SUNDAYS WITH SHAVEL
SUNDAYS WITH SHAVEL
Episode 8: Pursuing Health & Wellness for Adolescents - Part 1
Do you have candid conversations with youth about their well-being? Do you know any youth demonstrating curiosity and wanting for information about health and wellness? This episode is the first of a 3-part series covering the topic of adolescent health and wellness. Two valued professionals championing adolescent health initiatives in the community talk openly about the support and services needed to reduce risk-taking behaviors and increase healthy outcomes. I invite you to listen and consider the perspectives put forward. Be inspired to start your own conversation. Enjoy the show!
Helpful Resources
Adolescent and School Health: Resources for Adolescent Health | Adolescent and School Health | CDC
Influence of New Media on Adolescent Sexual Health: Evidence and Opportunities: Influence of New Media on Adolescent Sexual Health: Evidence and Opportunities | ASPE (hhs.gov)
Prosper Waco: https://www.prosperwaco.org/
The Texas Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy: Research + Data – The Texas Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy (txcampaign.org)
Credits
Host: Dr. Sherece Shavel
Theme Narration: Ronald Coaxum
Guest: Dr. Deneece Ferrales, Beth Olson
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Welcome
Speaker 2:To Sundays with Shavel a social work inspired podcast with creator and host Dr. Sherece Shavel. This is a bimonthly show where each episode aims to inspire with topics relevant to social work practice, growing forward, living on purpose and so much more. Thank you for tuning in, enjoy the show.
Speaker 3:Greetings greetings Sunday listeners. This is your host, Dr. Sherece Shavel, and I'm so glad that you are able to tune in. So I welcome you to today's episode pursuing health and wellness for adolescence. It seems ever that that youth health and wellness needs more attention. It is a topic I think everyone needs to talk about literally openly. They need to talk about it in their homes, with their families, with their friends, with trusted persons that have their best interests and heart, as well as in mind. And I'm excited to have this opportunity to bring a piece of this topic forward by way of this podcast platform. And I've invited two knowledgeable professionals to engage in conversation with me. So I expect it will be enlightening for you. Now, this episode is only part of the conversation that we're going to have together. It is the first of a, a three part series covering this topic of youth health and wellness. Today's episode features a previously recorded conversation with Dr. Deneece Ferrales and Beth Olson. Both are spearheading health initiatives at a nonprofit backbone organization known as Prosper Waco, located in Waco, Texas. For this part of the series, our discussion touched on the reason a focus on youth health and wellness is needed as well as some of the challenges practitioners have in doing this work. So stay tuned to hear Dr. Ferrales, Beth, and me share our thoughts on this. So, and I will meet you at the conclusion of the conversation. Enjoy! Welcome. Welcome, welcome Beth and Denise, how are you ladies? Doing great. Fine. Awesome. Thank you so much for joining me. I am so excited about what we are going to be getting into today with our conversation. We'll be talking about youth wellness, and I think this is such a, this is a topic that is so important to discuss. It's a topic that I think we don't talk about enough, even though we do talk about some aspects of it. I think we need to just have more conversations and I'm so glad that the, the two of you are here to join me and having this conversation. But before we get started, the two of you work together and I want to know more about where you, you both work
Speaker 4:Well. We work for Prosper Waco, which is a collective impact backbone organization. And so for those of you who are not familiar with the collective with what a collective impact movement is, collective impact movement brings the unity together by starting with a common agenda, um, establishing shared measurements so that the community is working toward the same goal. And so that they are measuring whether or not they're reaching that goal in the same way, um, fosters mutually reinforcing activities, and then encourages can continuous communication amongst all community organizations and community members. We are a backbone organization. So the four things I just mentioned, it is our job to support other organizations in the community by trying to establish those four things.
Speaker 3:That's awesome. That's awesome. I think there is a need for backbones in the community. So Beth, you want to tell us a little bit about your role in prosper Waco?
Speaker 5:Sure. I'd love to. I am the director of adolescent health initiatives, which actually right now means adolescent sexual health initiatives. So I am working with adults in the community, um, staff members at youth, serving organizations, community leaders, parents, faith leaders, to help them understand why and how they should talk with teens, um, and even young children about sex and sexual health and boundaries and consent.
Speaker 3:Awesome. Denise, tell us a little bit about your role. So
Speaker 4:I am the director of health initiatives. Um, we have three health content specialists at prosper Waco. Um, there is, uh, Beth who've already introduced yourself as the director of adolescent health initiatives. We also have Lana Kirby, who's the director of behavioral health initiatives, and then I'm the director of health initiatives. So kind of whatever doesn't fall under Lana or Beth that has to do with health in the community falls under me. And so the biggest area that, that I, um, work in is access to healthcare and making sure that people are able to, um, in our community are able to equitably access healthcare as needed.
