H.E.A.R.T.

Reaching the Girls Who Need Us Most: The HEART Program

In 2006, the PPGO Education Department received a “Helping Kids Shine” Award from Walt Disney World which served as a seed grant for an empowerment program for teen girls. The program that evolved out of this grant is entitled “HEART: healthy, empowered and real teens” and focuses not only on sexual health, abstinence and contraception but also on healthy relationships, communication and leadership skills. The HEART program’s focus from the beginning has been on teens girls in residential foster care group homes, and began with 35 girls at Great Oaks Village.  The philosophy behind the HEART program is that teen girls who have been maltreated need to be empowered to live healthy lives. Research indicates that teen girls in foster care experience teen pregnancies at double the rate of teens who have not encountered the juvenile dependency system. Teen girls in residential foster care also have higher rates of juvenile delinquency, graduate high school at lower rates and are likely to either repeat the abusive behavior they experienced as children or continue to experience patterns of abuse in their relationships.  

In 2007, the PPGO Education Department received an additional grant which allowed the expansion of the HEART program into the University Behavioral Center. The program is currently being used to teach 34 girls between the ages of 12 and 17 about reproductive health, healthy relationships, contraception, abstinence, STD’s and HIV, communication skills and staying safe. The vast majority of the girls currently participating in the HEART program have experienced physical or sexual abuse, many have already had pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. The HEART program aims to combine their therapeutic interventions with practical information about health, safety and relationships.