Activating Advocacy:
Best Practices to Implement
a Peer Advocate Program
Nicole Ressa
Sr. Director of Community Education & Training
Melissa Strype
Peer Advocate Program Trainer
Agenda
1. Share your story check-in
2. The Sexuality Education Initiative
3. The Peer Advocate Program
4. Practice Answering Questions Activity
The Sexuality Education Initiative
4 Program Components
Classroom
Curriculum
Parent
Classes
Access
to
Services
Peer
Advocates
2011-12 & 2012-13: Randomized Evaluation
• 2300 9th grade students at 10 schools
• 1,697 parents
• 10,767 outreach contacts by 70 Peer
Advocates
• 341 patients & 777 condom requests at oncampus clinics
Successes & Lessons Learned
• School support and
collaboration
• Parent involvement &
Peer Advocates
• Year follow-up results
• Limited class time
availability
• School schedule
changes
• Clinical services afterschool
• Program
implementation during
an evaluation
Peer Advocates
Peer Advocate Program Methodology
Discussion
Creative Exploration
Honor participant experiences Games, scene creation, telling
& voices
your story
Skill-building
Meaningful Outreach
Practice answering questions,
rehearsal for real life scenes,
how to serve as a resource
Video making, events,
one-on-one conversations
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cylUjm-N1dg
Peer Advocate Program Model
Training
Recruitment
• 10-15
students per
school group
•
•
5 day Summer
Training
Overnight Retreat
• Application &
• 4 Saturday
Interview
Trainings (25 hrs)
Process
Weekly
Meetings
• Check-in
• Videos
• Games &
Teambuilding
• Tabling
• Skill-building
activities
• Scene creation
activities
Recruitment
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=_-aMt5XuHAs
Program Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpYR1
XCiz98
Outreach
Activities
• Plan outreach
• School events
• Presentations
• Teacher Advisor
support
Outreach Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=cePNtSpEUbM
Focus on Gender and Rights
• Links between adherence to rigidly defined
gender norms and negative sexual health
outcomes
• From a rights framework, youth ideally enter
relationships as equal partners with equal
rights and therefore equal power to make
decisions and express themselves
• Right to access education and sexual health
services
Peer Advocate Training
Topics
Skills
 Gender
 Speaking in front of a group
 Rights in Relationships
 Serving as a resource for
 Media representation
sexual health info at school
 Sexuality and Sexual Orientation
 Promoting PPLA services
 Reproductive Anatomy
 Improvisation skills
 Pregnancy
 Devising and performing
 STDs/HIV
 Contraception
 Sexual Choice and Coercion
 Decision-Making
theatrical scenes
 Video creation
Thank you!
Questions? Comments?