what do strengthened, youth-centred sexual health services look like for youth and providers in b.c.?
youth sexual health gaps in b.c.
In BC, we continue to see elevated rates of STIs, sexual violence, unplanned pregnancies and early-age parenting among youth (ages 15-29 years) outside major metropolitan centres - alongside limited access to safe, non-judgemental, and youth-centred sexual health services.
Despite a number of landmark policy changes in BC and across Canada to support youth sexual and reproductive health access (e.g. free contraception, Mifegymiso, broadened scope of practice for pharmacists, nurses, and nurse practitioners) over the last few years, there remains concerning gaps in youth sexual and reproductive health services in smaller urban areas and rural and remote communities, with disproportionate gaps for youth with intersecting, marginalized social identities (e.g., 2SLGBTQIA+ youth, Indigenous youth, newcomer youth, racialized youth).
project phases
With funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Options for Sexual Health and the UBC Sexual Health Evaluation Team partnered to work with local youth and providers in several communities across BC to map youth sexual health service gaps and understand how services could be improved moving forward. Rural, remote, and underserved communities were the priority focus of the project.
Options for Sexual Health currently operates over 30 clinics across BC and supports additional affiliate clinics run by local First Nations communities and the Northern Health Authority. Some clinics are stand-alone, while others are integrated within youth spaces, public health, or primary care. In early 2025, Options launched strategic planning to inform more sustainable sexual and reproductive health service delivery in BC. The evaluation phase of this project was undertaken alongside these strategic planning activities.
This project aimed to bring youth and provider voices directly into this process as “co-designers” - asking youth and providers how they want to access/offer youth sexual health services in their community & what strengthened, youth-centred and locally-designed sexual health services could look like. A total of 92 youth and 47 providers across BC shared their expertise in the evaluation consultation phase. Drawing on a co-design, implementation science approach, the partnership engagement and evaluation phases facilitated the creation of a youth-centred sexual health service delivery model.
In the spring and summer 2026, the co-design team worked with two rural and remote communities to refine and adapt the youth-centred sexual health model to local contexts.
As of Fall 2026, Options for Sexual Health, local youth servicing partner organizations, and UBC Sexual Health are excited to have launched one year pilots of weekly ‘youth sexual health clinic nights’ in two rural communities in BC. The youth sexual health nights, along with local youth advisories, will be collaboratively evaluated to ensure ongoing feedback to further refine the youth model to create a safe, accessible sexual health clinic that reaches diverse youth, and assess acceptability, usability, and feasibility, with a focus on sustainability and potential scale out to other communities.