Our Whole Lives A comprehensive sexuality education curriculum

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Our Whole LivesA comprehensive sexuality
education curriculum
Created by the Unitarian Universalist Association
and the United Church Board for Homeland
Ministries (United Church of Christ) Material in
this presentation includes work of Jane Detwiler
and Sarah Gibb of UUA and Monica
Bennett and Sylvia Bass West of CUC.
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Comprehensive

• Based on the SIECUS Guidelines
• Human Development
• Relationships
• Personal Skills
• Sexual Behavior
• Sexual Health
• Society and Culture
• Written by professional sexuality educators
• SIECUS Sexuality Information and Education
  Council of the United States
  
• ALSO SIECCan in Canada

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Lifespan Education

• Grades K-1, by Barbara Sprung
• Grades 4-6, by Elizabeth Casparian, Ph.D. and Eva
  Goldfarb, Ph.D.
• Grades 7-9, by Pamela Wilson, MSW
• Grades 10-12 by Eva Goldfarb, Ph.D. and Elizabeth
  Casparian, Ph.D.
• Young Adults, by Tino, Gibb Millspaugh and Stuart
  
• Adults, by Richard Kimball

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Advocacy

• The Advocacy Manual for Sexuality Education,
  Health and Justice Resources for Communities of
  Faith, edited by Sarah Gibb
• Faith-Based Advocacy
• In the community
• In the congregation

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Parent Involvement

• Parents as primary sexuality educators
• Parent orientation
• Parent permission
• The Parent Guide to Our Whole Lives Grades K-1
  and 4-6

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Program Leadership

• Different gender co-facilitators
• Training required to teach OWL in our UU faith
  communities and for purchasing the additional
  materials (Youth program slides or video)
• Training recommended for secular organizations
• Weekend-long training, often done in combined
  elementary levels, combined youth levels and
  combined adult levels
• Trainers throughout the US and Canada

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Our Whole Lives is used

• Unitarian Universalist and United Church of
  Christ congregations, along with Sexuality and
  Our Faith
• Synagogues and churches of other faiths, with
  their individualized faith supplements
• Private schools, Home Schoolers
• Planned Parenthood affiliates
• Other youth-serving agencies

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Our Whole Lives can be used

• Any setting with the staff, the students the
  resources for undertaking such a program
• Youth Groups
• Alternative Schools
• Community Agencies
• Group Homes

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Whats different about Our Whole Lives?

• The program affirms diversity.
• Cultural background
• Experience with sexuality
• Sexual orientation
• Gender identity
• Gender roles
• Activities speak to a variety of learning styles.
• Addresses hard to teach topics.

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Our Whole Lives

• Program Assumptions
• All persons are sexual.
• Sexuality is a good part of the human experience.
• Sexuality includes much more than sexual
  behavior.
• Human beings are sexual from the time they are
  born until they die.
• It is natural to express sexual feelings in a
  variety of ways.

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Our Whole Lives

• Program Assumptions, Continued
• People engage in healthy sexual behavior for a
  variety of reasons including to express caring
  and love, to experience intimacy and connection
  with another, to share pleasure, to bring new
  life into the world, and to experience fun and
  relaxation.
• Sexuality in our society is damaged by violence,
  exploitation, alienation, dishonesty, abuse of
  power, and the treatment of persons as objects.
• It is healthier for young adolescents to postpone
  sexual intercourse.

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Our Whole Lives

• Program Values
• Self Worth
• Sexual Health
• Responsibility
• Justice and Inclusivity

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Our Whole Lives

• OFFERS
• Up-to-date information
• Honest, age-appropriate answers to all
  participants' questions with a QUESTION BOX
• Activities to help participants clarify values
  and improve decision-making skills
• Effective group-building to create a safe
• and supportive peer group
• Education about sexual abuse, exploitation,
• and harassment
• Opportunities to critique media messages about
• gender and sexuality

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Our Whole Lives

• Acceptance of diversity
• Encouragement to act for justice
• A well-designed, teacher-friendly leaders' guide
• Parent orientation programs that affirm parents
  as the primary sexuality educators of their
  children
• Sexuality and Our Faith, an optional religious
  component for UU community

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Our Whole Lives

• Content for Elementary OWL K-1
• Eight Sessions
• Our Wonderful Bodies Part One
• Our Wonderful Bodies Part two
• Healthy Bodies safe Bodies
• Families
• Families and feelings
• Babies and families
• Birth of a Baby
• Celebrations

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Our Whole Lives

• Content for Elementary OWL Grades 4-6
• Time of great change both physically and in
  emotional maturity . Recommend when possible
  smaller age groupings grades 4-5 or grades 5-6 or
  one grade only.
• Eight Sessions
• Values and Sexuality
• Family Relationships
• Puberty Physical and Emotional Changes
• Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation
• Lovemaking and Reproduction
• Health and safety
• Communication
• Dating

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Our Whole Lives

• Content for OWL Grades 7-9

27 Sessions Program Outline Unit One Group
Building and Examining Values Unit Two Sexuality
and Body Awareness Unit Three Gender and
Diversity Unit Four Sexual Orientation and
Gender Identity Unit Five Relationships
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Our Whole Lives

• Content for OWL Grades 7-9

Unit Six Lovemaking Unit Seven Preparing for
Parenthood Unit Eight Responsible Sexual
Behavior Unit Nine Sexually Transmitted
Diseases Unit Ten Abuse of Sexuality Unit
Eleven Conclusion
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Our Whole Lives

• Circles of Sexuality
• This model helps us understand human sexuality
  in a broad sense and contains 5 interconnecting
  circles, each of which represent a component of
  sexuality.

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Our Whole Lives
Sensuality Awareness, acceptance of, and comfort
with ones own body Physiological and
psychological enjoyment of ones own body and
the body of others. Body image, Skin Hunger,
Fantasy, Human Response cycle

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Our Whole Lives
Intimacy Ability and need to experience emotional
closeness to another human and have it
returned. Caring, Sharing, Loving/liking,
Risk-taking, Vulnerability,
Self-disclosure, Trust
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• Our Whole Lives

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Our Whole Lives
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Our Whole Lives
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Toward a Wholeness of Being For expressing love,
generating life, mutual companionship and
pleasure. To be celebrated with joy, integrity,

understanding, respect, and self-discipline

Adapted from An Open Letter to Religious Leaders
about Sex Education. Religious Institute on
Sexual Morality, Justice and Healing
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For more information

• Canadian Unitarian Council offers trainings on
  a regular basis. Contact the Director of Lifespan
  Learning. www.cuc.ca
• To order the curricula
• UUA Bookstore, 800-215-9076
• 25 Beacon Street
• Boston, MA 02108
• 617.742.2100, x423
• owl_at_uua.org