GUEST POST by Kelsey Francis-Fath, New Horizons Education Program Team Lead and Health & Prevention Educator
May is National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month! What a great time to intentionally think of how we can best initiate and/or continue meaningful, accessible conversations with youth and teens about sexual health.
Throughout the month of May, Lund is hosting three events geared at engaging youth, teens, parents, guardians, educators, and providers in these important conversations.
- On May 18, Kelsey hosted a Let’s Talk trivia night at the Boys & Girls Club of Burlington. Club teens participated in friendly competition answering all sorts of questions about sexual health—including consent as well as pregnancy and STI prevention.
- On May 23, Lund is partnering with the Fletcher Free Library and the UVM Medical Center to offer a Community Health Prevention Series event—How to Talk to Your Kids about Sexual Health and Pregnancy Prevention. This event is geared toward adult parents, guardians, educators, providers, and supporters of youth and teens. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear from and ask questions of sexual health content experts as well as receive book lists and other helpful information about how to start and/or continue conversations about sexual health with the teens and youth in their lives. Click here for more information!
- On May 29, clients at Lund’s residential treatment program for substance use disorder and mental health challenges will participate in their own trivia event at Community Building. Teams of up to 4 clients will go head-to-head to answer challenging questions about sexual health. Clients are invited to create unique, on-theme team names and prizes abound for the top 3 teams!
Why is this important?
- In the United States, 1 in 4 teen females will become pregnant at least one time before she turns 20. 1 in 10 teen males will impregnate at least one female before he turns 20.
- Youth aged 15-24 make up just 25% of the sexually active population in the United States, but account for 50% of all new STI cases each year.
- Teens age 12-19 report that parents are their greatest influence around their decisions about sex. Engaging in these conversations directly, and early, is hugely important and influential to youth and teens.
- Yet, only 36% of teens report learning about sex from their parents. Instead, they reported learning about sex from school, friends, pornography, and the media more frequently than from parents.
Get Involved!
- Start or continue conversations about sexual health with the youth and teens in your professional and personal roles. Data shows that our teens are counting on trusted adults to engage in these conversations, and yet, so few report that these conversations are happening.
- Be an approachable, dependable champion for youth and teens. Curious as to the best way to do this? Attend the event on May 23 or get in touch with Kelsey for informational materials to help get you started.
