The clients: NHS Nottingham City, Nottingham City Council, Lincolnshire County Council
We have carried out nearly 50 workshops over the last two years with young people (and their parents) exploring a number of issues important to them including sex and contraception, relationships and teenage pregnancy.
In Lincolnshire we have worked with young people in hot spot areas to explore why teenage pregnancies are higher than the national average.
Working with stakeholders and young people we have designed a strategy that makes contraception more available, and explored ways to build confidence and aspirations in young people.
Lincolnshire County Council are currently implementing the recomendations from our report into Teenage Pregnancy in Lincolnshire including:
- Tracking teen parents who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), and providing accredited training and support that is relevant to their situation
- Increasing the uptake of long acting reversible contraception (LARC)
- Increasing the number of pharmacies who can deliver C-card, Chlamydia screening and treatment, emergency contracption and pregnancy testing – specially focused on target areas
- A mobile bus targeting specific areas that have high teenage pregnancy rates
- A health promotion campaign linking alcohol and risky sexual behaviour
- A mobile ‘app’ pinpointing all the c-card outlets and registration points
Working with young people
Our ‘fun’ and ‘easy’ approach and style help young people to open up and feel empowered to contribute and make a difference. In Lincolnshire they have helped develop a mobile app for raising awareness of condom pick up points. In Nottingham, young people helped us design a social advertising campaign, a mobile service and a brief intervention programme. Following research with parents of teenage parents we were able to better design the support they received from the NHS.
