About Us
Studies show that students who practice sexual risk avoidance do better academically, experience less depression and have better long-term life outcomes than those who don’t. Sexual Risk Avoidance (SRA) is a fairly new term to describe the programs offered by the OAHC Project. Other community programs may offer sexual risk reduction (SRR) which reduce the risk by offering condoms and birth control. The SRA programs offered under the OAHC Project do not assume sexual activity as a starting point, but rather delve into a whole set of social emotional issues that all youth face as they develop through their formative middle school and high school years. As such, the SRAE curricula taught under the OAHC Project offer a broader scope and cover numerous positive youth development topics including goal setting, decision-making skills, future orientation, communication skills, resistance skills, self-efficacy, self-regulation, and healthy vs. unhealthy relationships, the importance of responsible fatherhood, and overall optimal health for youth. The OAHC Project curricula also offers information about potential threats to positive youth development such as: adverse childhood experiences, medically accurate data on STI/STDs, teen pregnancy, sex and the law, abusive relationships, teen dating violence, addiction, pornography, and human trafficking.
The OAHC Project recognizes that just as risky behaviors, such as - alcohol use, marijuana use, early sexual initiation, unprotected sex, and sex with multiple partners - are highly correlated, so too responsible decision-making and safe behaviors are also highly correlated. Therefore, the OAHC Project’s programs are holistic in nature, theoretically sound, and consistent with the public health models typically used to address youth risk behaviors. They focus on primary prevention to achieve optimal health outcomes for middle school and ninth grade students while providing age appropriate information on developing a life-style of healthy choices providing a whole-person framework for understanding WHY actively asserting healthy choices while also practicing risk avoidance is the healthiest choice not only for the present time, but also for the health of the students’ life trajectory and their future families.
Reports & Information
New K-12 Standards in Ohio for Optimal Health Development
Elizabeth’s New Life Center (ENLC) provides relationship and positive youth development education to middle and high school students in Montgomery, Preble and Fayette Counties. ENLC utilizes four curricula: 6th grade: Stuck in the Middle; 7th grade: RUC’s Relationships Under Construction and Stuck in the Middle; 8th grade: A&M’s Aspire; and for high school: ENLC’s Go for the Gold. All curricula are 5-day school-based programs that help youth acknowledge that high-risk behaviors have potentially negative consequences that affect future goals. Topics covered include healthy decision-making, setting goals, character development, positive youth development, consequences of sexual activity (STDs/teen pregnancy/emotions), media/culture, refusal skills, and peer pressure.
Alliance for Healthy Youth (AHY), has the mission to empower, encourage and educate youth to make and keep healthy lifestyle choices. Our goal is to equip youth with knowledge and skills to make decisions and practice behaviors that enhance health and wellness. Since 1987 over 600,000 middle and high school students have benefited from AHY’s programs. Staff who work with youth are OCPA and OSCPA Certified. AHY’s prevention education programs that promote sexual risk avoidance include:
1.) Responsible Social Values Program: 5-day evidence based prevention education curriculum to teach middle school students character based healthy decision making and risk avoidance.
2.) C.A.T.S. (Concerned About Teen Success): peer led prevention education focusing on positive youth development for C.A.T.S. members who educate their peers in high school to avoid risks, keep healthy decisions and develop positive relationships.
3.) C.A.T.C.H. (Concerned About Teens Can Help): peer led prevention support is designed to provide one on one help for youth who are struggling to reach the appropriate adult at school and get direction and support. AHY is licensed by Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services (OMHAS) to provide Prevention Behavioral Health Services.
When talking to teens, it becomes evident that most of them desire the same things in life: success, respect, health, wealth and meaningful relationships. However, where many of them differ is in their perception of how to obtain the success they desire. The responsible social values of delayed gratification, mutual respect, integrity, work ethic, perseverance, and self-control that used to be seen as the “common sense” traits necessary to achieve these goals, are no longer portrayed as such by popular culture. While it is great to encourage students to set goals, it is just as important in today’s society to teach them that they cannot simply choose their futures- they can only choose the HABITS that form them. This is why character is not merely assumed, but taught and modeled in every Common Sense Culture class.
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Maximum Freedom endeavors to strengthen local communities by promoting child/family health, safety and well-being. We work to empower teens to reach their full potentials through risk avoidance and sexual health education. Our goals include: enhancing parent/child communications, reducing unhealthy risk-taking behaviors, developing skills to refuse unwanted pressure, establishing personal boundaries, and decreasing teen pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, and emotional consequences of teen sexual activity.
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Relationships Under Construction (RUC) teaches youth the blueprint for strong future families. The RUC program addresses character development, goal setting, how to recognize healthy and unhealthy relationships, and dating violence while exploring the issues of fatherhood, motherhood, and healthy family formation. RUC addresses risk behaviors including the unhealthy teen behaviors of alcohol, tobacco, drugs, dating violence, bullying, gambling, pornography, and human trafficking and encourages primary prevention for teens. RUC helps teens and parents understand why avoiding these risks is so important.
Healthy Visions is a 36 year old educational non-profit in Southwest Ohio. We have served over 250,000 students in 40 schools located in Butler, Clermont, Hamilton and Warren counties. Our young relatable facilitators use evidence based curricula to serve all youth populations: urban, suburban and rural youth. Healthy Visions provides quality youth programs in sexual risk avoidance, social emotional learning and positive youth development. Our mission is to inspire, educate, and assist youth to make decisions towards optimal health ( social, emotional, intellectual, and physical health) for a happier, healthier and more hopeful life.