Opportunity Youth ‐ a holistic service for young people

Outlines the service provided by Opportunity Youth, a unique personal development and health and social awareness programme delivered to 16‐18‐year‐olds undergoing youth training in four community workshops in North and West Belfast, Northern Ireland. Opportunity Youth employs peer educators alongside professional health workers to provide a formal programme on social skills, relationships, sex education and alcohol/drugs awareness in parallel with an informal counselling and advice service. It provides a universally accepted and user‐friendly service for marginalized youth, offering, in most circumstances, a “one‐stop‐shop” within the context of youth training. The model is a flexible one and could be transferred to any context, but particularly where young people provide a captive audience, for example in schools and colleges. Suggests that health education for young people, by young people, supported and facilitated by professionals with health promotion experience, provides a new direction in health education for young people.