HEALTH & EDUCATION PROFESSIONALS
There are so many health concerns about young people making the news at the moment: rising obesity levels, mental health problems and concerns over the rise in teenage pregnancies to name but a few. All of these are important health issues, and if you work with young people you are probably already addressing them in the vital work you do with them. Why should you get involved in the SAVE YOUR SKIN campaign, and start educating young people about the dangers to over exposure to the sun and the use of sunbeds? For those of you who are working in schools which are seeking to become accredited with the Healthy Schools Standard, include SAVE YOUR SKIN in your health education programme as it will address the Personal health Factor Around Cancer. The SAVE YOUR SKIN campaign will also give you the basics for developing a Sun Safety Policy in your school.
SKIN CANCER is the SECOND MOST DANGEROUS CANCER for young people aged 15-34, and a great deal of sun damage that is incurred during a lifetime occurs before a child is 15 years of age. You may have seen the recent case of the 10 year old girl who endured 70% burns to her body from a single sunbed session in an unsupervised tanning salon. Consumer magazine Which? now estimates that 170,000 youngsters in the U.K. are using sun beds – that is 170,000 too many!
The SAVE YOUR SKIN campaign is designed for young people of secondary school age to educate them about the causes of skin cancer, and how to protect their skin and look after it. We are aware this is a sensitive topic and that many young people you come into contact with may have been touched by skin cancer or other forms of cancer in their lives. It presents the facts, but takes into account the audience SAVE YOUR SKIN wants to reach. It is not about preaching or promoting fear, but being sun-aware and sun-safe. It will help young people to start being really involved in their own health care. We are aware that teenagers are under a huge pressure from the media to conform to certain physical stereotypes, and so one of the messages of the campaign is to get to know their own skin type, accept it and love it!
SAVE YOUR SKIN in the first instance will be a great addition to your teaching and educational materials on health: our educational pack contains a structured ‘lesson plan’ which would cover a session for you, covering all the facts young people need to know about skin cancer and how to look after their skin. This will also include a ‘real life’ case study which contains discussion points: a chance for your pupils to discuss their own thoughts and opinions raised during the session.
Our website is also another way of accessing information and we are hoping that its approach, including promotions and competitions, as well as more detailed information about skin cancer and skin care and protection, will attract young people into doing more of their own research on the subject.
We hope you are going to join us at SAVE YOUR SKIN to help us educate our youngsters about how to stay safe in the sun, and we also hope that by providing you with an educational pack we are helping you to save time on resource preparation.
If you would like a FREE education pack (A3 poster and hand-outs) for your school/s, please e-mail us at: info@saveyourskin.co.uk with the postal address and date required (please provide us 1 week notice). Subject to availability.
