What's Happening

By Jennifer R. Geisler, MS, RN—San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians | December 5, 2017
Community Outreach Coordinator, ETR

I was born and raised on the Rincon reservation in Southern California. They are a neighboring tribe to my tribe, the San Pasqual. There’s a good chance, even if you know about reservation life, mine was not what you would expect.

My parents sheltered the children in our family. I had no idea that my community was struggling with serious issues around diabetes, alcohol and drug use. 

By Marcia Quackenbush, MS, MFT, MCHES | November 30, 2017
Senior Editor, ETR

Okay. It didn't happen at the water cooler. It was at an intersection of three cubicles—just a coincidental collection of colleagues crossing one another’s paths. We were talking about topics many of you have also been discussing with workmates, family and friends over the past several weeks—the instances of sexual harassment and assault that have been before the public eye.

Whom do we believe? What should be done? What can we do in our lives and our work to bring this kind of violence to an end?

By Sue Potter, MS | November 28, 2017
Research Associate, ETR

I’m with the “away team.” For the last several years, I’ve been part of ETR’s Distributed Workforce. Roughly one in five staff are located away from our organization’s main offices in Scotts Valley, Oakland and Sacramento, California. You’ll find us in other regions of California and in other states across the country. I live in Boston.

It hasn’t always been easy being one of the remote staff. But we’re an organization that believes in continuous improvement. 

By Vignetta Charles, PhD | November 20, 2017
Chief Executive Officer, ETR

My six-year-old son came home from school during the first week of November with an assignment to ask his family what we’re thankful for this year. I immediately rattled off the names of ten people, starting with his name.

He jumped in and clarified, “It can’t be people. You have to be grateful for a non-people thing.” I paused and then quickly gave him my heartfelt answer that couldn’t be people (I’ll tell you later what it was). 

By Gina Lepore, MEd | November 16, 2017
Research Associate, ETR

Here’s an engaging and powerful activity that’s a great way to introduce a learning process related to consent in sexual or romantic relationships. It’s ideal for a Training of Educators or Training of Trainers. With adaptation, it can also be used as a classroom activity with teens or young adults.

By Suzanne Schrag | November 14, 2017
Editor/Product Manager, ETR

How do we give students the concepts and skills they need to choose healthy behaviors for a lifetime? From the 15 Characteristics of Effective Health Education Curricula identified by the CDC, we know that an effective program “provides functional health knowledge that directly contributes to health-promoting decisions and behaviors.” It also “builds competence and self-efficacy by addressing skills.” Let’s see some examples of how these two key components of a great health education program play out in Grade 2 of HealthSmart.

From an interview with Linda Kekelis, PhD | October 26, 2017
Principal, Linda Kekelis Consulting

We need girls in tech. We need women in tech. We need women and underrepresented minorities across all areas of STEM. There are good reasons for this, reasons that benefit society, industry, the economy and international competitiveness.

But for me, one of the most persuasive is simply that girls and women deserve the freedom and opportunity offered by access to STEM fields.

By Suzanne Schrag | November 7, 2017
Editor/Product Manager, ETR

It’s not enough to simply teach students information about health. As health educators, we must help them master key concepts and skills that promote health literacy and lifelong health. HealthSmart, ETR’s comprehensive K–12 health education program, targets Healthy Behavior Outcomes as its primary goal. This sets HealthSmart apart from a more traditional textbook health program.

By Suzanne Schrag | October 30, 2017
Editor/Product Manager, ETR

I’ve been working with HealthSmart, ETR’s comprehensive, K-12 health education program, since its inception. We’ve recently been traveling to different states to introduce schools, districts and DOEs to the HealthSmart program. Often we are presenting HealthSmart alongside more traditional textbook publishers.

HealthSmart is not a textbook program. In fact, it’s quite different from a textbook approach to health class. We’ve given a lot of thought to how we explain what may be a new way to think about health instruction for administrators and educators.

By Lori A. Rolleri, MSW, MPH | October 24, 2017
Principal, Lori Rolleri Consulting

Gender norms have a deep impact at all levels of our society and culture. In Part 1 of this post, I talked about some of the ways inequitable gender norms can negatively affect health behaviors and outcomes. In this post, I’d like to take a look at how we can use evidence-informed strategies to change that. How do we address harmful gender norms in curricula designed to prevent adolescent pregnancy and STIs?

By Katy Casselman, MPH Cand | October 18, 2017
Research Assistant, dfusion

Fall has begun. You know what that means: it’s flu season!

Are your students, clients and patients going to get their flu vaccine this year? There’s a good chance they won’t. In the 2015-16 season, the CDC reported that only 42% of adults, and 59% of children 6 months to 17 years, got their flu vaccine. Part of this reluctance may stem from the larger social movement and controversy within the public health and medical fields, vaccine hesitancy.

By Lori A. Rolleri, MSW, MPH | October 11, 2017
Principal, Lori Rolleri Consulting

Are you one of those people who likes to sit in a park and people-watch? Me too. I like to think about why people do what they do. I’m fortunate that I have a career that actually pays me to do this—although not just by sitting on a park bench!

My people-watching is the type that involves talking with people, reading professional journals and researching the reasons why people do or don’t engage in certain health behaviors.

By Lia Cassanego, MPH | October 5, 2017
Professional Learning Services Specialist, ETR

Here’s an activity will energize and engage your group. But wait! That’s not all! It will also astound participants with the mysterious workings of our brains.

By Joan Singson | October 3, 2017
Director of Population Health, San Joaquin General Hospital

California is helping to pave the way! Adolescent sexual health education got a big boost when the California Healthy Youth Act (CHYA) was enacted in 2016. Across the nation, health educators and advocates for comprehensive sexuality education are looking at California’s legislation as a model that puts student knowledge, skills and well-being first.

By ETR | October 2, 2017

Many of us started out our work week first hearing the devastating news out of Las Vegas. Educators and others working with children and teens may understandably feel discouraged about having to explain, one more time, how unpredictable and violent the world can sometimes be.

By Lisa Edelman | September 28, 2017
Regional Account Manager, ETR

We do great pamphlets here at ETR! I sincerely believe our health education pamphlets are the best you can find. Once in awhile, a title or series comes along that’s exciting for reasons other than the excellence of its content.

That’s the case for the new Spanish translations of our “What You Need to Know About…” series of pamphlets. 

By Michael Everett, MHS | September 25, 2017
Project Director, ETR

As we gear up for National Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, I have a message for you from my gay brothers. That’s right. Not to them, but from us to you. We need your help! Yes, you!

For the last 30+ years, HIV has been instrumental in drawing attention to the experiences of gay men in the United States

By Regina Firpo-Triplett, MPH, CNC, MCHES | September 21, 2017
Chief Executive Officer, dfusion

Back in the 1980’s, I worked in Los Angeles County providing sexual health education (called “family life education” at that time). Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” and George Michael’s “I Want Your Sex” played constantly on the radio, and HIV was a new and frightening sexually transmitted infection that was drastically changing how and where sexuality education was offered.