Today (25 June) marks Relationship and Sex Education Day, an annual celebration that champions teaching about healthy relationships and positive sexual health in schools and the wider community.

At Glow, we’ve been championing relationship education for over a decade. We’ve worked with thousands of children and young people with our Relationships Without Fear schools programme, which is aimed at reducing the risk of domestic abuse in young people.

Sarah Buckley runs the programmes at Glow: “Teaching children and young people about what is healthy and unhealthy in relationships is just as important a life skill as learning times tables and the elements on the periodic table.

“It means they know the signs of an unhealthy relationship if they or anyone they know experiences any form of abuse in the future and gives them the confidence to seek help if they witness anything at home.

“Relationship education is vital if we’re going to stop domestic abuse happening in the future. We need to create a community that knows how to spot the signs of abuse, where to get support and help bring it to an end”

With 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men experiencing some form of domestic abuse and 1 in 7 children living in homes with domestic abuse at some point in their lives, it’s not enough to just expect parents to show children what a healthy relationship looks like.

Sarah explains: “There’s lots of evidence to suggest that children who are subjected to this kind of behaviour and these types of situations where it hasn’t been dealt with may not go on to live fulfilled lives or reach their full potential . So it’s really vital that we are recognising the importance of relationship education and getting in there early.”

Glow’s Relationships Without Fear is a six week course designed for children and young people in schools. Find out more about the programme here.