SYIS is shortly due to launch a new and exciting peer education project where we will be training and supporting young people to become successful and confident peer educators.

SYIS is seeking to recruit, train and support a group of 15 young people to become Peer Educators.  We will help them design and develop ways to raise awareness about harm reduction in drugs and sexual health and wellbeing with their peers.

SYIS will provide training so that the group of young people can design and deliver workshops and activities focusing on these issues and will involve an element of creativity based on the interests and ideas of the young people, for example, making leaflets and posters, using the internet, photography, music and the arts.

The training will involve weekly/fortnightly meetings at SYIS to develop skills, interests and understanding of the issues.  We will provide the opportunity to receive training from other young people who are Peer Educators, hopefully by attending a training residential on the Mainland.  Ongoing training and support will be provided throughout the project.

There are a number of different ways to get accredited for doing peer education training and SYIS will be using one or more of these qualifications to acknowledge the work the Peer Educators achieve in designing and developing the project.

We are looking for young people to commit to volunteering for a year with SYIS to develop the project, fulfil the training course and deliver workshops and activities to other young people across Shetland.  We will aim to design two workshops – Harm Reduction and Drug Awareness and Sexual Health and Wellbeing.  We will deliver six of each of these workshops in year one.

If you would like to be part of the project or just want a bit more information please contact Una Wiseman or Becky Robertson on 01595 692002 or email becky@shetlandyouth.com.