Workshop based education sessions
ISHS has a well-established and well respected comprehensive sexual health education program which offers sexual health education programming to schools, as well as workshops for community groups, parents, and other community members in the Greater Victoria area. In the 2023/2024 school year, we facilitated education to 20,000+ participants in 800+ workshops in the Greater Victoria area. Typically, we book 12-14 weeks in advance for workshops. Please contact us directly if you are looking for a session sooner than that as we may have the ability to meet your needs.
**ISHS fully support the SOGI inclusive education initiatives as outlined by the BC Ministry of Education and ground all of our education in gender and orientation diverse approaches and inclusion. Please see our position statement on SOGI education for more information.**
Grade 4-5 workshops
Developing healthy sexuality begins in the preschool years and continues throughout the elementary, intermediate, and high school years. We believe that families/caregivers are the primary sexuality educators for their children and therefore provide Parent/Caregiver Workshops designed to support caregivers in this role. Currently, our school based programming begins in grade 4 and is intended to support families/caregivers as sexuality educators, not replace them. The following outline is designed to provide a general overview of topics that can be adapted to meet the needs of individual classes/groups through further discussion further with our educators.
Maturation education topics follow the BC Ministry of Education’s Physical and Health Education curricular competencies for each grade level. Workshops include the following topics:
- Changing Bodies, Changing Minds, Changing Feelings, Changing Identities
- The 5 w’s of The P word – puberty
- Healthy relationships, communication and consent
- Building self-esteem and understanding ourselves including identity
- Keeping bodies safe and healthy
- Mapping personal resources including trusted adults
To request a maturation workshop for grade 4 or 5 workshop, please complete this request form. In the 2024/2025 school year, workshops are being offered Monday-Thursday and typically book 10-12 weeks in advance depending on the time of year. We ask for a $80 honorarium per workshop session.
Grade 6-12 workshops
Adolescence is a vital stage in positive sexual development. Our well-respected program works with more than 20,000 participants each year in classroom and community settings. Due to the demand for our program, we generally book 10-12 weeks in advance for workshops. We ask for an honorarium of $80 per workshop session. If you are struggling to fit this within a budget, please contact us to see how we can make it work for you.
Our education programming for grades 6-12 provides youth and educators with the most current and factual sexual health information available. Workshop topics follow the BC Ministry of Education’s Physical and Health Education curricular competencies for each grade level. Workshop can be built to include the following topics:
- Healthy relationships, communication and consent
- Sexual Decision Making
- Birth/Bleed Control
- STIs (Sexually Transmitted infections) including testing, treatment and Safer Sex Methods
- Mapping community resources
We strive to make our workshops fun, comfortable, and accessible. We always encourage questions from participants through interactive facilitated discussions and activities. We work closely with classroom educators and program facilitators to ensure that our workshop sessions support both the BC education learning outcomes and the needs of participants.
To request a workshop for middle school classes (Grades 6-8), please complete this request form.
To request a workshop for high school classes (Grade 9-10 and above), please complete this request form.
