Get Involved in Teen Health Week℠
Participate in Teen Health Week℠ and help promote awareness of the unique health issues facing teens all over the world!
We offer a variety of resources for individuals and organizations to plan events, promote social media campaigns, and raise awareness of Teen Health Week℠ in your community and abroad.
If you have any questions, contact us at .
Teen Health Week℠ Makes An Impact
How You Can Get Involved
- Use the week to leverage relevant aspects of your organization’s mission.
- Share educational materials relevant to each day’s theme; see resources below for more information.
- Facilitate virtual educational events through student clubs, public health organizations, medical practices, or youth-focused groups; see interactive activities below for ideas.
- Download and use our Teen Health Week℠ lesson plans below.
- Honor youth, professionals, and organizations who actively promote adolescent health.
- Publish relevant articles/letters in local and regional press.
- Use social media to share relevant health messages and information, using the hashtag .
- Promote the use of our official Teen Health Week℠ color—mint green—for materials and spirit wear: RGB: 180, 221, 216; HEX: #b4ddd8.
- Ask community buildings/bridges to use mint green event lighting.
- Ask regional/state/county governments to observe the week with a Resolution/Proclamation ( is an example from the American Medical Association)
Lesson Plans
Lesson: Consent
Consent is an essential part of any relationship. In this lesson, students will gain an understanding of what consent is and under what circumstances a person can or cannot give consent. The lesson will also examine the common characteristics of healthy and unhealthy relationships and give students the tools to establish healthy boundaries for themselves and their partners.
PA Standards Met: 10.1.9.A, 10.1.12.A, 10.2.12.D, 10.3.9.C
Lesson: Vaccine Investigators
Did you know immunization helps prevent up to 3 million deaths worldwide? Despite the significant contributions of vaccines to our health, the internet is a haven for misconceptions and downright myths about vaccines. In this lesson, students investigate various statements about vaccines and use their critical thinking skills to separate vaccine fact from fiction.
PA Standards Met: 10.2.9.A, 10.2.9.C, 10.2.9.D, 10.2.12.A
Lesson Plan: A Sound Mind: Preventing Violence & Building Our Communities
In this lesson, learners explore violence and mental health from a biopsychosocial perspective based upon the impact of ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences). The psychosocial model allows learners to view violence prevention via an interdisciplinary model that looks at the interconnection between biology (genetic, biochemical, etc.), psychology (mood, personality, behavior, etc.), and socio-environmental factors (cultural, familial, socioeconomic, medical, etc.). The model specifically examines how these aspects play a role in topics ranging from health (i.e. mental illness) and disease models (i.e. alcoholism, substance abuse) to human development (i.e. predisposal to violence).
PA Standards Met: 10.1.9.A, 10.1.12.A, 10.2.9.D, 10.2.12.D, 10.3.12.C
Interactive Activities
Looking for a way to teach teen health facts in an interactive way? Consider turning facts about Teen Health Week℠ into a quiz game. We have two sets of quiz game materials based around THW: one focuses on the five Teen Health Week℠ themes while the other focuses specifically on Gender & Sexual Development, with questions related to sexual development, STI prevention, and healthy relationships.
Additional Resources
US Resources
Office of Adolescent Health’s “Adolescent Development Explained”
Examines major developmental changes that occur in adolescence with a specific focus on five areas of adolescent development – physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and moral.
Adolescent Health: Think, Act, Grow® (TAG)
A national call to action to improve adolescent health in the United States. TAG calls upon organizations and individuals to prioritize activities that can support the health and healthy development of all of America's 42 million adolescents.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Provide data, statistics, and information on how to prevent, and protect yourself from health, safety, and security threats. Materials and resources are published in multiple languages.
Sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services girlshealth.gov provides information on ways girls can live a healthy lifestyle and covers topics such as bullying, body, fitness, nutrition, relationships, illness and disability, drugs, alcohol, and smoking.
