Evan Joy McLaurin, Manager, Business Development and Ann W Peralta, VP, Partnerships, Peer Health Exchange Participants will experience directly the power of Peer Health Exchange’s innovative and interactive skill- building program that uses college students as near- peer educators, discuss the strengths and limitations of the near-peer model and its correlation with known impact to date. Then participants will break into small groups and co-design a new workshop based on an unmet need or an un-addressed skill necessary for health education. Each group will design learning objectives, core skill-building activities, and potential assessments.

1. Peer Health Exchange:
Power of Near Peers in
Driving Impact in Health
Education
October 2019
Evan Joy McLaurin, MPP, MBA
Manager, Business Development
Peer Health Exchange

2. • Evan Joy McLaurin
• She/Her/Hers
• Manager, Business Development
• Undergrad: Spelman College
• Graduate: Brandeis Univ.
• Fun fact: Health class was my
favorite class in middle and high
school
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Who Are You?

3. Our Mission Since 2003
To Empower young people
with the knowledge, skills,
and resources to make
healthy decisions.
We do this by training
college students to
facilitate a skills-based health
curriculum in under-
resourced high schools across
the country.
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4. Date-Month-Year
Why Do We Do What We Do?
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Source: The Huffington Post
• 3 in 10 high school students are sexually active, and of those, 57% did not
use protection last time
• 1 in 10 high school students experiences violence in a relationship
• 21% smoke marijuana, and 18% of teenagers binge drink
• 3 in 10 teenagers reports feeling consistently sad or hopeless
• 18% of teenagers have seriously considered suicide
…and most states still do
not require comprehensive
health education.
These challenges are even
harder for young people in
under-resourced and
marginalized communities. States without a health education mandate

5. Credible Reach and Experience
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150,000+
young people reached since 2003
8,500+
trained volunteer health educators
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city sites: San Francisco, New York City,
Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Denver…and counting!

6. 6
PHE students are:
• 20% more likely to
accurately define consent
• 4x more likely to intend
to use an IUD
• 3x more likely to intend
to use an implant
PHE students are:
• Nearly 2x as likely to use a
community or school-based
health center
• Significantly more likely to talk to
a trusted adult about being sad
• 38% more likely to talk to an
adult about health concerns
School-based health centers who partnered
with PHE reported:
• 32% increase in enrollment
• 57% increase in utilization
• 38% Increase in repro health visits
• 17% increase in mental health visits
Success To Date: Help-Seeking Behavior,
Contraception, Linkage to Care

7. Why become a health
educator?
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8. 8

9. Show up for
young people
in your
community
Strengthen
your
professional
network
Build critical
leadership
and
professional
skills
Gain field
experience*
with peers
and young
people
Peer Educator Benefits
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*Academic credit and/or work study positions may be
available at your institution

10. PHE Roles: Leadership and Beyond
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Chapter Director Educator Coach Health Educator
Manage the PHE cohort
on your campus, plan and
implement programming
with support of PHE staff
Lead all aspects of
recruitment, organize
and enable trainings,
coordinate workshop
assignments
Time Commitment
12-15 hours per week
(Aug – May) and may
also facilitate a weekly
workshop
Manage and train fellow
health educators to lead
PHE workshops, foster on
campus cohort culture and
encourage retention with
support of PHE staff.
Reflect PHE core values
of health and equity.
Time Commitment
8-15 hours per week (Aug
– May) and may also
facilitate a weekly
workshop
Learn, practice, and
facilitate workshops
creating vibrant
learning environments.
Cultivate a safe,
healthy classroom
environment to
encourage high school
student engagement
Time Commitment
4-6 hours per week
(Oct/Nov – May, 2-4
weekly workshops)

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Dedication
to the
success of
young
people
Cultural
humility and
understanding
of equity
concepts
Commitment
to personal
growth and
social impact
Commitment,
availability,
accountability
Peer Educator Qualifications

12. Activity
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13. Real questions from our students:
• “What are symptoms of an STI?”
• “How does a female (internal) condom work?”
• What is sex exactly? Because some people have
different meanings”
• “What is the average penis size?”
• “How does an IUD work?”
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14. Peer Share
• What do you wish you knew
about your health at 14 years
old?
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15. How would you set up PHE on
your campus?
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16. Create a Plan of Action: Small Groups
• 1. Is there a need in my community?
• How do you know?
• Who do you need to talk to in order to understand the
community need?
• What kind of information/indicators do you need to gather?
• 2. How would you bring PHE to your campus?
• Who do you need to talk to in order to get campus buy in?
• What is the most effective recruitment method on your campus?
• What logistics would be necessary?
• Objective: Getting a PHE chapter up and running
on your campus.
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17. Example: Wagner College
• Bonner is housed in Wagner’s Community
Leadership Program
• 8 hour requirement
• Training, group meetings, rep with co-facilitator and
solo, travel, in-class time, partnership development,
professional development
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18. Contact
ejmclaurin@peerhealthexchange.org
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