National Public Health Week: Empowering Youth for a Healthy Future

This week, we celebrate National Public Health Week! Here at Teen Health Mississippi, we are dedicated to ensuring youth and young adults (YYA) have the resources they need to make decisions for their health and well-being. This National Public Health Week, we want to empower you, the trusted adults in their lives, to be champions alongside YYA for their well-being.

The theme for 2024, “Protecting, Connecting, and Thriving: We Are All Public Health,” highlights the importance of building healthy communities. YYA are a vital part of that community, and their well-being is paramount.

Let’s Talk About Sex(ual Health)


This September, we’re celebrating healthy youth and whole communities through Sexual Health Awareness Month. Learn how to take charge of your sexual health this month through these resources.

Sexual Health Resources

Choose Your Method: This tool allows you to choose a contraceptive option that works for you. Users who use this tool can sort through method cards, filtering them based on what they’re looking for in a contraceptive method. Options include preventing pregnancy, preventing STDs and STIs, over-the-counter methods, and ones that can provide painful period relief. The site also has emojis to filter for those with penises and vaginas, and for anal and oral sex. The resulting method cards show options that meet the criteria of the user.

Supporting and Equipping Youth and Their Communities for National Adolescent Health Month

In addition to May being Sex Ed for All Month, it is also National Adolescent Health Month. This year, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Population Affairs (OPA) has outlined four themes:

  • Expand sexual and reproductive health information and services.
  • Promote self-care to support mental health.
  • Celebrate ways that communities support youth.
  • Equip adults to support adolescent health.

Here’s how Teen Health Mississippi (THMS) can help your organization with these themes for every month of the year.

Working With LGBTQ Youth: Tips for Creating Better Outcomes

Hand holding a heart painted with the colors of the LGBTQ flag

Everyone deserves to feel safe, included and respected. But those with experience working with LGBTQ youth know all too well how often youth identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning are stereotyped, overlooked, or otherwise let down by those they should be able to trust.

How to Support Young Parents and Expectant Youth

A young mother holding her child in the snow

To support young parents and expectant youth as a professional, it’s important to listen and understand. Expectant and parenting youth are often pulled in multiple directions, balancing school, work and home lives with becoming a new parent, but access to helpful resources and information along with positive relationships with trusted adults can help them thrive.

Helpful Resources for Teaching Sex Education

Teaching sex education

Sex education has the power to change a young person’s life for the better, but teaching it can be a daunting and loaded responsibility for educators. If you’re new to teaching sex education or thinking about adding it to your class schedule, there are lots of resources and trainings to lean on as you get comfortable in your role.

Depression in Teens: Ways to Support Youth Toward Wellness

Depression in teens can be easily disguised or ignored by symptoms that are commonly associated with the teenage experience, like low self-esteem and increased irritability. But keeping your eyes open to the internal and external struggles of the young people in your life can help you provide necessary help and support to teens experiencing mental health challenges or crises.