Speaker 3:Awesome. So it sounds like overall whether it's youth or not, you ladies are focused on health in the community health and wellness in the community. I think that's awesome. More specifically today, we're gonna be talking about youth health and wellness. And so Beth, can you talk about what led you to become a practitioner in this area?
Speaker 5:Sure, I will. So I kind of, I kind of came upon this topic naturally, uh, growing up at the dinner table, we always talked about politics and policy and the betterment of the community. And I always thought that I were, would go into something related to public education. Um, in college, I got involved with some organizations that worked on reproductive health and my first job out of college, I did a lot of work on children's health, public policy, and then my next job working for a state representative in Austin, I was able to marry the two and worked on sex education, women's health and children's health. And I, I don't know why, but health and particularly health for populations that tend to be an afterthought became a really important issue for me and children and teens and women unfortunately fall into those categories.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you so much for sharing that. So let's get let's, let's talk a little bit about this issue or the concern for youth health and wellness. What tell, tell me, why is it necessary to focus on youth health and wellness?
Speaker 5:Well, from the perspective of someone who works on adolescent sexual health, I'd say it's because, um, teens, whether they become sexually active as teens or as adults are walking into sexually charged circumstances, unprepared, uh, frankly, it's, you know, it's not fair to teens and it is adults prepare teens and children for every aspect of life. As adults we teach,'em how to drive cars. We teach them how to manage money. We teach them how to do laundry, but when it comes to talking about sex and sexual health or silent, and that is really hurting our young people,
Speaker 3:I can relate to that personally, honestly, because I grew up in a family where this kind of topic was not really talked about. You see some things, you may hear some things, but there is no sit down. Let me tell you exactly what you saw. Let me tell you what you heard. Let me explain this to you so that you can understand, and then obviously make choices about what you need to do whenever you are confronted by a scenario of sort that has any of this kind of involved in it, didn't have those kinds of conversations with family, particularly. And really the only thing that I was told is don't do right. You know? Yep. Don't have sex and that's it. Yeah. But there was no other conversation around this. Um, you kind of, you had your health class, you know, you learned about some things, you know, and during that time, um, you know, they were, you know, quite conservative about some of what you were learning in your health class about, um, you know, reproduction and all those kinds of things, you know, your body. Right,
Speaker 5:Right, right. Yeah. And,
Speaker 3:But the, but the real conversation, the reality of life, um, when it comes to this topic was not a conversation and it was not something that you could, you could ask for or, or initiate. Right, right. Cause you were rejected. And that's my experience. Right. My family that's my experience. And as the, as a, as a female, I was not to ask question. Right. These kinds of things. Yes. So, um, those kinds of conversations did not happen in my family. So I can, I can relate to what you are saying, not to say it was, it was good or bad, but I can relate to not having the conversation I can relate to not having the conversation. And knowing that hindsight, the conversation would've been beneficial. If I had a family that was open to having the conversation, you know? Right. Quite, quite candidly with me.
Speaker 5:Right. Right. And if you think about it, I mean, part of me, when I bring up to subject is incredibly frustrated that adults don't talk about it more, that parents are so afraid of the issue that you can't say vagina as easily as you say elbow. But if I stop and think about it a little more and take a step back, I realize it's because adults don't have any contact for how these conversations should go. Because like you said, your parents didn't talk to you. I bet their parents didn't talk to them. And this has never, I mean, this is literally a cycle that has not been broken. So when you don't know how to talk about it, then why would you talk about it? Because it, it is awkward. It is talking about, I mean, it's talking about sex. No, no adult. I mean, I do this for a living and I still have to take a deep breath before I answer a question that my eight year old daughter has. Um, and it's just, it's, it's, it's hard to talk about, but once we can acknowledge that, then there are ways to break it down and actually make it a little less awkward and a little bit easier. So that these teens, when they have questions or they're in uncomfortable situations, they don't feel this level of shame in asking trusted adults about body parts or, um, for example, mom, this is, this is a, should be a question that should be asked anywhere. Mom, I can't wear tampon. Why not? There should not be shame in asking that question to a mom, a teacher, you know, anybody.
