Strategies

Promote abstinence from sexual activity, generally only with mention of condoms and birth control to highlight failure rates

Provide reproductive health care services such as counseling, contraception, and testing in middle and high school-based health centers

Provide youth with teen dating violence education that addresses healthy relationships, gender norms, relationship coercion, and violence in a school setting

Train school staff or students to identify signs of suicidality, screen students for suicide risk, or deliver a curriculum-based program that helps all students learn to recognize warning signs of suicide in themselves and others

Use counseling, informational materials, etc. to inform smokers and non-smokers of the harms of secondhand smoke and encourage them to implement home smoking bans

Provide short-term employment opportunities for youth, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds

Support school-, community-, and clinic-based teen pregnancy prevention programs such as comprehensive sex education, HIV/STI prevention and youth development efforts, service learning, etc.

Place youth with mental, emotional, and behavioral health challenges in foster families that provide a structured, nurturing, therapeutic environment; also called Therapeutic Foster Care (TFC)

Teach students attitudes, skills, knowledge, and behavior needed to participate in and contribute to a democracy