Teens United in Health

Teens United in Health (TUH) is a program of Breaking the Cycle, in partnership with the Aetna Center for Families.  This program brings together teens and adults living and working in the Frog Hollow and Barry Square neighborhoods to examine the reproductive health prevention service needs of teens living in the seven neighborhoods served by Bulkeley High School, and to define, develop and undertake action steps to meet those needs.  Frog Hollow and Barry Square residents were selected as TUH members based on the high number of births to teens living in those two neighborhoods. TUH meets once a week (twice a month during the summer) and the group has 13 members in regular attendance. One project the group has undertaken seeks to  improve access to adolescent health prevention needs by providing baskets of reproductive health information and condoms in 14 beauty salons, barber shops and nail salons located within the Bulkeley High School neighborhoods.  

The members of TUH recognize that although providing free protective reproductive health materials in businesses frequented by Bulkeley High School students is progress toward a sexually healthier community, this effort alone does not increase the number of Bulkeley High School students accessing care at the School Based Health Clinic (SBHC) services or other community health care providers. Members of TUH would like to have a greater impact on improving the quality and access of health care for teens and have begun planning more effective and intense community level interventions. The adolescent members of TUH have designed an original and theoretically sound reproductive health social marketing campaign within the Bulkeley High School community to improve the quality of and accessibility to reproductive services. Aetna’s funding would serve as the impetus for this project.  

The overall goal of Teens United in Health is to improve adolescent preventive health care (education and services) through collaboration with health care providers, school health educators and care providers, and other health professionals to reduce in reported births and sexually transmitted diseases to teens living in the geographic areas served by Bulkeley High School. To fulfill this goal, TUH:

• Works with the SBHC and other health care providers to implement policy changes regarding the distribution of birth control methods to teens from community health care providers serving the neighborhoods served by Bulkeley High School particularly federally funded and Title X care providers;
• Holds a seat on the Bulkeley High School SBHC Advisory Committee;
• Maintain no less than 14 reproductive sexual health education materials and in beauty salons, barber shops and nail salons located within the Bulkeley High School neighborhoods; and
• Has developed and piloted a peer-to-peer education program for middle schools students.

The adult leaders of TUH are Maureen Mullen, Project Manager, Breaking the Cycle and Nilda Santana, Youth Educator, Aetna Center for Families.