Provides assistance in 15 different languages.The Center for Young Women’s Health
Provides teen girls and young women with carefully researched health information and educational programs. Materials are in English, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Planned Parenthood is a nonprofit organization that provides information and resources about reproduction and sexual health.
A nonprofit organization that provides information and resources for sexual health along with STI testing and HIV primary care services.
The Title X Family Planning Clinic Locator
Provides information about clinics that offer a broad range of family planning and preventative health services. Use this tool to find a family planning clinic near you.
Global Resources
The World Health Organization (WHO)
An agency of the United Nations which focuses on international public health. They currently have 194 Member States in which the WHO supports their national health development process, promotes the achievement of the highest sustainable level of health of all people, and cooperates with governments and other partners in pursuing countries’ national health strategies and plans as well as collective commitments by the WHO Governing Bodies. Materials and resources are published in multiple languages.
The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)
UNICEF works in 190 countries and territories to defend the rights of adolescents to an education, protection, gender equality, healthcare, and the right to survive and thrive. They have many global initiatives in countries and territories to advocate for adolescents and reduce adolescent mortality rates due to the lack of resources.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
An international world development agency that partners with other countries to assist with their development. USAID provides disaster assistance via partnerships and investments that save lives, reduce poverty, and help people regroup from humanitarian crises and continue to rebuild beyond the initial assistance given.
US Resources
Find information and games that teach tweens and teens the important of nutrition, physical activity, and healthy body image.
Provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Young people experience many changes during their tween and teen years. Building healthy food and physical activity habits will help them now and as they enter adulthood. The following resources, tips, and ideas can help them take charge and learn to make their own choices.
Sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services girlshealth.gov provides information on ways girls can live a healthy lifestyle and covers topics such as bullying, body, fitness, nutrition, relationships, illness and disability, drugs, alcohol, and smoking. Provides assistance in 15 different languages.
The American Heart Association provides recommendations for how to start and maintain a healthy exercise routine as well as other tips and resources to help maintain a healthy heart.
Provided by the American Dental Association, provides informational resources and games on how teens can keep their teeth healthy.
US Resources
Created by the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, The History of Vaccines is an award winning informational and educational website. The website sheds light on vaccination from the pre-Jennerian variolation practices to modern approaches to vaccine delivery. The site is aimed at increasing public knowledge and explaining the ways in which vaccines, toxoids, and passive immunization work, how they have been developed and the role they play in human health. The History of Vaccines, offers standards- based resources that can be used in biology and health courses. The website can be translated into Spanish, Hindi, Urdu, and Arabic:
Provides information and tools about physical health and mental health for youth, caregivers, and healthcare providers about adolescent preventive services and vaccines.
Adolescent Health: Think, Act, Grow® (TAG)
A national call to action to improve adolescent health in the United States. TAG calls upon organizations and individuals to prioritize activities that can support the health and healthy development of all of America's 42 million adolescents.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Provides data, statistics, and information on how to prevent, and protect yourself from health, safety, and security threats. Materials and resources are published in multiple languages.
Girlshealth.gov
Sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services Girlshealth.gov provides information on ways girls can live a healthy lifestyle and covers topics such as bullying, body, fitness, nutrition, relationships, illness and disability, drugs, alcohol, and smoking. Provides language assistance in 15 different languages.Global Resources
The World Health Organization (WHO)
An agency of the United Nations which focuses on international public health. They currently have 194 Member States in which the WHO supports the national health development process, promotes the achievement of the highest sustainable level of health of all people, and cooperates with governments and other partners in pursuing countries’ national health strategies and plans as well as collective commitments by the WHO Governing Bodies. Materials and resources are published in multiple languages:
The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)
UNICEF works in 190 countries and territories to defend the rights of adolescents to an education, protection, gender equality, healthcare, and the right to survive and thrive. The have many global initiatives in countries and territories to advocate for adolescents and reduce adolescent mortality rates due to the lack of resources.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
An international world development agency that partners with other countries to assist with their development. USAID provides disaster assistance via partnerships and investments that save lives, reduce poverty, and help people regroup from humanitarian crises and continue to rebuild beyond the initial assistance given. They also offer resources for such diseases as malaria and tuberculosis.
