Learning portal
For enrolled learners, faculty, and partner sites
Enter the password from your welcome email. Lessons, slide decks, handouts, and post-tests are inside.
This lock is a courtesy, not security. Before launch the host must protect this folder (see CLAUDE.md). Nothing confidential belongs here until then.
CHW 103: Health Across the Lifespan
103.11 Adolescents
Teen growth, mental health, risk, confidentiality and youth assets
Your materials
Slides (PowerPoint) Handout (Word)
For instructors
Facilitator guide Printable pre and post tests Quiz (LMS import)
What you will learn
- Describe teen development and the health topics teens face
- Recognize warning signs of depression, suicide risk and eating disorders
- Explain confidentiality with teens and when it must end
- Build on youth assets using weight-neutral, respectful language
Start here
Think back to when you were 15. Who was the adult you could actually talk to, and why?
Lesson
What is going on in the teen years
- A growing brain: The brain is still building the parts that plan and weigh risk, while feelings run strong.
- Friends matter more: Teens look to peers for belonging. Healthy friendships protect; harmful ones can pull them into risk.
- Finding who they are: Teens explore identity, culture, faith, gender and future plans. Respect and curiosity help.
- Body changes: Puberty brings fast changes in growth, sleep needs, skin and mood. Teens need plain, honest information.
Teen mental health right now
- 39.7% of US high school students felt persistently sad or hopeless
- 20.4% seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year
- 52.6% of girls felt persistently sad or hopeless
Source: CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2023
When a teen may be in crisis
- Notice the signs: Talk of death or hopelessness, giving things away, pulling away, sudden mood changes.
- Ask directly: Ask clearly: are you thinking about suicide? Asking does not put the idea in their head.
- Stay with them: Listen without judging. Do not promise to keep it secret.
- Connect now: Call or text 988 together. If there is immediate danger, call 911.
- Tell your supervisor: Follow agency protocol, involve a safe adult, and document.
Eating disorders and weight-neutral language
Warning signs to notice
- Skipping meals or cutting out whole food groups
- Strong focus on weight, calories or body shape
- Bathroom trips right after meals
- Rigid exercise even when sick or hurt
- Dizziness, fainting or missed periods
What the CHW does
- Talk about health and energy, not weight or size
- Never give diet advice or praise weight loss
- Share concerns kindly and privately
- Connect the teen and family to their provider
- Tell your supervisor
Confidentiality with teens in Ohio
| Topic | What to know |
|---|---|
| Mental health counseling | Teens 14 and up may consent to limited outpatient sessions |
| Limit on that counseling | Up to 6 sessions or 30 days; no medication |
| Sexual health care | Ohio lets minors consent to STI testing and treatment |
| Danger or abuse | Confidentiality ends; follow protocol and reporting law |
| Your role as CHW | Explain limits up front; encourage a trusted adult |
Upstream: a teen who stopped going to school
- What we see: Destiny, 16, from Fairfax, has missed weeks of school, sleeps all day and says nothing matters.
- Why it happens (upstream): Neighborhood violence, the loss of a cousin, a family that moved three times this year, and few safe places for teens.
- What we can build on (assets): A coach she trusts, her church youth group, school counselors, 988, youth programs at the rec center, and her own art.
Risky situations and safer choices
- Driving: Crashes are a leading cause of teen death. Seat belts every ride, no phones, no impaired driving.
- Vaping and drugs: Nicotine, cannabis and alcohol harm the growing brain. Pills from friends may contain fentanyl.
- Social media: Online fights, bullying and image pressure can hurt mood and safety. Ask teens how it feels.
- Sexual health: Give accurate basics, respect privacy, and connect teens to confidential clinic care.
Situation: please don't tell my mom
Situation: At a youth program in Glenville, Andre, 15, pulls you aside. He says he has felt hopeless for weeks and sometimes thinks everyone would be better off without him. He begs you not to tell his mom.
What do you say and do?
- Thank him for trusting you and stay with him
- Ask directly if he is thinking about suicide
- Explain you cannot keep a safety risk secret
- Call 988 together and bring in your supervisor now
Talk it over
- What strengths do teens in our neighborhoods bring that adults miss?
- How can we talk about weight and health without shame?
- What places in Cleveland feel safe for teens, and what is missing?
Study sheet
The big idea: Teens do best when trusted adults offer honest information, protect their privacy within safe limits, and build on their strengths.
