Youth Worker Rubi Curran has received a CaddyShack Outstanding Achievement – Encouragement Award due to her work with female students from Kiama High School.

The CaddyShack Awards recognise efforts to improve the sexual health and wellbeing of people throughout the Illawarra.

The CaddyShack Awards are presented by the HIV and Related Programs (HARP) Unit of the Illawarra and District Health Service, in partnership with Healthy Cities Illawarra.

“I was so excited when I got an email from HARP telling me I was nominated,” Ms Curran said. 

“I found out I had won the award last week and it’s a huge honour, considering it’s my first year as a youth worker, I never expected to win any sort of award or get acknowledged for anything I’ve done so far, but it’s a really big honour to get the award and be recognised for educating young girls in the area of sexual health.”

The judging panel was impressed by Rubi’s successful young women’s program, which includes helping young women receive information and gain awareness about sexual health and relationships.

“It’s a passion of mine to empower young women and teach them life skills and encourage them to be more confident with their bodies and their self-esteem, education on sexual health is paramount for young people,” she said.

“The girls wanted to work with the HARP unit, they requested that they came back, they really loved the topic. The first time I ran the program I did one day on sexual health and the second time around we did two days, doing more work on it gave the girls more opportunities to ask questions they might not feel comfortable asking their parents, it’s a really safe space for them.”

Ms Curran said she loved seeing the girls grow and watch their progress.

“I get a lot out of seeing them become more confident in themselves, their bodies and learning all about things that are important, like consent and contraception,” she said.

“I love to see them happy by the end of the day, to ask questions and learn and engage with services they mightn’t have known existed before.”