Adolescent Sexual Health

Our top notch team, and your one-stop shop for all things adolescent sexual health.

Published Date

August 28, 2017

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) funds NCSD’s adolescent health team to provide technical assistance and capacity building to state leaders in education and health agencies through the Leadership Exchange for Adolescent Health Promotion (LEAHP) project.

Through new cooperative agreements and supplemental funding, NCSD continues to provide capacity building assistance and subject matter expertise around increasing youth access to sexual health services, providing adequate sexual health education, ensuring youth can thrive in safe and supportive environments, and supporting youth through national emergencies such as pandemics and outbreaks.

Leadership Exchange for Adolescent Health Promotion (LEAHP)

LEAHP provides opportunities for state leaders to build state-specific action plans to support policies and practices to improve adolescent health and wellbeing in three priority areas: sexual health education, sexual health services and safe and supportive environments. Through this learning collaborative, participants benefit from cross-state collaboration, training, and state-specific technical assistance. Register here to access the free, self-paced training. Interested in creating a state team and joining LEAHP? Complete the interest form or reach out to a LEAHP team member at info@leahp.org. To learn more about the project, visit LEAHP.org.

Educating and Advocating in Congress

NCSD also brings our expertise to the halls of Congress, where we educate elected officials and their staffs about the importance of adolescent sexual health and advocate for increased federal investment in evidence-based and effective programs. In the 118th Congress, NCSD is working to double the nation’s investment in DASH, re-establish funding for state education agencies as part of DASH’s work, and advance the Real Education and Access for Healthy Youth Act (REAHYA). When passed and enacted, REAHYA will enable HHS to establish a nationwide grant program that will increase youth access to sex education and connect marginalized young people with critical sexual health services, as well as train America’s educators to teach affirming and quality sex education.

COVID-19 and Health Equity Supplemental Work

During the COVID-19 pandemic, DASH awarded supplemental funding to NCSD to create new tools, resources, and trainings to support state leaders in mitigating the impacts of disruptions related to COVID-19 and Health Equity on School-Based activities.

As part of this supplemental funding, NCSD released a toolkit, Adolescent Sexual Health Telehealth Services During COVID-19, as well as an accompanying webinar series. The Developing a Referral System for Adolescent Sexual Health Services toolkit was also updated to include a greater emphasis on health equity and considerations for COVID. Other activities produced under the DASH supplemental funding include an Adolescent Health Resource Compendium, Linking Sexual Health Services to Outbreak Response ELearning training, and an upcoming Referral System webinar series. Find links to all of these resources, trainings, and tools in the Resources section below.

Technical Assistance

Educating key decision makers on the importance of sexual health services (SHS) for youth
Establishing organizational linkages and partnerships
Building the capacity for priority school districts to deliver or refer students to SHS
Assessing clinical services for inclusion of key sexual health services, youth and LGBTQ friendliness, and cultural appropriateness
Developing a referral system and protocols/policies
Providing SHS and supporting youth during an outbreak response