Special offers for Brook Exchange members!

Members of brook exchange are entitled to reduce priced attendance at Brook conferences.   To find out how to become a brook exchange associate see www.brook.org.uk/exchange

Recent conferences 

Good Sex, Safe Sex - Promoting Safety, Pleasure, Respect and Responsibility
13th February 2008, Westminster Hall, London

 

This conference bought together some of inspirational and fascinating people working in sexual health nationally and internationally. Examples of best practice, insight into policy, views of young people, discussion of new research and debate around the best approaches to sexual health for young people made this an engaging and dynamic conference.

Our speakers, and opportunities for roundtable discussion helped to stimulate thinking and encourage reflection on existing practice; provide an overview of new and current evidence and the views of young people; discuss work with young people on sex, gender, sexuality and contraception and provide practical ideas for implementation. Presentations, where applicable are below:

Harriet Gill and Kai Wooder from Brook in Wirral - Outreach and Education; the Brook approach to promoting self esteem Harriet and Kai's presentation is big and has pictures and sound. If you would like us to send you a copy, please contact us at events@brookcentres.org.uk

Rebecca French, University College of London and Sean Anstee, Chair of Brook in Eccles - Step change in service approach

Gary Barker, Promundo Institute in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil - An international perspective - Gary's presentation is big and has a lot of pictures, if you would like us to email you a copy please contact us at events@brookcentres.org.uk

 ‘Things we wish weren’t true, but…’ 10 minutes of facts, evidence and action:

Julie Wareing, Brook in Blackburn - Young people and sexual exploitation

Helen Shipley, Centre for HIV and Sexual Health, Sheffield - Pornography and sexual violence

Lisa Hallgarten, Education for Choice - Access to abortion

Sam Roddick, founder of Coco De Mer - Why we should talk about better sex

Julia Bird, Sowelu Associates - How research helps us to reach the 'hard to reach'

Joceline Jones, Define - Contraception: Young people's knowledge, perceptions and attitudes

Simon Blake, Brook - Setting a practical agenda

Previous conferences

Motivate, Engage, Inspire

Two regional government offices – for the North-East and for Yorkshire and The Humber – joined forces in association with Brook to stage a conference entitled ‘Motivate, Engage, Inspire’, in York in January 2008. Nearly 250 delegates discussed in the morning session joined-up working between teenage pregnancy, drugs and alcohol services engaged with young people; while the afternoon session was focused on the social norms approach to working with young people. Speakers included Prof Wes Perkins from the US who is credited, along with a university colleague, in devising the social norms philosophy. Here are the presentations from the day:

Alison Hadley, Teenage Pregnancy Unit, DCSF.
Anne Graney, Associate Delivery Manager, The Teenage Pregnancy National Support Team (NST).
Kirsty Buggins & Aylssa Cowell, Streetwise Young People's Project, Newcastle.
David Messenger, Sunderland Children’s Services & Sunderland Teaching PCT.
Dilwyn Sheers, Teenage Pregnancy Unit (DCSF).
Donna Thorne, Teenage Pregnancy Co-ordinator, Darlington PCT.
Mandy Cheetham, "You're Welcome" Regional Lead, Government Office, North East. 
Paul Dearlove, Raising Aspirations In Society (RAIS).
H. Wesley Perkins, Ph.D, Professor of Sociology, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, NY.

Do the right thing: On relationships and sexual health for young people with learning disabilities 

Supported by the Department of Health, and presented by Brook in partnership with The Shepherd School, Nottingham, and the Ann Craft Trust, 'Do the right thing' was an important conference opportunity for professionals working with young people with learning disabilities to explore the issues, share knowledge and take away practical examples of how law, policy and best practice can be replicated in their own settings.

The conference was dedicated to the memory and work of Ann Craft who pioneered good practice on relationships and sexual health for young people with learning disabilities, and who died 10 years ago this year. Her enormous contribution, working from Nottingham, is the inspiration for the Ann Craft Trust based in the city and is enshrined in a revised edition of her teaching resource Living your Life, published by Brook.   Below are the key speakers' presentations: 

Tribute to Anne Craft
Angela Mallett, Deputy Head Teacher, The Shepherd School, Nottingham
Philippa Russell, Disability Rights Commissioner
David Stewart OBE, Head Teacher, The Shepherd School, Nottingham
Helen Fielden, Sandwell & Dudley Brook

Simon Blake, Chief Executive of Brook, spoke at the Primary Care 2007 conference at the NEC in Birmingham on 10 May. This is his presentation.

Sharing answers on teenage pregnancy

This conference held on 8 May 2007 in Edinburgh offered delegates the chance to share learning from areas in Scotland that are taking forward initiatives to reduce teenage pregnancy rates. It also illustrated major success factors identified by the Teenage Pregnancy Unit in England and enabled participants to explore ways of replicating good practice in their work. Below are the key speakers' presentations:

Simon Blake, Chief Executive, Brook
Shirley Fraser, NHS Scotland
Alison Hadley, Programme manager, Teenage Pregnancy Unit
Jane Hughes, Brook in Oldham
Lorraine Mann, NHS Scotland and Linda Birnie, Brook Inverness
Dona Milne, Programme manager, Healthy Respect
Pamela Vannan, NHS Forth Valley, and Evelyn Kennedy, Open Secret
Melody Williams, South West Essex Primary Care Trust
Click here for a report of key learning and delegate feedback.

 Confident about Confidentiality, a conference held on 27 February 2007 in Birmingham  was an opportunity for anyone working with sexually active young people to explore the implications of the revised Working Together guidance and anticipated revisions to the Department of Health's guidance on working with under 16s. The conference helped delegates explore what the revised guidance means for them and the young people they work with, how they can use it to make decisions in the best interests of young people and how they can influence the way the guidance is implemented in their area. Below are the key speakers' presentations:

Julian Sheather, BMA
Karen Rogstad, Consultant in Genitourinary Medicine, Sheffield 
Anna Sewell, Regional Teenage Pregnancy Co-Ordinator, and Jan Norton, independent consultant
Joanna Brien, Counselling Manager, Brook London

Sharing answers on teenage pregnancy prevention, a conference held on 13 February,  offered delegates the chance to share learning from areas that have been successful in reducing teenage pregnancy rates, building on the Department for Education and Skills' Next Steps and Accelerating the Strategy guidance. Below are some of the key speakers' presentations.

Simon Blake, Chief Executive of Brook 
Mary Crawford, Brook Belfast 
Alison Hadley, Programme Manager, Teenage Pregnancy Unit 
Peer educators from Brook in Milton Keynes 
Yuri Ohlrichs, trainer/consultant, Rutgers Nisso Groep, The Netherlands 

A Risky Business, a conference held on 9 November, explored the links between alcohol, drugs and risky sex among young people. Below you can read some of the speakers' presentations.

Clare Novak, University of the West of England, Bristol
Mark Limmer, Rochdale Teenage Pregnancy Strategy
Julie Wareing, Centre Manager, Brook in Blackburn
Kai Wooder, Outreach and Education Manager, Brook in Birkenhead
Richard McKie, National Youth Agency