Smart and deadly: Aboriginal youth tell all

The DVD and YouTube clip, called Smart and Deadly, is a guide for professionals and
organisations wanting to collaborate with Aboriginal communities to deliver sexual health
promotion to rural Aboriginal youth.

Following the journey of a year-long project with an Aboriginal community in North-East
Victoria, the DVD illustrates the key principles that guide respectful and inclusive partnerships
with Aboriginal communities.

Humour helped make the serious topics such as sexually transmitted infections, negotiating consent and respectful relationships easier to talk about. 

Local Elders and workers were a part of the process, providing guidance and support.

Kylie Stephens, Senior Health Promotions Coordinator for CERSH, said, "It is part of our
commitment to strive to develop health promotion programs sensitively with the community
itself to build detailed knowledge of the community and to work collaboratively and respectfully.

"Health promotion practice in the rural context encapsulates partnerships, service integration,
holistic and multi-strategic approaches and strengths-based participation."

This project was coordinated and funded by CERSH at the Rural Health Academic Centre and
by the Department of Health, Victoria. The Hume Region in Northern Victoria has the largest
regional Aboriginal community in Victoria.

CERSH worked with 20 local and state-wide Aboriginal organisations, health
and community services and educational institutions, using the principles of community
development and Aboriginal health promotion practice.