Our YAC and SBHC Awareness Month

For SBHC Awareness Month, our Youth Advisory Council created one pagers to report on advocacy activities in their states. Council members shared information on current legislation, their state affiliates, and ideas on how to spread awareness about school-based health centers. Check them out below!

Navigating Your Health: A Young Adult’s Guide To Annual Healthcare

By Audrey Gabriel, SBHA Youth Advisory Council member  Since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s proven difficult for most people to keep up with their annual appointments. Whether it’s making it into your primary care physician’s office for a yearly check-up or scheduling an appointment with a specialist, finding a time to be seen … Read more

The Fight for Title IX Education 

By Lauren Metcalf, SBHA Youth Advisory Council member  For nearly 50 years, Title IX has protected against sex-based discrimination in public education and other federally funded programs.1 Title IX works to prevent sex-based discrimination by protecting people from dating violence, sexual harassment, sexual assault, sex-based discrimination in athletics, and, lastly, pregnancy and parenting discrimination.1 Although … Read more

My 2022 ‘Be the Change’ Reflection

by Lane Shaffer, Youth Organizer, Multnomah Youth Commission My name is Lane Shaffer and I’m a youth organizer from Portland, OR. I’m super invested in equitable transit access and ensuring people have the means to self-advocate through things like testimony and political organizing. I recently presented at the ‘Be The Change’ Youth Training Program and … Read more

Exploring Careers in School-Based Health Centers

By Audrey Gabriel, SBHA Youth Advisory Council Member  The concept of picking out your career path at the ripe old age of 17 is incredibly daunting, I know it was for me. Maybe you are the first in your family to go to college, maybe you haven’t really been exposed to different career paths, or … Read more

Our Council Experience, And Why Youth Should Join! 

Compilation by Chris Oshana  As current and previous members of the School-Based Health Alliance (SBHA) Youth Advisory Council (YAC), we’ve all gained so much from being a part of this amazing team. The following blog post will focus on highlighting our current and former YAC members, their lived experiences as a part of the YAC, … Read more

My First-Hand Experience with Oral Health Disparities

By Chris Oshana, Youth Advisory Council Member The following reflects Chris’ lived experiences, thoughts, and opinions. $45,000,000,000. Forty-five billion dollars. According to the CDC, that’s how much money is lost in productivity each year in the US due to untreated oral disease.1 As someone who hopes to enter the dental profession in the coming years, this … Read more

Teens & Vaccines: My Experience

During the months of October and November, members of the Teens & Vaccines Podcast group worked hard on a workshop presentation for the California School-Based Health Alliance 2021 School Health Conference: Building Bridges to Healthy & Resilient Communities. They met weekly to outline content, create their presentation, and design interactive components for their workshop, “Teens & Vaccines … Read more

The All In My Head Podcast

Living through COVID-19 can make anyone feel disconnected and isolated from their community. With teens across America experiencing a lack of social interaction, The All In My Head Podcast was created. While in the heart of Covid-19, a group of teens got together in Portland, Oregon to do something meaningful with their time. We started … Read more