Personal Perspectives

On November 4, South Carolinians across our great state will enter voting booths to cast their vote for candidates and issues of importance. One of those issues entails amending our state Constitution to legalize nonprofit raffles for charitable purposes.

As LET’S TALK MONTH begins to wind down, we must continue conversations across the state that emphasize positive, healthy and responsible attitudes toward love, sex and relationships. The South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy (SC Campaign) began the month with an amazing visit from Dr. David Walsh of Mind Positive Parenting and the University of Minnesota.

A friend of mine recently started dating someone. After their first date he asked for a second by informing her that September was “Take a Man on a Date Month."

Do you simply want to survive your children's teen years? Or, would you like to have a more engaged, joyful experience of parenting? I stumbled across an interesting article in the 2014 winter edition of The Law of Attraction magazine titled Are you an Available Parent? Dr. John Duffy specializes in "maximizing satisfaction and minimizing conflict between parents and their teenagers – what we call Parent-Child Connectedness in the teen pregnancy prevention world.

So, next Tuesday marks my six month milestone with the SC Campaign. And those months have flown by. It’s been a busy time at the SC Campaign. Our 20th Anniversary Gala, followed quickly by Summer Institute, sprinkled in with Contraceptive Counseling, ICE, Seventeen Days, Reproductive Coercion, Leadership, Be Protective, Social Media and youth, training trips to San Antonio and Knoxville…WOW!!

It’s National Health Center Week – a time to celebrate those who work in health centers across the country, but specifically, I want to thank all of the hardworking individuals who give their time and effort in the health centers within our state. Here is a description of what this week is all about from the event’s website:

When is the right time to talk to your teen about sex, drugs and alcohol use? The truth is talking about these matters is just as important as talking about drunk driving or preparing for college. While it may not be comfortable at first, the sooner you start talking about these things the better.

It takes a whole village to raise a child, but... it begins with a connection. This week marked the release of the Annie E. Casey Foundation sponsored 2014 Kids Count Data Book, highlighting state-by-state progress, or lack thereof, around issues affecting children like education, health, poverty and safety.

It’s no secret that the Hartsville Boys and Girls club does great work, but the Teen Center needed a serious face lift. So when the Midlands class of the spring 2014 Diversity Leadership Institute was choosing a project to work on in Hartsville, S.C., the Boys and Girls club seemed like an obvious choice.

Two years ago, I embarked on a journey to enhance my understanding of pregnancy prevention. I was approaching my graduation from my doctoral program at the Arnold School of Public Health at University of South Carolina and this amazing postdoctoral fellowship position presented itself at the SC Campaign. I had not worked directly in teen pregnancy prevention before, but had extensive experience in HIV prevention. After researching the SC Campaign, I knew that this position would be an ideal next step for my academic and professional career.