Progress on our promises
We promised to
Last year we made 10 promises. How did we do?
1. We promised to campaign tirelessly for sex and relationships education to be part of the national curriculum
We engaged in national and local policy and media discussions on the importance of sex and relationships education (SRE). The previous government tried to make SRE statutory within Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education through the Children, Schools and Families Bill.
However, the legislation that would have made SRE compulsory derailed at the last minute. Nevertheless we worked to improve the quality and quantity of sex and relationships education in schools and community settings and continue to do so.
2. We promised to protect young people’s sexual health services, because young people have a right to access free, confidential services
Campaigning
We kept up pressure on national and local government to prioritise young people’s sexual health services, and worked with young people to inform the teenage pregnancy strategy.
Working locally
We ran consultancy projects in Devon, Suffolk and Darlington to improve young people’s sexual health services in those areas.
Reaching more young people
Our services continued to grow, and we reached more than 300,000 young people – a significant increase since 2009/10.
3. We promised to strengthen the Brook organisation and get better at understanding and demonstrating the impact of our work
Working together across the UK
Our organisational review and change programme brought all the charities in the Brook network together into a group structure from 1 April 2011, to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of services. We addressed shared priorities across the organisation, including young people’s participation, clinical excellence and cost efficiencies through a programme of joint working and dialogue via meetings, teleconferences and updates that involve trustees, Centre Directors and Centre and national office staff.
Demonstrating our impact
We piloted a sexual health Outcomes Star, to measure the impact of Brook’s education services. This is being developed ready for roll out.
4. We promised to further enhance our portfolio of online and offline information
Ask Brook
We continued to deliver and develop the Ask Brook telephone, email and text information service in response to user feedback. We launched a new interactive text message service and began looking into an online webchat service.
Providing virtual services
We undertook a feasibility study into providing ‘virtual’ services and won funding to pilot this innovative approach, and give more client choice.
Working with young men
We produced guidance on working with young men to highlight what needs to happen in services to meet the needs of young men. Find out what needs to be done to support young men in making positive choices about their sexual health at:
http://www.brook.org.uk/brookpr/
My Contraception Tool
We worked with FPA (Family Planning Association) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to develop and launch My Contraception Tool, a resource that combines research, and software development with young people’s involvement. www.brook.org.uk/contraception/my-contraception-tool
New educational resources
We drew on young people’s experiences to inform the publication of a new booklet on sexuality, and a third edition of the Living your life teaching resource for young people with special educational needs and learning difficulties.
5. We promised to work in partnership with other agencies
We worked closely with others in the sexual health field – particularly FPA www.fpa.org.uk and THT (Terrence Higgins Trust) www.tht.org.uk – to deliver services and projects.
We also remain active partners in a number of groups and coalitions including;
- Voice for Choice, who we join in campaigning to defend and extend abortion law across the UK, including Northern Ireland
- Sex Education Forum, to work on campaigning to improve sex and relationships education in schools and community settings
6. We promised to support our Campaign Volunteers to launch and extend their campaign, and secure funding to continue our work experience programme
Self-esteem
Brook’s Campaign Volunteers launched Big issues don’t have to be a big deal, a campaign that focused on body image and self-esteem. Their work included posters, web content, and a roadshow event in Stockton-on-Tees in September 2010. The launch was supported by boy band JLS. See the campaign at:
http://www.brook.org.uk/new-campaigns/big-issues-dont-have-to-be-a-big-deal
Sex:Positive
In February 2010 the Campaign Volunteers launched Sex:Positive, a campaign that challenges society’s negative attitude towards young people’s sexual health. The campaign, which can be found at www.sexpositive.org.uk, was launched with a 10k sponsored walk across London.
7. We promised to continue to celebrate excellence in sexual health
Brook conference and awards
- Our national conference focused on the topic of consent and was attended by around 250 professionals who work with young people. The Brook Awards celebrated excellence in sexual health across the UK, supporting high standards of work. Learn more about the conference and awards at:
http://www.brook.org.uk/professionals/brookpr/
In 2012, we will be taking an exciting new approach to the celebration and recognition of excellence in sexual health, and will be partnering with FPA to launch the UK Sexual Health Awards. Further information about the UK Sexual Health Awards and the categories can be found at www.uksexualhealthawards.org.uk.
8. We promised to register our services with the Care Quality Commission (CQC)
We supported all Brook Centres across England to successfully achieve CQC registration, an assessment of the quality of a service. It is no small achievement for each Centre to ensure it has the policies, procedures, training, information and services to pass the rigorous CQC assessment process and we are delighted that we were able to demonstrate such high quality across the board.
Supporting Clinical Excellence
We employed a Clinical Director to lead improvements to clinical governance and quality, and held a Clinical Leads’ Conference to facilitate sharing of best practice.
9. We promised to continue to diversify our funding and build a base of support
Brook 100 Club
We launched the Brook 100 Club – a fundraising club for individuals who wish to support Brook by raising £1,000 or more each year. Find out more at:
http://www.brook.org.uk/get-involved/the-brook-100-club
Enabling staff
We enabled more national office staff to be involved in fundraising and income generation.
Fundraising events
We were involved with four fundraising events, including participation in the British 10k and the Royal Parks half marathon and organised our Sex:Positive 10k walk through London which brought together a wide range of supporters, staff and friends.
Pro bono support
We secured pro bono support to help with the legal and management costs of our change programme.
10. We promised to continue to seek opportunities to become more efficient without compromising on quality or services
E-learning
We developed an e-learning induction tool, accessible to all staff across the organisation to improve quality of services in a cost-effective manner.
Developing volunteers
We continued to deliver an Ask Brook volunteer training and development programme to increase both quality of services and increase volunteer participation in Ask Brook. This has helped the Ask Brook service to respond to the increased number of enquiries online and by text within our target turnaround times.
Supporting trustees
We ran a series of sessions to support the development of trustee skills and knowledge to support high quality governance across Brook.
Young people’s involvement
We have developed processes to support involvement of young people across Brook to ensure that our work stays relevant to our clients.
Cost savings
We secured a bulk purchase deal on contraceptive supplies to reduce our costs, and will reinvest any savings in services for young people.