By Pamela Anderson, PhD | September 12, 2019
Senior Research Associate, ETR

I literally love this book! I think everyone should read it. Shafia Zaloom is offering a unique new resource, and it’s fabulous.

I’m a developmental psychologist and researcher specializing in adolescent romantic relationships. That means I’ve seen plenty of books for parents and educators on how to have conversations with teens about sex and relationships. There are some great resources out there—and this is one of my new favorites for a number of reasons.

By Shafia Zaloom | Setpember 10, 2019
Health Educator, Urban School, San Francisco

When talking about sexuality with adolescents, it's often easier to get the message across when you take the sex out of it. This is counterintuitive, I know. So here’s a story, a classroom activity and some examples of classroom discussions with my class that explain the concept.

By Barb Flis | May 23, 2019
Founder, Parent Action for Healthy Kids

I am approaching my 15th year of helping parents talk to their kids about sex. It’s hard for me to fathom that this equates to several hundred workshops, impacting thousands of parents and supportive adults. The parents from those early years now have adult children and, in many cases, even grandchildren.

I’ve been fortunate to have had contact with some alum who tell me how much our workshop affected them. 

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. 

By ETR | November 29, 2018

We had an outstanding Kirby Summit IV this fall. This invitational gathering brings together experts from around the country who know a great deal about emerging issues in adolescent health. The Kirby IV summiteers focused on scaffolding for adolescent relationships. If you're not quite sure what that is, you'll want to watch this lively 3-minute video from ETR Senior Research Associate Pamela Anderson.

By Jody Gan, MPH, CHES | October 4, 2018
Instructor, Department of Health Studies, American University

Three years ago, I became the first health educator to join a volunteer brigade providing medical and public health services to Honduras. For two decades, the Organization for Community Health Outreach (OCHO), based in Baltimore, Maryland, has sent a 40-person medical team to Atima, in the province of Santa Barbara. This is a mountain community of about 16,000 people in one of the most underserved and remote areas of the country.

By Jenna | July 13, 2018
Transitioning to 6th Grade

Editor’s note: I had an opportunity to talk with the daughter of a friend about some of her recent school health education experiences. Here are some of her comments.

I just graduated from 5th grade. I’m excited about what’s coming next—I’m going into middle school next year!

By Teresa McGeeney, MS | January 24, 2018
Epidemiologist, REACH Evaluation

I am a suicide prevention researcher. One of my early experiences in the field ultimately led me to a powerful conclusion. When schools (1) put effective, evidence-based anti-bullying polices in place, (2) make sure students know how to report bullying, and (3) ensure responses to these reports are perceived by students to be effective, schools are likely to see fewer suicide attempts among their students.