What's Happening

By Debra Christopher, MSM | June 30, 2015
Director, Professional Learning Systems, ETR

OK, I admit it. I’ve been around for awhile. I taught health education in the classroom for four years early in my career. Then I made a shift, and for the past 25 years I’ve worked to support adult learners who deliver health education programs to youth.

The essence of my mission: create change (in adult instructional savvy) to create change (in youth behavior).

By Marcia Quackenbush, MS, MFT, MCHES | June 26, 2015
Senior Editor, ETR

It has been a momentous morning. My wife and I took an early hike. We were out on the trail when we got the text from @HRC about the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage. “Reply w/pics to show how you’re celebrating,” they asked.

We grinned. We cried. We took a selfie out there in our little patch of wilderness. And not surprisingly, we both began a survey of our lives, and this struggle, where we’ve been and this place we’ve come to now. Change is powerful stuff, for a person and for a nation.

By Michael Everett, MHS | June 24, 2015
CEO, Intimacy & Colour | Consultant, ETR Community Impact Solutions Project

We all know what it feels like to sit in the back of the room, praying we don’t get called on by an instructor. Or feel too afraid to ask a question despite the depths of our confusion on a given topic.

The culture of asking in this country is a complex one. On the one hand, as a greater society we believe in the power of help. Look at our public health policies, free HIV testing or charitable organizations. Even the values we learn in kindergarten—“Clean up the play area together”—promote helping.

On the other hand, we are not as hard wired to ask for help as we are to provide it. So this begs the question—what is our big “ask” problem?

By William Spatafora | June 22, 2015
MPH Student, Tulane University | 2015 Kirby Summer Intern, ETR

“Why? He’s a boy.”

These were the first  words out of my cousin’s mouth last month when I asked if her 12-year-old son had been vaccinated against HPV. “Isn’t the HPV vaccine given just to girls, to protect against cervical cancer?”

By Marcia Quackenbush, MS, MFT, MCHES | June 18, 2015
Senior Editor, ETR

If your work involves talking to people about sexual health, you must be talking to them about STDs. Or STIs. Or both. Right?

As the great STD-STI terminology challenge continues, just about everyone has had to choose one term or the other. Well, everyone except for the people who use both interchangeably to mean the same thing. Or those folks who use each in distinct ways to mean different things.

I asked a few of my ETR colleagues to share their current thinking and preferred term for their work. Here’s what they had to say. 

By Monica Sun | June 16, 2015
MPH Student, Tulane University | 2015 Kirby Summer Intern, ETR

This summer, I have the fortunate opportunity to work at ETR with a group of intelligent, intriguing and passionate people. Just within this first week or so, I’ve met many inspiring minds who’ve come together in this organization with a common goal: making a difference in the fields of science, research and public health.

The atmosphere here inspires me! I’m even more determined to go after my goals of reaching out to the underserved and making significant contributions to these fields. 

By ETR | June 11, 2015

ETR extends an enthusiastic welcome to this year’s Kirby Summer Interns. Monica Sun and William Spatafora both hail from the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University. They will be spending the summer working directly with ETR researchers, gathering and analyzing data. Each will co-author a paper for submission to a professional journal. 

By Dan McCormick, MHA | June 8, 2015
Chief Executive Officer, ETR

Have you noticed that the pace of change is accelerating? Of course! We all have. And we're hearing about it over and over, with greater and greater frequency. “Be agile.” “Pivot quickly.” “Re-invent yourself.”

But how do we put these slogans to work to improve our organizations?

I believe one of the best ways to successfully navigate today’s world of high-velocity change is to create and sustain high-vitality organizations.

By Narinder Dhaliwal, MA | June 2, 2015
Project Director, California's Clean Air Project, ETR

“Nicotine is not addictive,” tobacco executives said in 1994, testifying before Congress in what are now known as the Waxman Hearings. They said this repeatedly, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary from authorities all the way up to the U.S. Surgeon General.

Over 20 years later, we have 20 more years worth of scientific evidence demonstrating that nicotine is addictive and harmful. We know these products are killing people in all kinds of ways, from direct smoking, to secondhand smoke exposure and even thirdhand smoke (the residual nicotine and other chemicals that remain on people and indoor surfaces—hair, skin, clothes, counters, furniture, drapes, bedding and more).

So what are tobacco companies telling us now that e-cigarettes are on the scene?

