What exactly do you do? Ruby (Are You Being Yourself?) is a sexualhealth project for girls and young women aged 13 to 20 in MerthyrTydfil, Wales. It's an eight-week course on subjects like contraceptionand what influences sexual behaviour. I arrange and facilitatecourses.
Describe a typical day. One day I could be working in a college, theother in a drop-in centre, or in a mobile youth van. I want to startorganising more Ruby courses in September, so a large part of my time istaken up networking as well.
What other agencies, and who else within your organisation do you workwith? I work closely with fpa's director of practice development and fpaproject workers. Voluntary Action in Merthyr Tydfil and Merthyr TydfilCouncil fund Ruby so I also liaise with them. Other agencies includeMerthyr Tydfil College, Dowlais Forum, Youth Inclusion Project andMerthyr Tydfil Housing Association.
How did you end up in the job? I was a lecturer at Merthyr TydfilCollege for three years and before that was regional developmentexecutive for Make-A-Wish Foundation. Having witnessed many of theissues facing young people, I thought Ruby would be an opportunity totry and educate young people.
What qualifications do you need? Empathy and understanding.
Formal qualifications would be in youth work, education or ideally amixture of both.
What are the main goals you set yourself? To help young women havegreater expectations of themselves and others. By enabling them to makeinformed choices about their future, I want to help them believe thatthey can achieve anything.
What is the biggest challenge? We have very poor levels of sexual healthhere in Merthyr. Many young women don't even know the basics aboutthings like contraception and menstruation. Everyone really enjoys thecourses but the greatest challenge is making them aware that they needthem.
What advice do you have for others wanting to do this kind of work? Ittakes a lot of dedication and hard work but is equally rewarding andenjoyable.
You need to be able to relate to the young people and benon-judgmental.
You must give respect to receive it.
