The Daily Southerner, Tarboro, NC

Local News

March 15, 2010

TORO program goal: Reduce teen health issues

KIMBERLY BELLAMY

Another group of caregivers and youth in Nash and Edgecombe counties began the process of becoming informed about making good choices regarding sexual behavior Saturday at the Edgecombe County Administrative Building.

The Teach One, Reach One (TORO) program began its fourth cycle of six week courses in awareness and prevention on sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, decision making, healthy relationships, good communication skills and other topics.

The TORO curriculum is taught by Lay Health Advisers and the youth and caregivers are split into separate sessions to discuss topics that are parallel. An example is the class Your Body-The Facts on the reproductive systems of males and females for youth and Preparing for the Big Talk on physical and emotional changes during puberty for caregivers.

The groups then come back together for role playing activities to ensure both the youth and caregivers understand the concepts that were discussed.

“We don’t say you should do this or shouldn’t do this, but we want everyone to have the information so everyone can make their own decision,” said Giselle Corbie Smith, director of Program on Health Disparities at UNC-Chapel Hill.

The target age range for the youth group is 10-14 to give them early exposure to intimate relationships.

“Some of you may not be dating yet and we want you to have this information before you have these problems,” Smith said.

“The main goal of the program is to help youth make healthy choices regarding sex and relationships.”

After the participants have graduated from the program, they are responsible for recruiting friends and educating them on the TORO curriculum.

The program is tracking if TORO graduates are more likely to abstain from sexual activity compared to others in the same age group, improvement in communication skills and the information from TORO is being passed along to their peer groups.

“We want to show that it’s going to make a difference and then bring it to as many people as possible,” Smith said.

About 30 youth and their caregivers have already graduated from the program during the first three cycles. Smith said at least one more cycle will be conducted. TORO is seeking 20 youth and 20 caregivers to participate in the next cycle.

TORO was developed based on research that identified health issues relating to sex was a problem in the Twin Counties.

“We were looking at health issues affecting Edgecombe and Nash counties and that’s when we started to focus on HIV. We decided to start young because we saw the rate going up in older teens, so we wanted to start much younger so we could prevent and stop that spread,” Smith said.

Project Grace is the parent organization of TORO. TORO is in collaboration with at least 16 other agencies and organizations in the area.

If you’re interested in participating in the TORO program, call Berlie Peet of the Community Enrichment Organization at 823-1733 or Donald Parker with Project Momentum at 977-0765.

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