A wide range of personal relationships and sexual health services are provided by our teams at Caledonia Youth. Services have been specifically developed for young people under 25.
Our services reach thousands of young people each year - tailored relationships and sexual health education, counselling and clinical drop-ins - with bespoke training programmes for professionals, parents, carers, teachers, social or youth workers, and many others whose work may impact upon young people.
Irrespective of race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability or religion, we always recognise the social, emotional, physical and cultural aspects of each individual.
Approaches that enhance the knowledge, skills and confidence of young people are used to help them negotiate more positive personal and sexual relationships based on trust and respect. Ultimately these approaches help young people along the pathway to achieving far more positive outcomes – and that we believe can only be a good thing.
We are now busy addressing the national outcomes highlighted in the national Sexual Health Strategy, Respect & Responsibility, thanks to funding secured through the Scottish Government, local health boards, local authorities and independent funders, enabling our teams to focus services on achieving Scotland's aims.
Find out more: Who do we work with?
While our services are accessed by a wide range of young people, a large proportion of our work is with the at-risk, vulnerable and marginalised groups. We work closely with young people who have complex needs - multiple physical, social, emotional and behavioural problems, those with learning difficulties, sensory impairment, homeless and young offenders. We also work with young parents and young carers.
Referrals are made to us from a wide range of sources including residential units, supported accommodation, schools, colleges and universities, social work services, many youth agencies and organisations including - Barnardo’s, Careers Scotland, the Salvation Army, the Rock Trust, Prince’s Trust, Family Planning, the Scottish Prison Service and Royal National Institute for Deaf People.
Varying levels of literacy and communication skills are carefully managed. We provide information in a broad range of communication formats ranging from visual tools and leaflets to British Sign Language for deaf and hard of hearing people.
Positive feedback
Monitoring and evaluation are of paramount importance to ensuring the consistent delivery of quality, appropriate services. Our youth-friendly environments and range of supplementary information receive consistently positive feedback. We are delighted to report that through consultation with young people - the results of evaluations and questionnaires – show overwhelmingly that our education, counselling and clinical users are very happy with the level of service and professional care they receive from our teams. In particular, counselling and education are shown to help initiate positive behaviour changes.
Our guiding principles
Our work is supported by robust organisational policies that reflect the current legal framework. We encourage all young people to talk to their parents or carers about their relationships and their visit to our services.
At the same time, confidentiality and child protection are issues of paramount importance in delivering safe and appropriate sexual health services. With a duty to protect children from serious harm or abuse, we will always act if a young person is at risk, at all times working within policy guidelines on child protection. We always provide clear explanations of the law and professional boundaries, particularly regarding confidentiality and child protection.
Our headquarters team at Caledonia Youth provide the infrastructure and support for each strand of our services. With headquarter support fully funded centrally by the Scottish Government, investment from local funders is targeted solely at community services within their own geographical areas, maximising valuable resources on their home turf.
A range of complementary services –
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