Speaker 3:Um, but I have a story about it. I have a story about that, but I'm not gonna say that was gonna say,
Speaker 5:Wow, you're talking about this on a podcast.<laugh> well,
Speaker 3:You know, I, I don't have a problem sharing my at life experiences because I think, you know, what, what I went through in my life, I have my own perspective. It is gonna help someone, you know, right. No matter how rough, no matter how hard it was, whatever my life experiences were, my history, um, it, it will be beneficial to someone. So I I've learned, and it's taken me some time obviously to, to get to this point to where I, I want to be open and transparent about my own, you know, experiences in life. But what I really wanted to say, not to tell that story, maybe I'll tell that story at another time, but<laugh> the, what I was going to say, as you were talking, I was reflecting on the why, why is it a challenge for adults to have this conversation? And I know it is an awkward thing. It's awkward, it's uncomfortable. And you even may have some that whoever it is that's asking the question is not ready for the answer. Right, right. But then I thought about something else, just again, reflecting back on my own life experiences in my own family and, and, and such, I have another answer as well. You know, we have a lot of who have sexual abuse in their history. Mm-hmm<affirmative> and because of sexual abuse, first of all, having this conversation is traumatizing. Right?
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Having the conversation is not only traumatizing, but there is also a say, instead, if I have this conversation with you, I put you at risk to be in subject to abuse. Right. And we can have more conversation about this, but as I'm reflecting on it, I, I would like to suggest that that has a lot of influence in the reasoning as to holding back from having conversation. Mm-hmm<affirmative> it certainly was a factor with me and my family. Yeah. As to why these conversations did not come up. And as I've, as I've grown older and become more inquisitive to, you know, the elders of my family now that my mother is no longer alive. Mm-hmm,<affirmative>, I've been able to find out some information that I did not know when I was a child, because they were like family secrets.
Speaker 5:Yes. Yes.
Speaker 3:Okay. And so now these family secrets have come out and I have a better understanding as to why certain things occurred while I was growing up. Mm-hmm<affirmative> but this factor of sexual abuse is one of the reasons why for my family, particularly I didn't get the
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, absolutely. And there are, there are a variety of reasons that it doesn't happen, which is why one thing I talk about pretty often is you can't tune out if you're not a parent, you know, it's not, yes, parents, we, we want to help parents be able to have these conversations with their kids, but I'll often refer to trusted adults because there may be circumstances in which parents absolutely cannot have these conversations for reasons that I will never understand. And I'm not gonna try because that's disrespectful. Um, but that's why, you know, a pastor or even beyond the education system, the teacher at the afterschool program, the nanny, uh, grandparents, aunts, and uncles, your best friends' parents. I mean, this is why as a whole, the community D needs to learn how to be more open talking about this.
Speaker 3:Well, can you share some topics of concern when it comes to this topic of, of health and wellness with youth? What are, what are some of the topics of concern that you would say need to be discussed with youth?
Speaker 5:Um, well, one topic of concern is that an organization did a survey for the Texas campaign to prevent teen pregnancy. They interviewed several hundred older teens, young adults about their experience with sex education and conversations about sex growing up. And, um, they discovered that 82% of the young adults that they interviewed said that Google is their number one resource for information about sexual health. Wow. So, yeah, so it might not be an issue of concern in additional sense, like say using a condom every time you have sex, but just starting, just starting with the fact that we're using TikTok and Google and Instagram as primary sources of sex education, where we know that there is so much inaccurate information is an issue that needs to be addressed almost before. I mean, simultaneously, but almost before we can address the other issues. Um, and in that same survey, they talked with parents and I wanna say it was 96% of parents thought that they should be their teen's primary source of information about sexual health. But looking at those two numbers, obviously there is a disconnect between the two. So just having the basic conversation is one place to start. Um,<affirmative> and then you go into the more specific conversations when you're not talking about sex or your private parts or boundaries or consent. And if you bring it up with people, you trust you being teens, and you're told no know we, those are private. We don't need to talk about that. Then there is a level of shame that enters the picture when thinking about sex or your private parts, um, which can translate into not having conversations with adults, Beth,
Speaker 4:I think it's interesting that you bring up the trusted adults and the importance of the conversation or the trusted adult being able to have the conversation and not just the parents. Um, I was a four H leader, I think, off and on for about seven years and my, the last four or five years that I was four H leader, my group was all preteen and teen. I, I kind of started with a group when they were in the seventh or eighth grade and followed'em all the way through until the last of the group graduated. And, um, I, I know that a couple of them did mention sex to me before, but more than that, it was the, it was having to talk to them about relationship chip issues. Um, there were a lot of relationship issues happening outside of the group, but within the group, you know, both boys and girls joined four H and we're spending a lot of time together and we're working on projects together and we're taking trips together, romances are gonna form, you know, and so had a few romances that formed in the group had one issue where one, um, male member, um, ended up, um, feeding up another male member over a girl. And it just so turned out that the aggressor was president of the group at the time, and the girl was vice president of the group. And so I had to not only sort through that situation and talk with them and talk with them about appropriate relationships and, and, and how to, how we handle those things, but then had to make some decisions about whether or not I could allow this kid to continue to be president when he's beat up another now beating up another member, um, over a relationship issue. So whether in a, whether in a trusted adult wants to be approached or not, when you're in those sort of youth serving positions, these kinds of things come up, these topics come up and, you know, it's not just when we talk about sexual health of adolescence, we're not just talking about our private parts. We're also talking about relationships, right. And being able to navigate those relationship discussions and realize that when you have that relationship discussion, you very well may hear one of the kids say, well, I'm already having with her. Mm-hmm<affirmative>, that's why I felt like I sh you had the right to beat up that other kid or whatever, whatever the case may be. So I'm glad that you said that. Um, and, and also in thinking about it, I know I had a mental health provider come into the four H group one time. And the mental health provider said make a list of adults that you trust. And I shocked when I was the number one adult on about six of the kids lists, uh, you know, in front of their parents. So I think these youth, I think youth leaders don't always realize what kind of a role you play with the kids and how important it is that you're able to have these conversations.
