Youth Presentations

Focusing primarily on romantic relationships, the lesson explores the differences between healthy and unhealthy relationships. Students can create their perfect partner and explore their values and needs. Students will identify traits that are important to them in a romantic relationship and learn to identify unhealthy traits in relationships. Students will learn about the cycle of abuse and how to advocate for themselves or someone else. This presentation provides resources on consent and bystander intervention. 

The presentation explores the importance of healthy friendships and what it means to be a good friend. Students will identify what qualities are important to them in a friend, and behaviors that are healthy and unhealthy in friendships. Students will learn how to communicate effectively and navigate conflict in a respectful and safe manner.

The presentation explores the importance of taking care of our mental health. Students will identify signs and symptoms of common mental health concerns like anxiety and depression. Students will learn how to communicate about mental health concerns and ways to ask for help. This presentation concludes with a review of many local and national teen friendly resources. 

Although we will be talking about technology, students will not need to have access to any technology. This lesson begins with discussing current trends in social media by using the expertise of the students in the room. It covers some of the common dangers of the internet: sexting, bullying, unwanted exposure to pornography, and personal information being shared. Students are encouraged to think about the positives and negatives of living in a “plugged-in” society. Students will also learn what can be done and who to go to if something negative does occur while online, and how positively navigate the internet and social media. This presentation can be adapted to the needs of younger and older aged students

This lesson is jam-packed with activities. Students will critically examine the beauty standards set forth by the media, and discuss why some groups are marginalized, portrayed negatively or totally invisible from mainstream pop culture. Focusing primarily on being a savvy media-consumer, students will realize that with the media, “what you see is not what you get.” Students will engage in an affirmation activity to boost self-esteem and create a positive self-image.

This lesson covers virtual, physical and emotional boundaries, exploring what students are okay with and not okay with. Students will learn how boundaries can help maintain emotional and physical safety. As a group, students will define healthy boundaries for themselves, and how to communicate their boundaries with friends, family, peers, and strangers.

Do you know the difference between flirting and sexual harassment? This presentation will define the word consent and provide a framework in which to engage self and others. Students will examine scenarios and look for ways to communicate consent with friends and partners, intervene as bystanders, and advocate for themselves and their community.  

Among Minnesota high school students, e-cigarette use is now double conventional cigarette use. In this presentation, students will learn the truth about vaping and engage in activities that spark peer-led conversations on preventing vaping and other tobacco use. Students will identify the short and long-term effects e-cigarettes can have on a person’s health. This presentation concludes with practicing coping skills that provide stress relief as alternatives to vaping/tobacco use. 

It is a young person’s job to develop a sense of identity, build a supportive community of peers, and hone healthy skills for wellness. This presentation breaks down wellness in five ways; academic health, self-care, and coping skills, mental health, physical health, and relationship health. Students will explore tough issues they face as young people together and locate ways to manage their “job” successfully. 

Aimed primarily at students in the thick of puberty, this high-energy lesson focuses on re-assuring each young person that they are, in fact, “normal.” This presentation begins by asking students to explore their excitement and anxiety about growing up. Students learn about physical and emotional changes that occur during puberty as well as debunk common myths around becoming a teenager.

The goal is for students to be so relaxed that they fall asleep by the end of this presentation. Students will define their own coping skills, learn about physical and emotional responses to stress and effective ways to interrupt negative self-talk. The presentation concludes with myHealth educators leading a guided meditation and practicing healthy coping skills.

Many community partners want to increase education for their students on this topic. In this lesson, students learn the definition of letters in the LGBTQIA+ and the importance of pronouns. Our educators will also work through the Gender Unicorn, discussing gender expression, gender identity, sex, and sexual orientation. Students will brainstorm and learn how we can make our schools and shared spaces inclusive and welcoming to all. 

*Activities and learning objectives differ based on age and development needs. Please contact a myHealth educator with questions.

Beginning with a short activity on abstinence, this presentation covers the methods of contraception most widely accepted in the US, and most commonly used by young people. These methods include both prescription (pill, ring, shot, the Nexplanon rod, IUD, and emergency contraception) and non-prescription or behavioral methods (condoms, dental dams, and other barrier methods, withdrawal and chance). Educators will also discuss sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention and the importance barrier methods have in preventing the spread of STIs.  If time allows, we also discuss unplanned pregnancy prevention myths and facts, and common barriers to accessing birth control or condoms. This presentation can include a condom demonstration, per the request of the teacher.

Students will learn about the three types of STIs (bacterial, viral and parasitic) and the five common STIs contracted by young people. Students will also learn about symptoms, testing, treatment, and prevention. Through engaging activities, educators will destigmatize STIs and emphasize communicating about STIs with a partner is normal and healthy.  This presentation can include a condom demonstration, per the request of the teacher.

Covering the various factors that influence a young person’s decision to engage in sexual activities and the common sources of pressure, this lesson allows for critical thinking about personal values and beliefs. We encourage students to determine and reflect on their personal boundaries and choices. Students engage in a “dating line up” which explores “steps” of dating, intimacy building and sexual activity as empowered choices. This presentation can include another activity where students create responses to common pressure lines, encouraging communication between partners and self-advocacy.

This presentation focuses on factors that can influence a young person’s decision to be sexually active or not. We touch on the meaning of abstinence and ask students to define intimacy and boundaries for themselves. Our abstinence presentation does not use a prescribed amount of time that a person should wait before engaging in sexual activity. Instead, we provide evidence-informed, student-centered information and help young people realize that the decision is ultimately their own. 

This presentation explores the anatomy and how to maintain clean and healthy body parts. Students will partake in activities that discover the importance of a daily personal hygiene routine and the public or private locations that one can participate in positive hygienic behaviors. Who knew that taking care of your body could be so much fun?!

This presentation is all about reproductive anatomy. Students will create reproductive models out of household materials while learning the correct terms of body parts, and their functions. Make this presentation a series by pairing it with hygiene, puberty, or both!