|
How We Work At Freedom Centre - The Peer Model |
|
|
Freedom Centre is run by young people for young people using a peer support model. Peer support is where people get support from other people who share similar experiences.
At Freedom Centre, this means that our volunteers and staff are people who are also young and same sex attracted and/or gender diverse and are trained to be able to give support and information to their peers.
Peer support at the Freedom Centre works using Social Cognitive Theory, which basically says that we learn and develop best when we get the right information that’s relevant to us and have a safe and respectful social environment to practice and understand what we learn. At Freedom Centre we hope people learn to accept and respect themselves and others. The volunteers use peer support to provide an ideal space for this to be learnt and understood
|
|
So we use peer support and the safe social space to empower young people to be themselves, be confident, make healthy informed choices and respect diversity (theirs and others’).
|
|
|
|
Freedom Centre started out in 1994 as a part of the “Other Voices” program in Gay Men’s Education at the WA AIDS Council (WAAC). It began to provide and ongoing social space for the young men that participated in the gay education courses. It was a space to provide the young men with social opportunities outside of the “scene”.
Over time through the Youth Sexuality Project run by WAAC, the Freedom Centre became an all genders space and got its own premises and recurrent funding. Through feedback from the visitors and volunteers, the different sessions were established (Girlspace, Guyspace, GenderQ).
Now Freedom Centre enjoys community support, regular visitors, dedicated volunteers and its safe space to meet young people with diverse sexuality and gender.
|
|
|
Freedom Centre is funded by the Office for Mental Health as part of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy. We are managed and auspiced by the WA AIDS Council as part of the Community Education & Prevention Services.
This means that our focus is on education and prevention around mental health and sexual health. We do this by providing support and information about sexual and mental health and by maintaining a safe social space with healthy attitudes towards sexuality, respect, empowerment, self esteem and education.
|
|
|
In order to improve and validate our services, Freedom Centre is working with Curtin University’s WA Centre for Health Promotion Research (WACHPR) on their POSSAY2 (Peer-based Outreach for Same Sex Attracted Youth 2) research project to evaluate our service provision.
They have consulted us to develop a range of evaluation tools, including a snap-shot survey for visitors, a log form for the type and quality of interactions on shift, and a longitudinal survey for regular visitors. |
|
|
|
|
|