By Annika Shore, MPH | June 1, 2015
Professional Development Consultant, ETR

Are you a trainer, professional development provider or sexuality educator? Do you deliver trainings for educators on evidence-based adolescent sexual and reproductive health programs (EBPs)? Then we’re looking for you!

ETR is offering it’s research-based Training of Trainers—Evidence-Based Programs this coming September 15–18. This training provides an opportunity for you to become skilled in delivering Trainings of Educators for one of these three programs: Draw the Line/Respect the Line (DTL/RTL), Reducing the Risk (RTR) or Becoming a Responsible Teen (BART).

The training will help you bring a new level of energy, understanding and skill to your work. 

By Annika Shore, MPH | May 28, 2015
Professional Development Consultant, ETR

A study has recently come out that has everyone in my field talking. I’ve seen posts about it in newsletters and blogs about it on social media. Announcements were made in all my professional networks. This new study shows that lesbian, gay and bisexual teens are more likely to experience a pregnancy than their heterosexual counterparts.

I was happy to see that this new research was getting people in my community talking about an issue I care deeply about: the health and well-being of youth—especially the health and well-being of youth who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual. However, this is not new information. This research confirms something we have known for many years and is not, in fact, “shocking.”

The shock people are feeling, I think, is due to the fact that this study requires us to reflect on our own assumptions about the lives and sexual behaviors of young people.

By Anne Freiwald, MPH | May 26, 2015
Founder, MenNavigate

“I feel like I’m having a heart attack.” That’s what he told people throughout the day that would be his last.

At 57, my dad was just 3 years away from retirement. He was an avid surfer, kayaker and cyclist. He was a beloved teacher and vice-principal at the school right around the corner from his home. He was ready for the sweet life he had worked so hard to create.

He never dreamed his life would be cut short, especially by a heart attack he knew he was having. He didn’t realize that his decision to “sleep it off” and find a doctor in the morning would have such tragic consequences for him, his family, friends and community.

His story is not uncommon. 

By ETR | May 22, 2015

Our partners at Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts (PPLM) will be holding a regional Training of the Educator for the Get Real Middle School curriculum in Denver, Colorado. The two-day training is scheduled for July 31-August 1.

By Joan Singson | May 18, 2015
Program Manager, ETR

Picture yourself standing in front of a room going through the talking points of your training design. You pan the room and notice a few heads bobbing. The bodies they’re attached to twitch as they fight training fatigue. You see glazed-over stares of participants whose minds are somewhere between the training room and a warm bed.

It’s time for an energizer!

By Julie Adams | May 14, 2015
Research Assistant, ETR

A five-mile run has never felt so good! ETR members had the pleasure of participating in the 35th annual Human Race Walkathon and Fun Run this past weekend in Santa Cruz, CA. Together we helped raise funds for the Digital NEST, a non-profit in Watsonville, CA, that seeks to create a safe space for under-represented youth while encouraging them to explore and pursue an entrepreneurial spirit. We are huge supporters of the NEST and everything they do to ensure rural youth in Silicon Valley have access to the technologies needed to thrive in this increasingly digital world.

By John Shields, PhD, MSW | May 11, 2015
Senior Research Associate, ETR

I’ve been thinking quite a lot about my professional partnerships lately. Over the past 14 years, ETR has provided me with opportunities to partner with many community-based organizations and institutions. Now, I can’t honestly say they’ve all been easy. “Stuff” happens. But I can say each one has given me a chance to create fascinating relationships and do meaningful work that has a genuine impact.

By Laura Perkins, MLS | May 7, 2015
Project Editor, ETR

Here we are in the middle of Screen-Free Week, May 4–10, 2015! One week a year, families are encouraged to “power-down” their screens—TVs, computers, tablets, phones, games and other electronic media—and engage with each other and their own imaginations.

This is the first year my family and I decided consciously to participate. We already limit movies to the weekend, and our 8-year-old daughter doesn’t have her own computer or tablet or phone....

Then our daughter got a bad sore throat, cough, low-grade fever, and stayed home from school for two days.

By Pamela Anderson, PhD | May 4, 2015
Senior Research Associate, ETR

I think most of us can remember the first time we had a crush on someone. I do. It was Axl Rose, lead singer for the band Guns N’ Roses. Much to my family’s chagrin, I had his pictures splashed across my bedroom walls. I played his music virtually nonstop for months, while imagining what it would be like to be his girlfriend.