Speaker 5:You're right. That these questions can come out of nowhere. Um, I helped put together a conference for high school girls, um, 10th, well, actually we did two days, seventh and eighth grade and 10th through 12th grade. And because of COVID, it was online. So questions, they were a panel of doctors was, um, it was anonymous. And based on past experiences, we made this panel discussion pretty much all Q and a, because we knew once we started talking about sexual health and boundaries and relationship that the question were gonna start flying and they did, and they were great questions, but the topics that came up were there was a wide variety. And, um, one issue that came up quite often was, oops. I sent a nude picture to my boyfriend. Now, what do I do? Um, another one was, what do I do if I think my friend is pregnant, what do I do? If I think my friend has been sexually abused, what is an St D? And this was a safe place for them to ask these questions. So yeah, if you're a safe adult, you better get ready. Even if it's just to say, I don't know, I will look into this with you, but sometimes in talking with adults, these questions catch people. So off guard that they go with their gut instinct, which is, whoa, I don't know what to do. That's scary. So we're just not gonna talk about it.
Speaker 3:This brings me to another question that's coming to mind. And it's because of, you know, both of you working in this area where you are doing youth based services and are focusing this focusing in this area of health, I can only imagine that there exists some challenges in the work that you do. So can you talk a little bit about some of the challenges that you face in doing this work and, you know, maybe what are some of the things that you're to address some of these challenges that you're having in, in working in this area?
Speaker 5:Hmm. There are lots of challenges. I'm trying to decide where to start.
Speaker 4:<laugh>, I'll start one of the issues that I think that, that Beth has faced. And I, I'll never one of the, when, when I Beth started with, uh, the organization before I did. And so, um, I'll never forget that I wasn't, but maybe two weeks into my job when Beth asked me to join a brainstorming session, and I kept getting really frustrated about this very issue, where had to look at me and say, Denise, we have to work with everybody. We have to work with everybody. And I think, and, and that challenge is exactly that if you want to bring together folks to, to, to talk about adolescent health and you wanna make sure that your whole community is involved, then you have to realize that you have different voice with different perspectives. And you have to be very, very careful not to, um, not to run over any of those perspectives and to value all of those perspectives and bring all those perspectives together in the work that you do. And sometimes when there's a perspective, that's very different than yours, that can be challenging.
Speaker 5:Yeah. Navigating the politics of sex is a challenge that I accept and frankly, find fascinating. And I love the challenge, but it can also be like banging your head against the wall. It, it has become, and this is, this is a soapbox. So I will try and keep it as brief as possible, but it has become so politically charged to talk about anything related to reproductive health and sex. That first you have to manage to break through that barrier and assure people that it's okay. That it is okay to have these conversations. It is okay to talk to me about this. Once you can navigate through that, you realize that people want to be able to talk to teens about sex and young people about sex. Um, but yes, it has gotten the, the politics of sex makes everything more difficult.<laugh> everything. And we can talk about that in a, in a later episode. Um, but another challenge is this idea that you have the talk with your teenager and it lasts for an hour and a half and you cover everything they need to know, and then you send them out to the world and that's not how it works. Um, the birds and the bees talk is a myth. And actually it becomes easier when you realize that these, this conversation needs to be broken up into little bitty conversations throughout a child's growing up, starting with when they're tiny, teaching them the right names for their body parts and, you know, teaching them boundaries, teaching them consent. No, when little Jenny says she wants to use that crayon and she's using it, you don't take it away from her. If somebody takes your pencil away without asking, then you can go say I was using that pencil. I'm not ready to share it yet. And teaching them age appropriate information all the way through your growing up<affirmative>. And there is also this, this myth, this idea that, oh, well, if we're talking to children about sex, then we're giving them all of the same information that we would give a 17 year old. And that's not accurate either. So breaking through some of these barriers that adults have created for themselves, um, breaking down these barriers to help adults understand that it's okay to talk about this issue. I mean, that, that, that is one of the biggest barriers. I mean, and there, there are barriers related to, um, talking about birth control there, you know, this, this idea that birth control talking about birth control is going to encourage teens to go become sexually active, which is not true. Research has shown that that is not accurate. Um, but yeah, I think I, the biggest barrier and the two biggest barriers are the politics of sex and just breaking down the barriers to help adults know that it's okay to talk about it. Teens want the information.
