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Empowering Young People Pilot Project

Engaging the participants

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To do this, we had to find a way of engaging young men for long enough to deal with what were obviously difficult issues for them to gasp. Young women were quick to recognise the possibilities arising from the interpersonal nature of the workshop format, and thus to work as a cohesive group. Young men often "acted out", becoming more outrageous, especially if their peers found their "performance" entertaining. Peer educators suggest that these different styles reflect the way in which young women and men engage socially. While young women are generally more comfortable in "sit down and talk" social situations, young men need a more activity-based interaction style. Due to this, male peer educators would find themselves in difficult waters when attempting to present issues. This led to refreshing approaches by them to continue on-track, without heavy-handed put-downs, or "shaming" being used. The following example is a male peer educators' debrief sheet from a Year 10 workshop on homophobia with 24 young men as participants (Box 2).

Box 2 Workshop

Sometimes some of the issues covered in this workshop created a tension in the room, which became evident through the occasional use of quite homophobic comments among some students. Similarly, some students in discussions used the initial uses of 'put-downs' like 'poofter' and 'fag'. In both instances, the students were advised of more appropriate names - such as gays and lesbians - when talking about homosexual men and women, as well as the importance of showing respect for homosexual people as one would with any other group in society. Moreover, one student was continually singled out by the majority as being 'gay', for both actively engaging in the desired manner with the issues being discussed during the workshop, and for having what was perceived as the stereotypical characteristics of a gay man. In this instance, the group was reminded of the group agreements formulated in the initial workshop; namely to show respect for others. The student focussed on was also affirmed for his active participation in the discussion. Same sex attraction as a sexual orientation was normalised through discussion by the facilitator. This led to further discussion about stereotypes of gay men. The students came to understand that not all men who fit stereotypes of gay men are gay, and not all gay men have these traits.

The next example illustrates a typical female peer educators debrief sheet from a Year 9 workshop on violence, with 21 young women participants (Box 3).

Box 3 Workshop

There were four obvious social groups within this group of young women. A short time into the workshop, it became evident that one of the young women within the group was being socially isolated and victimised by the other young women in her class. The groups were challenging the young woman's support networks. The young woman explained how her Chaplain was someone she felt comfortable telling anything. Other girls within the group thought this was 'stupid'. To ensure that the young woman felt validated in her choice of support, we outlined that everyone had their own individual support networks. We then emphasised that siblings, family members, friends, teachers, youth workers and spiritual or religious community members were excellent supports. From this beginning, we generated a list of supports on the board and discussed the benefits of each. As an example, a youth worker will have the resources to inform and professionally support a young person, whereas a peer can listen and be a friend. Each young woman left the workshop with an understanding of what a support network is, and with renewed confidence in her choice of supports.

This example typifies the peer-educators philosophy of "breaking-down" contentious issues, through discussion of all aspects of the issue within a non-blaming framework. Everything is discussed in the third person and hypothetically. We make sure we are inclusive and value everyone's input even if we (as peer educators) do not hold these views or beliefs. Peer educators learn from the young women in the workshops, whose views, experiences and beliefs inform the workshop focus.

It is worthwhile noting in these instances what ensued from a situation of some tension and isolation. Young men and young women in the groups were reminded of group agreements they themselves had formulated, and the session went from degenerative name, calling to productive discussion.

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