Teen Peers Educating Peers (Teen PEP), an outreach program at ProMedica Russell J. Ebeid Children’s Hospital that focuses on youth violence prevention among teens, was again awarded a grant through the Ohio Department of Health. This grant cycle, beginning Feb. 1, will reflect new requirements issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Established in 1995, Teen PEP focuses on sexual-violence prevention education as well as teen dating violence and bullying prevention. The project is based on the CDC-evaluated, evidence-based curriculum Expect Respect: A School-Based Program Promoting Safe and Healthy Relationships for Youth, and integrates concepts from Safe Dates. The goal of the program is to train students as teen leaders to reduce the incidence of sexual violence in northwest Ohio.
Danielle Cisterino-Hajdu, project director of the Teen PEP program said, “I’m proud to report that the Teen Pep program has some remarkable results. Statistically, 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men report being sexually assaulted between the ages of 11 and 17. Program participants demonstrate an increase of up to 60 percent in knowledge related to sexual assault prevention.”
The CDC is shifting the focus from lesson-driven activities to having the students develop policy and action plans for unsafe areas at schools.
The program will now include more adult professional hospital and program staff to support and guide the youth-led services. These services will focus on awareness, education and action planning around unsafe zones in schools where bullying and other forms of harassment and/or violence might be taking place. Additionally, teens will lead the development of messaging campaigns to create healthy cultural norms for their peers.
Teen PEP experts will train youth leaders on how to be change agents in their community. Cisterino-Hajdu explains, “The Ohio Department of Health wants us to build strong relationships and be a presence in our partnering schools, working with select groups of youth leaders to form healthy cultural norms that help prevent sexual violence and teen dating violence specifically.”
For more information about ProMedica, visit www.promedica.org/TeenPep.
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