The Fogarty International Center
Part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, has been operating for the past 50 years serving as the liaison between NIH and the global health community. Fogarty supports basic, clinical, and applied research and training for U.S. and foreign investigators working in the developing world to address critical global health concerns such as disease eradication, and pandemic responses.
US Resources
An anti-bullying website managed by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. StopBullying.gov provides information and educational tools on what bullying is, what cyberbullying is, who is at risk, and how you can prevent and respond to bullying. Language assistance is available in 16 languages.
Striving to Reduce Youth Violence Everywhere (STRYVE)
STRYVE is a US initiative, led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which takes a public health approach to preventing youth violence before it starts. This resource helps you customize your youth violence prevention work and track your efforts. Videos of other communities working to prevent youth violence are included to provide real-life context.
Sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services, Girlshealth.gov provides information on ways girls can live a healthy life style and covers topics such as bullying, body, fitness, nutrition, relationships, illness and disability, drugs, alcohol, and smoking:
It also includes language assistance for 15 different languages.Engages, educates, and empowers young people to prevent and end abusive relationships. Loveisrespect is a safe, inclusive space for young people to access information and get help in an environment that is designed specifically for them. It also provides resources for parents, educators, peers and survivors to proactively raise awareness. Loveisrespect provides
free and confidential phone, live chat and texting services are available 24/7/365.The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a United States-based suicide prevention network of
161 crisis centers that provides a 24/7, toll-free hotline available to anyone in suicidal crisis or
emotional distress.How Americans with disabilities can cope with the COVID-19 crisis
An article from the American Psychological Association that offers tips on how to protect the health and well being of individuals with disabilities in the midst of the pandemic.
Global Resources
The World Health Organization (WHO)
An agency of the United Nations which focuses on international public health. They currently have 194 Member States in which the WHO supports their national health development process, promotes the achievement of the highest sustainable level of health of all people, and cooperates with governments and other partners in pursuing countries’ national health strategies and plans as well as collective commitments by the WHO Governing Bodies. Materials and resources are published in multiple languages.
The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)
UNICEF works in 190 countries and territories to defend the rights of adolescents to an education, protection, gender equality, healthcare, and the right to survive and thrive. The have many global initiatives in countries and territories to advocate for adolescents and reduce adolescent mortality rates due to the lack of resources.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
An international world development agency that partners with other countries to assist with their development. USAID provides disaster assistance via partnerships and investments that save lives, reduce poverty, and help people regroup from humanitarian crises and continue to rebuild beyond the initial assistance given.
Canada’s authority on bullying, provides educational videos for teens about bullying and violence.
US Resources
A project administered by The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA),
The National Institutes of Health (NIH), and The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The website provides lessons and activities to teach teens about drug use and substance use
disorder and to help them develop a curiosity about neuroscience:Sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services, Girlshealth.gov provides information on ways girls can live a healthy life style and addresses topics such as bullying, body, fitness, nutrition, relationships, illness and disability, drugs, alcohol, and smoking.
The website also includes language assistance in 15 different languages.The Center for Young Women’s Health
Provides teen girls and young women with carefully-researched health information and educational programs. Materials are available in English, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Global Resources
The World Health Organization (WHO)
An agency of the United Nations which focuses on international public health. They currently have 194 Member States in which the WHO supports their national health development process, promotes the achievement of the highest sustainable level of health of all people, and cooperates with governments and other partners in pursuing countries’ national health strategies and plans as well as collective commitments by the WHO Governing Bodies. Materials and resources are published in multiple languages.
The United Nations Envoy on Youth
Works to give youth a voice internationally to achieve change for youth. They work to include youth in inter-governmental negotiations and UN official processes. They regularly consult with youth organizations representing marginalized youth and assist with advocating for them and youth development.