Peer Health Education

Peer health educators work with high schools with the goal of reducing behaviours associated with harmful health outcomes. As a peer health educator, you will attend training, and receive a thorough knowledge of our curriculum to present these materials in a professional and enthusiastic manner. You will gain mastery of our curricula including HIV/AIDS, STI, Tobacco, and Healthy Lifestyles, and facilitate interactive, engaging, and informative community seminars within Edmonton and surrounding areas. Seminars are typically held at local elementary schools, junior highs, and high schools, as well as occasional opportunities in other community centers. Peer educators will also be involved in reviewing our curricula, and developing our local health promotion strategy. Peer educators may also have the opportunity to participate in and/or develop our rural projects this year. Successful applicants for this position should be prepared to commit 2-3 hours each week on SIHA Local initiatives.

Rural Project Initiative

Expanding beyond edmonton classrooms to provide education in rural alberta is an opportunity for experienced peer educators. Members of the rural project are selected through an internal application process that takes place at the start of the Winter semesterm in order to select a group of highly motivated SIHA members. The selected team will work closely with our volunteer coordinators to develop a project in rural alberta during the following summer. The scope of the project is developed over the winter semester and includes (to the extent of our abilities) peer health education in rural schools, developing relationships with rural health organizations, assessing rural health care needs, and implementing health promotion projects that target the needs of the rural community. Our rural team is required to fundraise throughout the winter semester and dedicate 3-5 hours per week to the Rural Project. Volunteers interested to take part in our rural projects should note that they need training in all of our curricula in order to be considered a competitive applicant.

Outreach Projects

We work at post-secondary campuses, promoting awareness of local health issues. Our non-judgemental approach to reducing risky behaviours is one of our popular volunteer activities. As an outreach volunteer, you will be working to promote SIHA within Edmonton and throughout the UofA campus. Outreach volunteers are expected to take on more of a leadership role within the organization, as they are expected to work on existing projects and determining projects that they would like to pursue. Projects that the outreach team undertake aim to promote health within our student community, and underserved populations in and around edmonton. Past brainstorming ideas include cannabis awareness campains, an HIV/AIDS testing fair, implementing the use of condom machines on campus, and increasing accessibility to safer sex options on campus. Outreach volunteers can take on a variety of roles, within the projects, and should expect to commit 2-3 hours each week on outreach initiatives. This committment may vary depending on the specific role within a project.