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Teens in juvenile detention settings
are greatly at-risk for an STD or pregnancy. However, a Minnesota program,
Sexual Health and Adolescent Risk Prevention (SHARP), is making a positive
difference to teens in Minnesota’s detention settings, according to David
Kurtzon, program manager of Teenwise Minnesota. SHARP is specifically designed
for adolescents in detention to help them develop better skills in
decision-making, goal setting, and awareness regarding the kinds of choices
they have made.
Teenwise Minnesota currently is
working to get the SHARP program into a number of county correctional
facilities. Kurtzon explained that teens who had participated in SHARP were
making fewer sexually risky decisions, even a year later. He also noted SHARP’s
emphasis on alcohol abuse and understanding the connection between unsafe
sexual behaviors and the use and abuse of alcohol. Teens who had attended SHARP
a year previously were using less alcohol, and they were abusing alcohol less.
Psychologist Michael O'Brien, who
has worked for 30 years in Minnesota’s juvenile justice system, stressed the
importance of getting real-life information to teenagers, emphasizing that
since teens get most of their sex education from the Internet, they need to be
taught the real-life consequences of contracting an STD or ending up pregnant
and responsible for a child for the next 18 years. In Minnesota, approximately
5,000 teenagers become pregnant each year, while 50 percent of all sexually
active persons will contract an STD by the age of 25. The numbers for young
people in detention facilities are much higher.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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