Oasis Esteem
Renewing relationships: helping young people to make positive choices.
Oasis Esteem is a project that delivers lessons on self-esteem, relationships, sex, HIV and sexually transmitted infections.
Thousands of young people have benefited from lessons in the UK and hundreds of young people and adults in Uganda where the project has also been established.
The material is currently being expanded to address pornography and homophobic bullying.
Sarah Smith, the Oasis Esteem Co-ordinator for London and the South says, "Young people in the UK face many challenges when it comes to relationships and sex. There are few really good role models in popular culture and they are bombarded with images depicting 'perfect' bodies and messages that having sex when you're young is what you're meant to be doing. Advances in technology have meant that pornography is very accessible, with some boys and girls thinking that watching porn is a good way to learn about sex.
Our aim is to build healthy self-esteem in young people so that they can understand their worth and potential and to encourage them to make positive and healthy choices about relationships and sex."