by Louise Doyle
DONEGAL Atlantic Technological University (ATU) is tackling the issue of consent among students through a series of new initiatives.
ATU Donegal is this week hosting its first ever Sexual Health in First Term (shift) programme in a bid to raise awareness around sexual health and consent.
It comes as latest figures contained in Sexual Assault and Treatment Unit (SATU) Annual Report 2022 reveals Donegal SATU in Letterkenny had its busiest year to date last year.
The unit provided trauma-informed care in a time-sensitive manner to individuals who experienced sexual assault and rape.
According to the report, there were 125 attendances at Donegal’s Sexual Assault and Treatment Unit in Letterkenny in 2022 – the highest numbers in a five year period and an increase of 24 per cent on the year previous, when 101 people attended the unit.
The lowest number of attendances to Donegal SATU was in 2020 during lockdown, when there were 78 attendances. In 2019 110 people sought medical treatment at the unit. Eighty-four people attended Donegal SATU in 2018.
The report indicates there was a decrease of patients aged under 25 years between 2021 and 2022, from 69 per cent to 62 per cent.
Letterkenny SATU saw 91 per cent (29) patients who contacted their service within three hours of request to SATU for Forensic Clinical Examination.
Nationally, just over 1,000 young women attended the country’s six SATU units from the start of 2017 to the end of 2022.
The research found a year-on-year rise in the number of young women under the age of 18 attending the units due to a sexual assault or a concern they may have experienced a sexual crime.
The Students’ Union of ATU is collaborating with a number of student services and national organisations to facilitate a range of events all targeted at making information surrounding sexual health accessible, easy to understand and fun.
Donegal ATU Students’ Union President, Barry Breslin said a top priority is ensuring students understand consent.
“Consent will be a consistent topic across our events. We have organised workshops tailored towards the definition of consent – situations where you aren’t physically able to give consent. Saying yes to one thing doesn’t mean a yes to everything. We’d like to highlight the importance of being respectful when getting intimate.
“To help deliver this message we have our wellbeing officer and Union of Students Ireland on campus helping spread the message.”
Mr Breslin said the importance of sexual health is another important target for the week.
“We’re not just talking about the importance of using protection when getting intimate but also what vaccines are available to help stay safe.
We’ve enlisted help to talk about the HPV Vaccine while offering a pop up clinic later in the week. Our student services will also be hosting one of their regular STI Screening clinics during the week.”
Healthy relationships is another area of focus ATU is shining a light on. Mr Breslin said third level education can be a time when a lot of people start into their first serious relationship.
“We’d like to lend a hand in how best to go about doing that. This can be done in a series of ways such as showing the importance of setting boundaries, clear communication and behaviours to be cautious of. We’re dealing with this by promoting the #toointoyou from Women’s Aid which alerts people to red flags and unhealthy behaviour.”
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