DIGITALLY AGILE COMMUNITY LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT

 

Delivered on Friday 21st Nov 2014

 

At 7pm, we posted a YouTube video from the Brook on how to use a condom and gave details of our sexual health drop-ins that we run in three venues on five afternoons a week in Midlothian. 

 

We then posted a series of questions: a sexual health quiz to 4 of our Facebook pages, one for each on the county’s main towns where young people have registered as ‘friends’ ranging in number from 88 on one account to 8 on the least populated.  We posted the answer to the question five minutes after giving the question and saw those on line growing from around 8 to over 20 as we posed more questions.  Each answer was accompanied by an explanation.  After around 6 questions, at 8.15pm, we found we had received 6 likes and 7 comments and a quick poll afterwards reassured us that many of those 20 who were online at the same time had been following the series of questions. 

 

In the days immediately afterwards we had two visits to our drop-ins from those who been on line and dealt separately with both a contraception and an abortion enquiry online. 

 

This is the fourth pop-up session we’ve run with previous ones on the possibilities and dangers of social media, youth rights and drugs.  We routinely chat with young people online and respond to requests for help and advice.

 

The online work we do on two nights a week supports street-based youth work that takes place in six Midlothian towns.

 

The Midlothian Streetwork Partnership is made up of staff and representatives from CLD in Midlothian, Mayfield & Easthouses Year 2000 project and Midlothian Young People’s Advice Service. 

 

The work is supported financially by the Robertson Trust.

 

Hamish Murphy, Midlothian Young People's Advice Service