Adolescent Health Educator

About the role

Adolescent Health Educators are responsible for assisting with the planning, coordination and implementation of the Personal Responsibility Education Program, funded by the Family Youth Services Bureau. The PREP program is a collaborative effort that emphasizes principles of positive youth development and optimal health emphasizing both abstinence and contraception and addressing the adulthood preparation subjects of healthy relationships, parent-child communication, educational and career success, healthy life skills, and adolescent development in order to significantly reduce the number of teen pregnancies in the Harrisonburg, Rockingham and Page County area of Virginia. PREP is part of SexEdVA at the Institute for Innovation in Health and Human Services at JMU.

Responsibilities

• Facilitate the Get Real program with 6th - 8th grade students in Page County and Harrisonburg City schools. Facilitation takes place between the hours of 7:30 to 4:30 Monday through Friday.
• The facilitator is responsible for learning curriculum, preparing classroom materials, adhering to the school scheduling, collecting attendance and student surveys, managing classroom behavior, and ensuring program fidelity, IRB compliance, medical accuracy, and age appropriateness at all times.
• Assist the PREP program leadership in developing materials for social media, newsletters, and community engagement events.
• Facilitate the Safer Choices program with 9th and 10th grade students in Rockingham, Page, and Harrisonburg schools. Facilitation takes place between the hours of 7:30 to 4:30 Monday through Friday.
• The facilitator is responsible for learning curriculum, preparing classroom materials, adhering to the school scheduling, collecting attendance and student surveys, managing classroom behavior, and ensuring program fidelity, IRB compliance, medical accuracy, and age appropriateness at all times.
• Assist in the recruitment of SexEdVA Youth Ambassadors and the facilitation of monthly meetings.
• Provide support for coordination and implementation of the annual teen health fairs.

Qualifications

• Knowledge of adolescent development, sexuality education and best practices in delivering teen pregnancy prevention programming.
• Ability to work with youth and facilitate youth programming, engage in public speaking, plan effective public health education programs, and implement health education programs.
• Ability to communicate health information effectively.
• Ability to establish and maintain relationships with community partners and engage in outreach.
• Ability to follow oral and written instructions.
• Must possess good oratory, organizational, administrative, and interpersonal skills.
• General computer skills, including proficiency in Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.