At Public Health–Seattle & King County, we regularly hear the challenges that our school-based health center partners face in engaging young people in youth advisory councils and other youth leadership opportunities. We all know how critical it is to engage young people in our clinics to ensure the highest quality services for them. But how do we do this? Especially when we are already so busy with our day-to-day work?

We would like to introduce you to the Adolescent Health Initiative (AHI) out of the University of Michigan. While they can provide a huge span of support for your clinics, you may find their “spark trainings” to be of particular value. These are free mini-trainings which include presentation and facilitation materials. They are meant to be bite-sized (15-30 minutes) so you can use them during staff meetings and other convenings.

Topics include:

• Cultural Responsiveness
• Non-Verbal Communication Bias
• LGBTQ+ Youth Series
• Confidentiality Best Practices
• School Referrals
• And others!

Check these out and consider whether these (or other AHI resources) might be a good addition to your next staff meeting.