ABSTINENCE EDUCATION PROGRAMS

PURE & SIMPLE LIFESTYLE (PSL):
PSL is a federally funded community mobilization and peer mentoring program beginning fiscal year 2006 (September 30, 2005 through 2008).  Trained Coordinators for six designated geographical areas throughout Wichita and a Coordinator for the fifty-mile radius of McPherson recruit parents and others to form Community Parent Action Groups (CPAG).  The CPAG and Coordinators recruit forty-six or more abstinent young adults (college age) who are trained to Coach teams of five to six abstinent high school teens.  The target group includes Teen Instructors comprised of 444 racially diverse abstinent teens coached to present (the first year) four of eight dramatic Episodes of the “Pure & Simple Choice” curriculum, a locally written and published work.  Sites for presentations to 12-18 year old males and females may be school-based, after-school, youth serving organizations, church youth groups, summer programs or other sponsoring agencies.  Meetings are planned to educate parents as primary educators on the content of the program and secure informed consent for their child to complete pre and post surveys and to participate either as a Teen Instructor or as part of the audience.   For more information you may contact the office: 316-688-0840; Sandy Pickert, Project Director or Lois Theis, Abstinence Education Director.

PROMOTING RISK ELIMINATION PROGRAMS (PREP):
This program is funded by a grant from the Kansas Abstinence Program, Bureau of Children, Youth & Families, Kansas Department of Health & Environment.  The target group is youth ages 10-17 and parents or guardians and is designed to deliver the abstinence until marriage message through a single or multiple educational sessions.  The contact persons are Lois Theis, RN, BSN, FCP, Project Director: 316-688-0840; or, McPherson County Abstinence Educator, LaJane Anderson at 620-654-3740. Click here to read more information

REVAMP: Six Steps to Self Control:
This program is designed for teachers, nurses or counselors to use with persons who seek a change in lifestyle whether or not the person has been sexually active or alcohol/drug abusers, adults or adolescents, married or unmarried.  One “step” builds on the next.  REVAMP begins with presenting the foundational concept regarding dignity of human persons.  The personal workbook contains self-survey questions and space to write their plan of action and life goals.  Character education components are added through study of classic old or contemporary films.
The contact person is Lois Theis, Project Director, at 316-688-0840

SELF-CONTROL Part I:
This is a one and one-half hour session with an adolescent or young adult, unmarried, who attends voluntarily or through mandatory agency referral.  The parent(s) or guardian is encouraged to attend.  In some cases, the boyfriend or girlfriend is urged to attend.  Topics covered include: whole person development, decision-making, peer pressure, emotional relationships, sexually transmitted disease, development of the sexual feeling, consequences of sexual activity and training for self-control over sexual urges.  The contact person is Lois Theis, Project Director, at 316-688-084

LEGISLATIVE REQUIREMENTS
Community-based Abstinence Education
For federal Title V, SPRANS (Special Projects of Regional and National Significance) and Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Community Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) funding, abstinence education is defined in the law as an educational or motivational program which:

1. has as its exclusive purpose, teaching the social, psychological, and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity;
2. teaches abstinence from sexual activity outside of marriage as the expected standard for all school age children;
3. teaches that abstinence from sexual activity is the only certain way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and other associated health problems;
4. teaches that a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity;
5. teaches that sexual activity outside of the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects;
6. teaches that bearing children out-of-wedlock is likely to have harmful consequences for the child, the child's parents, and society;
7. teaches young people how to reject sexual advances and how alcohol and drug use increase vulnerability to sexual advances; and,
8. teaches the importance of attaining self-sufficiency before engaging in sexual activity.

A project may not be inconsistent with any aspect of the abstinence education definition.