I’m signal-boosting Scarleteen‘s new Find-a-Doc service. For those who are not familiar, Scarleteen is a wonderful organisation aimed at educating teens and other young people about sexuality, and it’s very much worth looking at and passing on to other people – and supporting if you can.
From Scarleteen founder Heather Corinna’s blog post:
We all know one of the best ways to find quality sexual healthcare and other in-person care services is by asking people we know and trust for a recommendation. But that can be difficult, especially for young people: so many are either ashamed about sexual healthcare and other related services, or are afraid that disclosing they’ve had care will result in a breach of their privacy. Many young people don’t even get care they need in the first place, so don’t know anyone to refer someone else to, especially in areas where services are limited or where seeking out services presents a profound personal risk.
We know you can’t always get a good recommendation in-person, so we’re aiming to build the next best thing.
Readers can use our new online tool to find out who Scarleteen users around the world have gotten great care from that they’d personally recommend, and see listings of care services our staff, volunteers and allies know to be bonafide. Or, you can enter your own review to help others find services they need from providers you know are great, or add your review of a provider or service to an existing listing. If you’re a service provider, you can enter information about your clinic, center or practice and it will be published for review. Any of the above can be done anonymously, so no one has to worry about privacy.
The services listed are for sexual and reproductive healthcare, abortion services, counselling and therapy, teen specific, trans and queer specific, rape/abuse crisis services, shelters and more. There are options for services provided using languages other than English, disability access, and different cost requirements. The good people at Scarleteen are trying to build up a database of services all around the world. Do go check it out and, if you have recommendations for good service providers, go contribute suggestions of your own.