OUR WHOLE LIVES (OWL)

OUR WHOLE LIVES (OWL) at AUUF

AUUF offers the following OWL classes on a rotating schedule:

What is OWL?

Honest, accurate information about sexuality changes lives. It dismantles stereotypes and assumptions, builds self-acceptance and self-esteem, fosters healthy relationships, improves decision making, and has the potential to save lives. For these reasons and more, we are proud to offer Our Whole Lives (OWL), a comprehensive, lifespan sexuality education curricula.

Interactive workshops and activities engage participants, while step-by-step instructions for program planners and facilitators help ensure success. Seven curricula speak to participants’ needs, by age group.

OWL helps participants make informed and responsible decisions about their relationships, sexual health and behavior. With a holistic approach (PDF), OWL provides accurate, developmentally appropriate information about a range of topics, including relationships, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, sexual health, and cultural influences on sexuality.

OWL Values

While the OWL program is secular, it is not value-free. The program gives clear messages about the following key sexuality issues:

  • Self worth
  • Sexual health
  • Responsibility
  • Justice and inclusivity

OWL recognizes and respects the diversity of participants with respect to biological sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, and disability status in addition to cultural and racial background. Activities and language used throughout the program have been carefully chosen to be as inclusive as possible of this human diversity.

OWL Offerings

  • Accurate information presented in developmentally appropriate ways
  • Affective and emotional learning
  • Guiding values and principles
  • Activities that help participants clarify values and improve decision-making skills
  • A safe and supportive peer group
  • Acceptance of diversity
  • A social justice approach to inclusive sexuality education
  • Step-by-step instructions for program promotion, implementation, and facilitation
  • Parent orientation that affirms parents as their children’s primary sexuality educators
  • Facilitator trainings, continuing education, and email forums to increase knowledge, skills, confidence

Who Uses Our Whole Lives?

Our Whole Lives is used in faith communities as well as by public, charter, and private schools; after-school programs; youth groups; home schoolers; colleges; correctional facilities; and groups in other settings. Our Whole Lives for Older Adults is well suited to senior centers and retirement communities. Although developed by two religious organizations, Our Whole Lives contains no religious references or doctrine.

Our Whole Lives: Approaches that Work

Our Whole Lives covers topics and skills that both parents and children want covered but which schools often exclude or address only briefly. National surveys show that most parents, along with educators and children and youth, want to expand sexuality education. Our Whole Lives is an excellent way to accomplish that goal.

The development of Our Whole Lives was informed by the Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education produced by the National Guidelines Task Force, a group of leading health, education, and sexuality professionals assembled by the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS). Today, revisions and new resources are informed by the National Standards for Sexuality Education Core Curriculum, K-12 (PDF).

To learn more about the OWL program at large, please visit https://www.uua.org/re/owl.

Note: The OWL curriculum is designed for an in-person experience.