we have to problem-solve an event or program.

 And lastly, have fun with it! We are only in this role for a short time. Engaging our peers and assisting them with decision making around sexual health can be some of the most rewarding experiences we have on campus.

The UConn Sexperts are peer educators that focus on sexual health and related issues. They have presented many times at BACCHUS General Assembly, and have won awards for their work on campus.