Peer to Peer
Riverside Community Health Foundation has established a community-based peer to peer education program that aims at developing youth development opportunities for our local teens. This peer to peer program is designed to reinforce content knowledge as well as develop skills, and personal growth. Topics include Peer/Client Counseling, Legal Responsibilities, Ethical Responsibilities, Understanding/Accepting Difference, Human Sexuality, Communication, Problem-Solving, Presentation Skills, Family Planning, STDs, and Clinical Services. The program uses a combination of lectures and interactive exercises with structured groups to promote awareness, provide information, and offer opportunities to reflect on the impact of teen pregnancy prevention.
Each year, the goal is to recruit approximately twenty youth volunteers who have completed either
Project t.e.a.m. or Project X-Men curriculum, and train them as peer educators. We’re always fortunate to have dynamic and dedicated young volunteers, who engage wholeheartedly and promoted the overall goals of the program.
"As I plan to continue as a peer educator I would like to help my peers and just be there for them, help teens understand about drugs, pregnancy, and I am there to learn too, by teaching not telling them what they should do...just give them advice." (Delaynee, 16 Martin Luther King HS)
Out of all of those students having completed at least 90% of the program, they have the opportunity to apply for one of four 10-month paid internships as Teen Advocates at the Eastside Health Center and Arlanza Family Health Center Teen Clinics. Nicki, age 18, was one of them:
"This program was an excellent way for me to show my skills in the discussion groups in Project t.e.a.m. and Teen Clinic. The skills I learned allowed me to turn real life experiences into a platform for leading discussion groups with the youth we had in class".