Speaker 3:So I know that we're going to continue this conversation, but before we end our session, I actually would like to give you an opportunity to talk a little bit about some resources, what are some resources that adults can access in order to have this conversation with the youth in their life?
Speaker 4:I think Beth did a wonderful job sharing the, the resources that, uh, that are available. And, um, I think this is just a really, really important topic and a topic that we need to learn to not be so afraid of and, and need to learn and to, to be able to come together and talk about, and, and recognize that this is, that the, that the teens want to know. And if we are unwilling to share it with them, that doesn't mean that their curiosity's going, going to go away. That just means that they're going to search in places. We'd probably rather they didn't search in. You know, you know, when you all were telling your story at the beginning of this podcast, about, about how sex was a topic char you shared that, that wasn't covered in your home at all. I thought back to my own upbringing and it was a topic that we really didn't talk about in my home except to say, no, no, no, no. And just like in your home. And so I've always been an academic learner. So my response to that was to go to the public library behind my parents' back and check out a book on birth control and the, as much as you could get about sexual health at that point in time, and to, to take it home, hide it from my parents and read it. And so I think that, um, and it was an older book. Um, I'm gonna date myself now and say that, you know, it still included things like the rhythm method in it. So, you know, it was an, it was definitely an older book. Um, it probably even at the time, an older book, not just that I'm old, but at, it was actually an older book. So we've now replaced that with the internet. And so I think the internet is probably, um, as reliable. And I say that sarcastically as the, as that older book was. So I think it's just a, we just have to recognize that that this is, this is what's going to, this is what's going to occur if we don't talk to our talk to our kids. Awesome.
Speaker 3:And I know that we're gonna be getting together and talking more about this particular topic. So I'm really excited. I'm excited to learn more and I'm excited to share more in the next conversations, enjoy the rest of your day.
Speaker 4:Bye bye.
Speaker 3:What a conversation, what a conversation so much can be said about wellbeing and especially the wellbeing of youth transitioning into adulthood and how in this conversation led me to think more about my own experiences and their influence on who I am today. A simple takeaway, I would say a takeaway that is meaningful for me is the need to talk early and to talk often parents, guardians, supportive adults. If you are listening, think about creating and seizing the opportunities. You have to engage the youth in your life and conversation about their health to ensure their wellbeing. Don't leave it to social media. Don't leave it to the internet. Don't leave it to the movies. Don't leave it to reality shows or, or even someone else to feed them the nuggets of understanding and wisdom that they need. Talking with youth. Doesn't have to be weird and know that there is support out there for you. If you need it, if is a challenge for you, or if it's difficult for you to have this talk, then think about connecting with someone, a trusted adult to have talks with you. Not for you, talks with you that will help to ease the stress or ease the discomfort that you may feel when have in these conversations. But more importantly, have the conversation it is needed. It is needed not just for where your youth is today. It is needed for where they will be tomorrow. Have the conversation, have multiple conversations. Don't stop having the conversations and make it okay to initiate conversation as often as needed. Well, Sunday listeners, there is more to come on this topic. So stay tuned. If you appreciate it, listening to this episode, write a review to share your, share this podcast episode with others and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts to keep up with this show. Do you have a question you want answered in a future show? Do you have topic ideas or feedback to support creation or future shows? Would you like to be a guest connect with me through email, send messages to ssinspiredcast@gmail.com, ssinspiredcast@gmail.com until next time Sunday listeners live on purpose.
Speaker 2:Thank you for listening to Sundays with Shavel subscribe, wherever you listen to podcasts and be sure to tune in next time for another social work inspired episode. Goodbye.