The Halton Regional Health Department has launched a new Sexual Health initiative targeting the social media-savvy youth demographic.
The ‘Sex Healthy Halton’ Facebook page was launched mid-January as a way for the Sexual Health and Needle Exchange Program to expand its reach beyond the typical poster campaigns employed in the past.
“We understand that youth communicate these things via new media it’s a good [venue] to generate dialogue,”said Cate Bannan, Manager of the Sexual Health and Needle Exchange program. “It allows people to talk back, ask questions. It’s more of a two-way flow of communication.”
With 20 “likes” so far, Bannan is hopeful the site appeals to people who have questions about sexual health and want easily accessible answers.
“We give reliable information, because there is a lot of information on the internet these days,” she said. “We try to give information for people to think about, and that people trust.”
Nurses who work at the sexual health clinic run ‘Sex Healthy Halton’ so the information is continually updated and responses to questions are immediate. The website is a work in progress, so suggestions will be accepted readily.
Bannan said the site is in its first stages, but that much is planned for the future. “We’re planning to have a YouTube channel with commonly asked questions that we hear in our clinic.”
Bannan said she thinks the website will help bring more attention to the Sexual Health clinic and stresses that it is merely an additional resource for those wishing to know more about sexual health issues.
“Of course this doesn’t replace one-on-one conversation,” she said. “We still have clinics, so the site is certainly not meant to replace the one-on-one attention people might need.”
For more information, visit facebook.com/SexHealthyHalton, or dial 311 to contact the center directly.
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