OOHC Communications Toolkit

It’s all here:
Training, guides & fact sheets

If you’re a professional or caregiver working with young people in out of home care (OOHC), chances are you will need to address their sexual and reproductive health at some stage. While this can be a complex and sensitive conversation, we are here to support you.

The experience of trauma for young people in OOHC is often higher than their peers not in OOHC. For this reason, all of Play Safe Pro’s resources have been developed in consultation with key trauma agencies and OOHC services, ensuring the resources are provided through a trauma informed lens.

Why does it matter?

Young people in OOHC may have experiences of trauma and as a result need your support to access trauma informed sexual and reproductive health information and education. We want to support you to create a safe space for conversations around sexual and reproductive health, because positive education and support can significantly improve their sexual health outcomes.

Step 1:

Complete the Because You Care training

Young people in OOHC have often had their sexual and reproductive health needs overlooked, largely due to the complexities surrounding discussions on sexual health.

Yfoundations, a leading organisation supporting young people facing homelessness, has partnered with NSW Health to offer free online training called Because You Care. This program is tailored for foster carers, OOHC sector workers, and anyone interested in trauma-informed sexual health conversations.

Simply create an online account with Yfoundations and follow the steps to complete the training, which takes around two hours to complete. The training is made up of 3 modules, which can be completed in one session, or you can complete one module at a time.

Pro tip: Once you’ve completed the training, why not organise a debrief with your team members or other carers in your area so you can share tips, learnings, and advice?

Because You Care Training

Step 2:

The Trauma-Informed Care Guiding Tool

Completing the Because You Care training is an excellent first step, but there’s a lot to remember. The Trauma Informed Care Guiding Tool is an easy-to-refer to tool that will help you navigate sexual and reproductive health conversations.

Inside, you’ll discover guidance on how to tailor your conversations with young people from diverse backgrounds, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, culturally diverse young people, young people with disabilities, and sexuality and gender-diverse young people.

Pro tip: Print a copy of the guide or save it in your phone’s ‘My Files’ section. That way, you’ve always got it on hand to refer to when needed.

Download the Tool

A Glimpse Inside

The guide delves into the four R’s of trauma-informed care:

Realise the impact trauma can have on families, carers, organisations, communities and individuals

Recognise the signs of trauma, that relationships can be the basis for healing, and that the service delivery setting plays a role in facilitating the foundation for trauma-informed care

Respond appropriately and effectively by applying the principles of trauma-informed care

Seek to prevent Re-traumatisation of young people.

Step 3:

Check out our other resources

We also have a range of other trauma informed tools and resources available on the Play Safe Pro website. From key sexual health messages to organisational checklists, these resources have been designed to further the knowledge and confidence of OOHC sector workers, foster carers, and others.

Pro tip: Share the resources with anyone else involved in the care of the young people you work with. That way you’ll make sure that the messaging is consistent.

Trauma Informed Care Fact Sheet

This simple two-pager briefly overviews trauma informed care and the principles of trauma-informed practice.

Key Sexual Health Messages

This one-pager is an ideal reminder of key messages around condoms, STI testing, consent and more.

Organisational checklist

This self-assessment checklist is for services working with young people. It helps reflect where your service is at in terms of sexual health information and will help you to plan sexual health activities as part of your work.

Step 4:

Ask for extra help

Run by a team of qualified sexual health nurses, Nurse Nettie is here to answer any questions young people may have about sex or sexual health. It’s confidential, and the team aims to reply to messages within 24 hours on weekdays.

Pro tip: Let the young people that you support know what resources are available; particularly Nurse Nettie which is specifically designed to assist people aged up to 25 in NSW with sexual health questions. That way, they know there is always someone there to help.

Resources to share with parents, carers, and young people

This is a comprehensive list of resources and other supporting organisations available to help OOHC workers and foster carers, split into topics such as consent, puberty, sexual health, and STIs.

Ask Nurse Nettie

Run by a team of qualified sexual health nurses, Nurse Nettie is here to answer any questions young people may have about sex or sexual health. It’s 100% confidential, and the team aims to reply to messages within 24 hours on weekdays.

Resources to share with parents, carers, and young people

This is a comprehensive list of resources and other supporting organisations available to help OOHC workers and foster carers, split into topics such as consent, puberty, sexual health, and STIs.

Need to talk about sexual health with young people in your care?

It’s all here: Training, guides & fact sheets

Why does it matter?

Step 1:

Complete the Because You Care training

Step 2:

The Trauma-Informed Care Guiding Tool

A Glimpse Inside

The guide delves into the four R’s of trauma-informed care:

Step 3:

Check out our other resources

Trauma Informed Care Fact Sheet

Key Sexual Health Messages

Organisational checklist

Step 4:

Ask for extra help

Resources to share with parents, carers, and young people

Ask Nurse Nettie

Resources to share with parents, carers, and young people

Ask Nurse Nettie

Free sexual health training

Order free flyers, posters, factsheets and more

Condom toolkit

Out of home care toolkit

It’s all here:
Training, guides & fact sheets

Free sexual
health training

Out of home
care toolkit