Sexuality Education – Our Whole Lives (OWL)

What Does First Unitarian Church of Honolulu Offer?

The Our Whole Lives sexuality education curricula provide accurate, age-appropriate information, allowing and encouraging people of all ages to make informed and responsible decisions about their own sexual health and behavior.

First Unitarian Church of Honolulu offers two programs: one for students (of every age!) and one for those who seeking to gain skills as sexuality educators (facilitators, teachers, and parents and families). These programs work together to provide a complete package of comprehensive sexuality education opportunities.
For detailed information about what makes OWL special, click to watch these incredible testimonials

Upcoming Courses in 2020

 Our Whole Lives Human Sexuality Education for 7th, 8th and 9th Graders
& Parents

Mandatory Organizing Meeting for Adults only: Sunday, February 23, 2020 at 4:30 pm @ Central Union Church, 1660 S. Beretania Street, Honolulu

Program: Sundays, March 1 – May 26, 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. at Central Union Church

To Register: OWL Application Registration 7-9 Grade Feb_May 2020

Return OWL Application Registration form to the First Unitarian Church of Honolulu, 2500 Pali Highway, Honolulu, HI 96817.  Or bring the completed form to the Parent Meeting on Sunday,  February 23, 2020.   Questions? Contact Nan Kleiber [nankleiber44@gmail.com], phone:  808 – 737 – 7544. Registration will close after the Parent Meeting on Sunday,  February 23.

 

 

Program Goals and Values

Our Whole Lives is a positive, comprehensive, and age-appropriate educational program that promotes sexual health and is informed by the guidelines of the Sexuality Information Council of the United States [SIECUS]. The curricula are based on four primary goals: to provide accurate, developmentally appropriate information; to increase self-esteem and understand relationships with and responsibilities toward others, to develop interpersonal skills including communication, decision making and problem solving, and to teach responsibility for personal health and safety.

 

Goals

Our Whole Lives Human Sexuality Education 7th-9th Grade & Parents is designed to help young adolescents:

  • Affirm and respect themselves as sexual persons, and respect the sexuality of others
  • Increase comfort and skills for discussing and negotiating sexuality issues with others
  • Explore, develop and articulate values, attitudes and feelings about sexuality
  • Identify and live according to their values
  • Increase motivation and skills for developing a just sexual morality
  • Acquire knowledge and skills for developing and maintaining healthy relationships
  • Increase knowledge and skills for avoiding unintended pregnancy and STIs
  • Express and enjoy sexuality in healthy and responsible age appropriate ways
  • Assess the impact of messages from family, religion, culture on sexuality

 

Values

This program is designed for young people from a wide range of family backgrounds and religious traditions, and it is not value free.

  • Self-worth: Every person is entitled to dignity and self-worth and to their own attitudes and beliefs about sexuality.
  • Sexual Health: Knowledge about human sexuality is helpful, not harmful. Every person has the right to accurate information about sexuality and to have their questions answered.
  • Responsibility: We are called to enrich our lives by expressing sexuality in ways that enhance human wholeness and fulfillment and that express love, commitment, delight and pleasure. All persons have the right and obligation to make responsible sexual choices.
  • Justice and Inclusivity: We need to avoid double standards. People of all ages, sexual identities, races, ethnicities, genders, backgrounds income levels, physical and mental abilities and sexual orientations myst be equally valued and have equal rights. Sexual relationships should never be coercive or exploitive.

Where does the Our Whole Lives program come from?

This curriculum is one of the seven programs in the Our Whole Lives lifespan sexuality education series published jointly by the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries. Although the Our Whole Lives curricula were developed by two religious organizations, the programs are completely secular and free of specific religious doctrine or reference. Other curricula in this series are available for Kindergarten – 1st Grade, 4th –  6th Grade, 10th –  12th  Grade and Young Adults and Adults and Older Adults. The title, Our Whole Lives, expresses our belief that sexuality education is a lifelong process of acquiring information and forming attitudes and values about identity and relationships, intimacy and health. [From the Introduction to the Leaders’ Guide]

Program Facilitators

The folks who lead the OWL programs are dedicated volunteers who receive special training on how to facilitate these classes. The programs are always facilitated by a team of volunteers, some of whom work with the children and some with parents.

Questions? 

If you have questions about this OWL program, please contact Nan Kleiber by phone at 808-737-7544, or even better, via email:  nankleiber44@gmail.com.

What Do Families Think of OWL?Â