Totally Outright is a community health leadership program that equips young queer, trans, and Two Spirit people with the social connections, health knowledge, and health promotion skills they need to be health leaders in their communities. While Totally Outright was initially developed to address the sexual health needs of young queer, trans, and Two Spirit people, over time it has expanded to cover a range of health issues across all spheres of health.
Started and initially run by the CBRC, Totally Outright was based on Sex Now data from 2002 and 2004. With funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada to develop an HIV prevention program for young gay men, the course began in 2005 and has been run annually since 2007. Today, Totally Outright is run by a range of organizations across the country, including the QTHC in Edmonton, Heal NS in Halifax, and Moyo in Ontario’s Peel region.
Recently, the CBRC has been working with these partners and others to evaluate the impact of Totally Outright on participants and the organizations that run the program. Over the coming months, we will be reviewing this data to identify ways to optimize the program to ensure it best responds to the needs of today’s generation of community health leaders.
To learn more about this program, find a delivery partner near you, and for more resources, please visit www.totallyoutright.ca or contact [email protected].
An important note on Totally Outright’s audience: Totally Outright was initially developed as an intervention for young (18-30 year old) gay and bi men (cis and trans). Over time, as many of our partners have shifted their focus beyond HIV and sexual health, their programming, including Totally Outright, has been accessed by a much broader cross-section of the 2S/LGBTQIA+ community, including individuals who identify as non-binary or fem, or who are older than the original age cut-off of 30. Many delivery partners who have adapted and delivered Totally Outright to a broader audience have found that the program is just as effective as when they only delivered it to gay and bi men between 18-30. CBRC recognizes that different delivery partners have different needs and serve different audiences. Therefore, we leave decisions concerning expanded audiences to the discretion of local delivery partners – as long as the program centres queer, trans, and Two-Spirit people.
CBRC
Apr 24, 2019