What's Happening

By Sarah Han, MPH | August 25, 2023
Youth-Centered Health Designer, ETR

Young people face multiple challenges in accessing sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, with stigma from providers and staff and compromised confidentiality and privacy as key barriers. Learn more about Sarah Han's experiences as a part of a globally representative advisory group of young professionals at Women Deliver 2023 in Rwanda for the Measuring Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health (MY SRH) Initiative led by Metrics for Management.

By Sarah Han, MPH and Rebecca Braun, DrPH, MPH | December 14, 2022
YTH Initiative, ETR

The INSPIRE+ project empowers and collaborates with California youth to design innovative, creative, and youth-led solutions that address unhealthy substance use and promote community healing, using ETR’s Trauma-Informed Youth-Centered Health Design framework. 

By Sarah Han, MPH | November 19, 2021
Youth Centered Health Designer, ETR

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the lives of teens and young adults in countless ways. However, as public health researchers, practitioners, and advocates, we still don’t know much about how the pandemic has affected the romantic and sexual relationships of teens and young adults. Last month, a study examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people’s relationships was published in BMC Public Health, shining a light on this important, yet understudied, issue.

By Rebecca Braun and Emma Schlamm | July 26, 2021
Lead, YTH Initiative, ETR and Program Coordinator, YTH Initiative, ETR

The YTH Initiative is thrilled to announce the launch of a ZonaSegura chatbot! Meet Eli - the first and only trauma-informed, English and Spanish-language chatbot co-designed by youth to navigate and prevent teen dating violence in Honduras. With funding from the Twilio.org Crisis Response and Prevention Initiative, Eli was built to address a need for real-time, two-way support for violence prevention and crisis response, identified through an impact evaluation of the initial ZonaSegura intervention implemented in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Given the recent rise in gender-based violence both in Honduras and globally, due in part to the COVID-19 lockdowns, a tool like Eli could not be more timely.

By Laiah Idelson, MSPH & Stephanie Guinosso, PhD, MPH | February 2, 2021
YTH Initiative, ETR

The YTH Initiative at ETR has led the field in Youth-Centered Health Design for the past decade. We recently joined forces with our colleagues at ETR and broader communities to create Trauma-Informed Youth Centered Health Design (TIYCHD), an approach that interweaves trauma-principles into the YCHD approach. Our TIYCHD framework was designed in collaboration with experts in design, trauma and mental health, youth engagement, and public health through a community consultation with twelve participants and expert interviews with forty others.

By Cara Silva, MPH | October 1, 2019
Director of Programs, ETR's YTH Initiative

Digital communication has disrupted the ways we socialize, communicate, and—let’s face it—how we function. Gone are the days where a check-in with a friend was a knock at the door or a telephone call. It’s now likely a quick text or a thumbs-up “like” on a social media post. This new way of communicating has also contributed to how we meet, flirt, and date people to whom we are attracted. Youth in particular are turning to online spaces to build community and explore sexual relationships, particularly in regions where access to peers is limited. 

By ETR | August 1, 2019
 

Emma Schlamm’s got activism in her blood. Born and raised in New York City, she shares a birthday with both Malcom X and Ho Chi Minh. Following her urban upbringing, she chose a small town community for college—Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the heart of Amish country. “This was a fascinating experience for someone with a big-city background,” she recalls, “and it fueled my interest in learning about other cultures and communities.”

By Chris Wilson-Smith & Michael Everett, MHS | July 25, 2019
HIV/Sexual Health Trainer (CW-S) & Project Coordinator (ME), ETR

How do we celebrate the innovative spirit of youth? How do we encourage young people's creative leadership and put it to work to solve real-world problems? How do we leverage youth interests and abilities in technology to amplify their power?

ETR’s YTH Initiative is delivering a mentorship program that will do all of these things. Introducing Project LIYT (Leadership + Innovation + Youth + Technology)! 

By ETR | July 23, 2019
 

Bhupendra Sheoran jumped into the health-tech arena early. Not to build ways for health care systems keep to keep better track of medical records or billing. Not to build programs that persuade health care providers to use iPads during patient visits. Rather, to build ways to support transformation and empowerment in communities, both locally and globally. We are delighted that Sheoran was invited to speak at the recent TEDxSantaClaraUniversity event.

By Vignetta Charles, PhD & Bhupendra Sheoran, MD, MBA  | July 17, 2019
CEO (VC) and Vice President of Global Development (BS), ETR

We are beyond thrilled about the recent merger of ETR and YTH. Of course, a huge amount of practical footwork needed to be done. There are challenges, some anticipated and some not. There is discovery and confusion. Adjustments must be made.

But when we take a moment, take a breath, and think about where we are and how we see the road ahead, our overarching feeling is…excitement!

By Laiah Idelson, MSPH | June 4, 2019
Strategic Partnerships & Innovation Lead, YTH Initiative, ETR

What happens when a motivated, creative group of high school juniors and seniors is asked, “How might we use technology to create an innovative solution to improve the mental health of young people?”

To answer this question, our team conducted nine workshops from January through April this year. Seventy-seven juniors and seniors at De Anza High School in Richmond, CA, joined in. 

By ETR | May 31, 2019
 

We are all members of a global society. We are excited that ETR’s recent merger with YTH brings a deeper and more experienced global perspective to our organization’s work. YTH has a long history of international work with youth communities. The YTH Initiative presence at the upcoming Women Deliver conference demonstrates this beautifully.

By Marcia Quackenbush, MS, MFT, MCHES | May 8, 2019
Senior Editor, ETR

One measure of a successful training or conference is whether you learned something useful. Did you change your thinking? Get inspired by leaders in the field? Will you do anything differently when you get back to your work?

By any of those measures, 2019’s YTH Live conference was simply dazzling for me.