A very real issue that modern America is dealing with is Teen Pregnancy and TriCounty Health is working to educate the community. In this week’s Give’m Health segment, TriCounty shares that teen pregnancy is fraught with many negative consequences. Though not directly focused on teen pregnancy or other teen related public health issues, TriCounty Health Department offers a program aimed at providing youth with the tools they need to better understand the decision making process as well as the consequences associated with their decisions. The Teen Outreach Program (TOP) is based on a National Curriculum and serves as a suicide prevention program, substance abuse prevention program, and life skills program. It is centered on building skills and teaching teens how to think instead of what to think. Katie Scholes, a Health Educator for TriCounty Health Department, has been teaching this program in schools for 3 going on 4 years now and says she has never even discussed teen pregnancy with any of the youth but has seen the teen pregnancy rates begin to decrease in part, she believes, due to this program. For more information on this program, visit
www.tricountyhealth.com
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