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HPAC.4 Enact: Teaching Peers and Serving Safely
Peer health education, health fair outreach, privacy, and when to get an adult
Your materials
Slides (PowerPoint) Handout (Word)
For instructors
Facilitator guide Printable pre and post tests Quiz (LMS import)
What you will learn
- Plan and lead a short peer health education session
- Do respectful outreach at a health fair table
- Protect privacy when people share personal information
- Know when and how to get an adult right away
Start here
Who taught you something important that a teacher never could? What made you listen to them?
Lesson
Why peers make great teachers
- Trust: Students often listen to someone their own age who gets their world.
- Real language: You can explain health facts in the words your classmates actually use.
- Role models: When a peer leads, others see that they could lead too.
- Bridges: Peers connect classmates to the nurse, counselor and trusted adults.
A 20 minute peer session
Keep it short, active and focused on one message.
- Hook (3 min): Open with a question, a quick poll or a short story.
- Pre-survey (2 min): Three quick questions to see what people know now.
- Teach (7 min): One main message, three key facts, and a visual.
- Practice (5 min): A game, role-play or hands-on activity.
- Wrap and survey (3 min): Repeat the main message, share resources, give the post-survey.
Teaching vs advising
Peer educators do
- Share facts from trusted sources
- Teach skills like reading a food label
- Point people to the nurse, counselor or 988
- Say 'I don't know, let's ask'
Peer educators do not
- Tell someone what illness they have
- Tell someone to start or stop a medicine
- Promise to keep a safety risk secret
- Make up an answer to sound smart
Running a health fair table
| Do this | Instead of this |
|---|---|
| Stand, smile, say hello | Sit behind the table on your phone |
| Ask an easy opening question | Hand out flyers without a word |
| Offer one clear takeaway | Read every fact on the poster |
| Share resources with phone numbers | Give personal advice |
| Log how many people stopped by | Forget to count |
Serving with the upstream lens
- What we see: At a Hough health fair, a teen tells you she skips meals so her little brothers can eat.
- Why it happens (upstream): Low wages, high rent, and a grocery store that closed nearby leave families with hard choices.
- What we can build on (assets): The school meal program, a church pantry, SNAP and WIC, United Way 211, and your adult supervisor.
Privacy: what people share stays safe
- Keep it private: Do not repeat names or stories from your service to friends or online.
- No photos without consent: Ask first, and never post photos of people you serve without written permission.
- Safety comes first: If someone may be hurt or in danger, privacy ends. Tell your supervisor right away.
Situation: when to get an adult
Situation: After your stress workshop at a Glenville school, Nia stays behind. She says quietly that she has been thinking about not being alive anymore and asks you not to tell anyone.
What should you do?
- Stay calm, listen, and thank her for trusting you
- Do not promise to keep it secret
- Stay with her and get your adult supervisor right now
- Share 988: call or text, free, any time
Talk it over
- What is one thing that makes a peer session boring, and how can we avoid it?
- Why is saying 'let me get an adult' a strong choice, not a weak one?
- Who is the adult you would go to at your practicum site?
Study sheet
The big idea: Peer educators teach, connect and keep people safe, and they always bring in an adult when someone may be in danger.
Key points
- Peers make strong health teachers because classmates trust them and understand their words.
- A good peer session is short, active, has one main message, and includes a quick pre and post survey.
- Peer educators share facts and resources; they never diagnose or tell someone to start or stop medicine.
- At health fairs, students serve beside an adult supervisor and count how many people they reach.
- Keep what people share private, but never promise secrecy when someone may be hurt.
- When someone talks about suicide, abuse or danger, stay with them and get an adult right away.
Remember
- One session, one main message, three key facts
- 988: call, text or chat, free, 24/7
- Emergency or immediate danger: call 911
- Say: 'I care about you, so I need to get an adult who can help'
Ask yourself
- What health message would I be proud to teach my classmates?
- Am I ready to say 'let me get an adult' even if a friend asks me not to?
Vocabulary
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Peer educator | A young person trained to teach health facts and skills to other young people. |
| Health education | Teaching people facts and skills so they can make their own healthy choices. |
| Outreach | Going out into the community to share information and connect people to help. |
| Health fair | A community event with tables offering health information, resources and sometimes screenings. |
| Scope | The tasks you are trained and allowed to do in your role. |
| Confidentiality | Keeping private what people share with you, unless someone may be in danger. |
| Consent | Clear permission given before something happens, like a photo or sharing information. |
| Site supervisor | The adult who directs and is responsible for your work at a practicum site. |
| 988 | The Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: call, text or chat, free and open 24/7. |
| Warm handoff | Personally connecting someone to the next helper instead of just giving a number. |
Real-life situations
The question you cannot answer
During Andre's vaping session at a Lorain high school, a student asks if vaping caused the cough he has had for a month.
What to do
- Thank him for the question
- Say you cannot know what is causing his cough, and only a health provider can check
- Encourage him to see the school nurse or his doctor and offer to walk with him
- Tell your supervisor after the session
Why: Guessing a cause is diagnosing, which is outside CHW scope. Connecting him to care is the right move.
The photo request
At a health fair in Clark-Fulton, Sofia's teammate wants to post a photo of a family at their table on the team's Instagram.
What to do
- Stop and ask the supervisor about the program photo rules
- Do not post anyone's photo without written permission
- Take photos of the table, the poster and the team instead
- Delete any photos of the public taken without consent
Why: People who come for health help deserve privacy. Posting them without consent can expose personal health concerns.
The secret at the table
At an East Cleveland outreach event, a 13-year-old tells Ja'Kobe that an adult at home hits her and asks him not to tell.
What to do
- Stay calm, listen, and tell her she did the right thing by telling
- Do not promise to keep it secret
- Get your adult supervisor right away and stay with her
- Let the supervisor follow agency protocol and Ohio reporting law
Why: A child in danger needs an adult who can act. In Cuyahoga County, adults report through agency protocol and the 696-KIDS line.
Activity: Teach it in 20
About 45 minutes.
- With your team, choose one main message from your HPAC topic.
- Plan a 20 minute session using the five steps: hook, pre-survey, teach, practice, wrap and post-survey.
- Make one visual: a poster, a prop, or a single slide.
- Write three questions for your pre and post survey.
- Practice the session for another team and get two pieces of feedback.
Post-test
Ten questions. You need 75% to pass, with one retake. Your result is saved in this browser.