We are very pleased to announce that SARAVYC has received a 2018 Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research/BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS Reach award! This highly competitive program provides funding to support the dissemination of evidence to inform and improve further research, practice and policy-making activities.

SARAVYC will use this funding to collaborate with Options for Sexual Health (Opt) in creating and presenting culturally relevant materials to East Asian parents, youth and families on youth sexual health and supporting LGBTQ youth. Earlier this year, SARAVYC convened an East Asian Advisory Group to guide research and dissemination activities. This Group identified what topics matter most to parents and youth, as well as the avenues of knowledge translation that will be most effective in reaching a wide range of East Asian parents and family members in the province.

Moving forward with these recommendations, the SARAVYC project team, Opt staff members, and the Advisory Group will co-develop and present two evening events in English with simultaneous translation to Cantonese and Mandarin. These events will be modeled after Opt’s ”Askable Adult” workshops, live-streamed and will create opportunities to educate and have an open dialogue about adolescent and LGBTQ sexual health. We will discuss what families can do to support successful relationships and health for East Asian youth, with an added focus on supporting LGBTQ youth in their communities.

We will also be creating an online slide deck, as well as educational materials translated into Cantonese-Traditional Chinese, Mandarin-Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

Stay tuned to our Twitter feed over the next few months for news on our finalized event dates!