Peer Mentors

Peer influence has significant impact on teens’ decisions about healthy behaviors and sexual activity. Teens listen to older teens. This means that well-trained high school students can be highly impactful in a middle school abstinence program. In addition, this method reaffirms the high school students’ commitments to healthy behaviors and gives them leadership and public speaking skills.

In the Portland area, peer mentors are recruited from high schools to go into the middle school classrooms of “feeder” middle schools to present their personal reasons for staying abstinent and work with the 8th graders on refusal skills. This component of the Youth Solutions program takes up just one classroom session, but is a highly effective piece of the YS curricula.

For those schools systems who are unable to participate directly with the NWFS peer mentors, Northwest Family Services also offers a Peer Leader Training Manual that has all the necessary components for helping high school students be knowledgeable and confident leaders in promoting abstinence. The manual includes recruiting information, reproducible letters and forms, training materials, and 15 color overheads. Students learn role plays, refusal skills, medical information, leadership tips, and more!