PEAK helps kids cope with sexual pressure

“Every day in Idaho two girls under the age of 18 become pregnant,” says Panhandle Health District’s Brittany Baeumel, the coordinator for the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Peers Encouraging Abstinent Kids program.

“Yet, with the help of prevention programs such as PEAK, Idaho’s teen pregnancy rate continues to decline,” she says.

In 2003, the pregnancy rate for girls 15 to 17 was 20.9 per 1,000, down from 22.6 in 2002, according to Panhandle Health District statistics.

PEAK is an abstinence-only teen pregnancy prevention program targeting sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students. PEAK is incorporated into the school curriculum as an adjunct to the health program. It is designed to instruct junior high students about the risks of early sexual involvement, to help them cope with peer and social pressure to have sex, and to give them practical skills in saying “no.”

Started in North Idaho in 1996, the program is now offered statewide. PEAK works jointly with the Idaho Governor’s Council on Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention to increase the number of teens choosing abstinence.

APP and PEAK work with coalitions, organizations and community partners in North Idaho to address the problems of teen pregnancy, formulate community-based solutions, and act to implement those ideas.

When the subject is sex, teens often feel more comfortable talking with someone closer to their own age than with an adult. That is why teen mentors are selected and trained, under the supervision of adult facilitators, and then are placed into teams.

“All of our mentors undergo a rigorous application process,” says Baeumel.

PEAK mentors attend middle-school classes once a week for six weeks to deliver the PEAK curriculum to students.

The introductory session familiarizes students with PEAK and what they can expect in the upcoming sessions. Session one discusses the risks of early sexual involvement; session two covers peer pressure; three and four teach assertiveness techniques; and final sessions focus on skits that enable the students to practice the techniques they have learned to say “no.”

According to Panhandle Health District statistics, last year 275 high school mentors presented the PEAK curriculum to 1,800 North Idaho students.

Jess Grenda and Jolene Booher, both seniors at Post Falls High School, participated in the PEAK program in seventh grade, and are now PEAK mentors.

“I had PEAK when I was in seventh grade and believe in the program,” says Grenda. “It follows my morals and beliefs.”

“I believe in a lot of the things PEAK talks about,” says Booher. “I was in seventh grade when I had PEAK and I thought, ‘Wow, these guys are cool.’ “

When asked what they thought the middle school kids gained from the program, Booher said, “They definitely get something out the program. Kids come up to me and say ‘You’re my PEAK mentor.’ “

“It gives me a chance to speak to younger kids at a level they are more capable of understanding,” says Grenda.

The mentors estimate that they have reached 240 students with their message.

“We talk about stuff we’ve gone through, our own experiences and opinions,” says Grenda.

Booher adds, “We feed off each other and work well as a team.”

PEAK also teaches assertiveness techniques, which are not only relevant in sexual situations, but also in the confrontations pre-teens may face, such as smoking or drug use.

Following completion of the program, the students are able to identify the risks associated with early sexual involvement and identify examples of pressures in society that influence young peoples’ sexual behavior.

“Students learn responses that help them say no to pressure to become sexually involved,” says Baeumel.