Gail McVicar Wins Brook Award
Date: 18 Mar 2010
Gail McVicar Wins Brook Award for UK Sexual Health Professional of the Year
Gail McVicar, SRE Adviser for the Swindon Healthy Schools Team, , has been awarded ‘UK Sexual Health Professional of the Year’ at The Brook Awards 2010 on Thursday 4 March.
Young people’s sexual health charity Brook held its annual awards dinner at Arsenal Football Club Emirates Stadium, London, to celebrate the outstanding work young people and professionals are doing to improve the lives of young people all over the UK.
Gail is the sex and relationships education lead for the council’s Healthy Schools Team. She has an enormous wealth of experience from Canada and has worked to encourage schools in Swindon to embrace a more open and effective approach to sex and relationships education.
Gail has a background in youth work and theatre production which led to a recent tour of 'Sexploration' in Swindon schools and colleges and the development of a team of sexual health peer educators. Swindon's multi-agency training also benefits from Gail's years of practice through her co-facilitation of Understanding Sexual Health for Integrated Services for Children and Young People.
Gail is also a strong advocate of LGBT needs via her work with Swindon Pride Youth. The award was presented by Matt Rawle, star of the West End stage and Brook Ambassador.
Gail said: “Thank you so much, and thank you to the rest of the team back in Swindon - this is also for you. It has been a great opportunity to get together to celebrate what we do.”
Milly Carmichael, also with Swindon Borough Council, manages the multi-agency training programme and nominated Gail for the award.
Milly said: "I'm so pleased that Gail won - no-one deserves it more. Our training is free to attend and open to anyone in Swindon who works with children, young people and families. We will be pleased to hear from anyone who wants to be trained by the best sexual health professional in the UK."
