HEALTH & WELLNESS PEER

Health Promotion Peer Education Program
Promoting Healthy Behaviors 2008

A Health Promotion Peer Educator is dedicated to increasing awareness in areas of health and wellness; encouraging safer behaviors and choices; encouraging positive healthy lifestyles, and promoting healthy minds and bodies for Baruch students, faculty, and staff. A Health Promotion Peer Educator is also dedicated to raising awareness and providing education on alcohol, other drugs, and violence prevention in an effort to promote a healthier environment for Baruch students, faculty, and staff. 

Health Promotion Peer Educators will be a diverse group, made up of all grade levels of traditional and nontraditional students. Benefits of becoming a health peer include personal development, gaining health knowledge and awareness and meeting new people.

All Health peer educators will be trained* in the following areas:

• Body awareness (nutrition, eating disorders, exercise, and dieting)
• Safer sex (sexuality, HIV/AIDS, STDs, risky behaviors)
• Stress management
• Tobacco (prevention, cessation, and advocacy)
• Women's health (reproductive health and birth control)
• Men's health
• Alcohol
• Drugs
• Violence
• Sexual assault

Please note: the alcohol, drugs, violence and sexual assault components may be integrated into a training module that is separate and distinct from the other components. Thus, students would be assigned to either of the two training modules and their work with the program will be in the area of training.

Upon completion of training, students will participate in the following types of health promotion activities:

Health education programs and services seek to provide students with information they need to make informed and responsible decisions concerning their health. Health Peer Educators may participate in facilitating student surveys; "Health Town Hall" meetings; program development, planning and execution, and program evaluations.

Outreach involves campus and community education presentations and workshops. An outreach can take place on campus (classroom, club, and cafeteria) or off campus (at a neighboring school or community center).

Tabling and walkabout programs promote health advocacy via peer education. On any given day, students at Baruch may find Health Peer Educators throughout the campus with information about various health issues. AIDS, eating disorders, nutrition, violence ... you name it, you'll find Health Peer Educators talking about it.