Key points
- The teen brain is still developing planning skills, so strong feelings and risk-taking are common.
- In 2023, about 4 in 10 US high school students felt persistently sad or hopeless.
- If a teen may be suicidal, ask directly, stay with them, call or text 988, and tell your supervisor.
- Use weight-neutral language. Never give diet advice. Refer eating disorder concerns to the provider.
- Explain the limits of confidentiality up front. Danger and abuse always end confidentiality.
- Ohio teens 14 and older can consent to limited outpatient mental health care without a parent.
Remember
- Crisis: call or text 988; immediate danger, call 911
- Ohio: teens 14+ can start counseling for up to 6 sessions or 30 days
- 2023: 39.7% of high schoolers felt persistently sad or hopeless
- Asking about suicide does not plant the idea
Ask yourself
- Am I the kind of adult a teen would come to with a hard secret?
- What words do I use about bodies and weight without noticing?
Vocabulary
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Adolescence | The years between childhood and adulthood, about ages 10 to 19, with fast changes in body and brain. |
| Puberty | The body changes that make a child physically an adult. |
| Persistent sadness | Feeling sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more. |
| 988 | The Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Call or text 988 any time for crisis support. |
| Eating disorder | A serious illness involving unhealthy eating behaviors and thoughts about food, weight or body. |
| Weight-neutral language | Talking about health habits and well-being instead of weight, size or body shape. |
| Confidentiality | Keeping a person's private information private, except where law or safety requires sharing. |
| Harm reduction | Practical steps that lower the danger of a risky behavior without shaming the person. |
| Youth asset | A strength in or around a young person, like a mentor, a skill, a program or a safe place. |
| Youth Risk Behavior Survey | A CDC survey of high school students about health behaviors and experiences. |
Real-life situations
Skipping lunch every day
Sofia, 14, in Clark-Fulton tells you she skips lunch and runs every night because she wants to lose weight before summer. Her friends praise her for it.
What to do
- Listen without praising or criticizing her weight
- Ask how she feels: energy, sleep, dizziness, mood
- Share your concern kindly and encourage her to talk to her doctor
- Help connect her and her family to her provider, and tell your supervisor
Why: Restrictive eating and over-exercise can be warning signs of an eating disorder. Diagnosis and treatment belong to providers.
The vape in the backpack
At an after-school program in Lorain, Tyrell, 16, admits he vapes most days and cannot stop, even though it makes him anxious.
What to do
- Thank him for being honest and avoid lecturing
- Ask what he likes and does not like about vaping
- Share that nicotine is very addictive and quitting help exists for teens
- Offer to connect him to quit support and his provider, with his consent
Why: A respectful, motivational approach works better than scare tactics, and connecting him to quit support is within CHW scope.
The worried mother
Ms. Robinson in East Cleveland asks you to tell her what her 17-year-old son said in your youth group.
What to do
- Thank her for caring about her son
- Explain that group members' words stay private unless there is a safety concern
- Encourage ways she and her son can talk, and offer family resources
- If there is any safety risk, follow protocol and talk to your supervisor
Why: Trust with teens depends on privacy, and parents can still be supported and included in safe ways.
Activity: Youth asset map
About 20 minutes.
- Pick one Cleveland or Ohio neighborhood you know well.
- List places where teens can be safe, active and supported: rec centers, libraries, churches, programs.
- List adults teens trust there, by role only (coach, librarian, youth pastor).
- Note one gap and one idea to fill it with assets already there.
- Share your map in the course discussion.
Post-test
Ten questions. You need 75% to pass, with one retake. Your result is saved in this browser.
Sources
- CDC MMWR, Mental Health and Suicide Risk Among High School Students, YRBS 2023
- Ohio Revised Code 5122.04, Minor's consent to outpatient mental health services
- National Eating Disorders Association, Warning Signs and Symptoms
- CDC, Teen Drivers
- CDC, Overdose Prevention
- CDC, Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences
- Ohio Revised Code 3709.241, Minor's consent to diagnosis or treatment of sexually transmitted infection
- 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, 988 Day Fact Sheet 2026
- NIMH, 5 Action Steps to Help Someone Having Thoughts of Suicide
- CDC, Health Effects of Vaping
- HHS Office of Population Affairs, Substance Use in Adolescence
- World Health Organization, New report maps efforts to improve adolescent health and well-being (2024)