Health Connected’s newest curriculum, Teen Talk for Youth in Alternative Settings (YAS), is a comprehensive sexuality education curriculum designed for youth who tend to be most marginalized in our educational systems – youth in credit recovery programs, youth in foster care, and youth in juvenile justice facilities. This sequential, 11-session curriculum is intended to be delivered over the course of two to three weeks but can be delivered over several weeks, depending on the needs of the student population being served.
Core components of the Teen Talk YAS curriculum include:
- Consists of 11 sessions intended to be taught for a minimum of 11 hours
- Can be delivered to young people ages 12-19
- Is grounded in trauma-informed and healing-centered approaches
- Builds skills for communicating about sexual health with trusted adults, peers, and partners
- Helps young people identify resources (e.g., parents/trusted adults, school personnel, health care providers)
- Gender inclusive language
- Incorporates a variety of pedagogical approaches to maximize engagement for different learners
- Meets the stringent requirements of the California Healthy Youth Act (CA Education Code sections 51930-51939)
- Is aligned with the California Health Content Standards, California Health Framework, and the National Sexuality Education Standards
Through a collaboration with the National Center for Youth Law and Planned Parenthood of Pasadena San Gabriel Valley, Health Connected has developed a special adaptation of the Teen Talk YAS curriculum for youth who have been temporarily placed in out-of-home care such as foster care, a short-term residential therapeutic program (STRTP), and kinship care.
This special online adaptation of Teen Talk YAS:
- Includes 11 synchronous online sessions with special focus on
- Personal values
- Understanding identity and intersectionality
- Communication skills
- Wellness, safety, and resilience practices
- Trauma-informed and healing-centered instructional practices
- Has been reviewed and piloted by youth who have been in the foster care system
- Is compliant with the California Healthy Youth Act (CA Education Code sections 51930-51939) and the California Foster Youth Sexual Health Education Act (SB89)
- Has been fully vetted for medical and legal accuracy
Teen Talk for Youth in Alternative Settings and the online adaptation for youth in foster care are not currently for sale. As part of our piloting and development process, select program providers can be trained to implement online adaptation with foster care youth. Sign up for our newsletter to stay updated on upcoming trainings.
Teen Talk for Youth in Alternative Settings – Youth in Foster Care (Teen Talk YAS-YFC) was made possible by Grant Number 1 TP2AH000066-01-00 from the Office of Population Affairs of the Department of Health and Human Services. Contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Department of Health and Human Services or the Office of Population Affairs.