Hawaii to receive nearly $2 million for teen pregnancy prevention and education

Funding for programs like this is great news! However, I believe comprehensive education is needed to help young people recognize connections between their choices, relationships with others and difficult decisions in life such as dating and intimacy, etc. Relationship Literacy should be taught throughout the developmental life cycle of both youth and adults, and function as part of every school's basic curriculum like Reading, Writing, and Math. The Relationship Literacy Program developed over ten years because of experiences mediating conflicts in inner-city communities, creating and facilitating anger management curricula and violence prevention psycho-educational programs in schools, correctional institutions and treatment facilities. In these varying settings, participants found the Relationship Literacy Program comprehensive in scope, consistent with real life, and applicable to and beyond relationships of family and physical intimacy. The Relationship Literacy Program teaches the important role of human relationships to develop personal and social identity, the prevention of abuse and violence in relationships, awareness of individual rights and corresponding responsibilities, along with valuable self-management skills, both emotional and behavioral, and concepts, principles, and tools necessary to effect healthier relationships. The program informs participants of the diverse, often overlooked patterns of relationship abuse and violence and ways to prevent them. To prevent and treat interpersonal violence requires a comprehensive approach sensitive socio-culturally and developmentally appropriate across the life span. The Relationship Literacy Program takes such an approach to impact greater knowledge, attitude, and motivation concerning relationship violence.