Meet The Team
Lori Tesauro
(she/her/hers)
Program Coordinator, NJ Personal Responsibility Education Program
Miss Lori is a Program Coordinator at the Southern New Jersey Perinatal Cooperative for the New Jersey Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP). Miss Lori has been providing South Jersey youth with safe sexual health information for the past 11 years. In her spare time, Miss Lori spends time with her daughter and dog Rocky and takes time to relax with friends.
Miranda Falkowski
(she/her/hers)
Health Education Field Representative
Vineland Health Department
Miss Miranda has worked for the City of Vineland Health Department since 2018 and has been facilitating Teen Outreach Program clubs since early 2019. Miranda has found a passion for teaching teens and is constantly continuing her own education. She loves spending time at her home in Vineland with her two dogs, Bear and Finn.
Sara Paciocco, BA, CHES
(she/her/hers)
Health Education Field Representative
Vineland Health Department
Miss Sara is a Vineland native and has worked for the City of Vineland Department of Health for 7 years. She loves daily interactions with teens; they are so creative, thoughtful, and unpredictable! At home, Miss Sara could spend an entire day in her kitchen baking, dancing, and chopping up produce from her garden.
Youth Programming
Our Programming
Below is an outline of the programming we offer through Southern New Jersey Perinatal Cooperative. The Cooperative is funded through a grant from the New Jersey Department of Health. All programs are free of cost. All programs are evidence-based and conducted by our health educators. Please contact us for more information or if you would like to become part of the many New Jersey schools or youth organizations that benefit from our programming.
If you are interested in any of these opportunities please contact Lori Tesauro at teentalknj@snjpc.org.
One-Time Presentations
Health educators provide presentations on healthy relationship skills, LGBTQ awareness, goal-setting, positive decision-making skills, and health and wellness. The presentations can be designed to fit the audience’s needs.
Teen Outreach Program
Youth Development That Works
Do you want to inspire and prepare young people to succeed?
Wyman’s Teen Outreach Program, (TOP®) empowers teens by providing the tools and opportunities needed to lead healthy and successful lives.
While participating in TOP®, teens will learn and develop:
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Healthy Behaviors
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Life Skills
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Sense of purpose
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TOP® is a place for teens to interact with their peers and participate in activities that promote positive youth development.
Topics Include:
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Relationships
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Communication skills
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Values,
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Goal-setting
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Sexual health
Teens also participate in community service projects where they can practice the skills they are learning. TOP® is intended for middle school or high school youth.
This is a 9-month program that requires: 25 one-hour weekly club meetings, 20 hours of community service-learning, and parental or guardian consent.
Reducing The Risk
Building Skills to Prevent Pregnancy, STD/HIV
Reducing the Risk (RTR): Building Skills to Prevent Pregnancy, STD/HIV is a curriculum designed to help youth delay the initiation of sex or increase the use of protection against pregnancy and STD & HIV if they choose to have sex.
Two key skills are taught:
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Refusal skills – Responses that clearly say no to having sex or refuse unprotected sex.
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Delay tactics and alternative actions – Ways students can avoid a situation
Topics Include:
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How STDs are transmitted
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How teens can best protect themselves
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Information about protection methods (abstinence focused)
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Strategies to enhance their communication and decision-making skills
Program Requirements:
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Memorandum of Understanding between the host site and Southern New Jersey Perinatal Cooperative
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Participants’ Parental/guardian consent provided by Southern New Jersey Perinatal Cooperative
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Zoom or google classroom capability for virtual instruction
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45 minutes sessions can be delivered weekly, bi-weekly, or designed to fit the organization’s needs
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Intended for youth in 8th to 12th grade
The program is 16-sessions and each session is approximately forty-five minutes.
Not Sure? Try a Pilot!
At Southern New Jersey Perinatal Cooperative, our health educators are here to support the needs of your organization. If you like a program above, but you need it customized to fit your youth, let us know. We can tailor programs to fit any number of sessions. We can also tailor each program to focus on a particular topic like emotional health, sexual health, goal setting, values or communication skills. Contact us to find out more!
Just for Parents
Teen Speak
A Guide to Understanding and Communicating with your Teen
Parenting a teen can be aggravating, confusing, and wonderful all at the same time! Equipped with Teen Speak® parents/guardians can overcome the most common challenges – from vaping and peer pressure, to chores, and homework.
Teen Speak helps parents:
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Talk to their teens about sensitive topics.
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Gives parents in-depth knowledge about adolescence's physical, cognitive, emotional, and sexual development.
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Helps parents practice talking to their teens through interactive activities.
Teen Speak is typically a 2-day workshop for 2 hours each day, but it can be adjusted to fit various schedules and needs.
Professional Trainings
All our health educators are not just committed to cultivating well-being in youth - we are here to support professionals and programming that serves youth as well! With over 10 years of youth-centered programming and experience working with diverse youth populations, our team works hard to support other youth programming in New Jersey and beyond. Below are some professional courses we currently offer. We are also available to tailor courses and create content to better serve your training needs.
Teaching Transgender Workshops
These workshops offer a plethora of nuanced guidance, practices, and resources for professionals on the transgender experience and prejudice experienced by the transgender community. This workshop can be designed for any audience whether it is social service organization or medical provider.
Teen Dating Violence
This one-time professional training talks about teen dating violence, what it is, and how you can make prevention efforts more successful. Through this training participants will learn about assessment tools that provide insight to what teen dating violence is and how to use empowerment models effectively with teens.