This month’s priority spotlight is focused on adults who understand. 

Caring adults who understand young people and their development play an important role in guiding and supporting young people through adolescenthood. Relationships with caring adults are essential to the healthy development of all adolescents. Caring adults are adults who “stick” with young people through thick and thin.

In response to the 2022 Minnesota Student Survey, 82% of 8th, 9th, and 11th grade students reported having at least one caring adult in their lives. Caring adults help youth grow up healthy and thriving. Teens who did not have a caring adult were more likely to report poorer health overall, being sexually active, and consuming alcohol. 

The presence of caring adults can save lives. The Trevor Project’s National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health found that LGBTQ youth who report having at least one accepting adult were 40% less likely to report a suicide attempt in the past year. 

The goal of this priority is to support adults who work with or make decisions about youth to routinely create and surround young people with caring relationships. 

The action steps focus on training these adults in adolescent development, positive youth development, and the foundations of health.

Action steps

• Partner with young people to train adults about adolescent health issues
• Include adolescent development and the importance of supportive relationships in adult professional education
• Improve higher education programs for professionals who work with young people to include a focus on adolescent health and development (e.g., health, public health, social work, psychology, education, law enforcement, etc.)
• Make supportive relationship with young people a central goal of youth programs
• Collect and share best practices on building supportive relationships with young people 

RiseUp Red Wing is on a mission to ensure Red Wing offers abundant opportunities for all young people to unleash their potential. They serve youth and families through caring, responsive programming and they foster shared action among partners committed to supporting youth. They envision a safe, vibrant Red Wing for all where:

• Every young person has access to opportunities that help them reach their goals
• Youth and families are recognized as collaborators and leaders
• All youth and community members feel valued, included, and empowered

Founded in 1992 as the Red Wing Youth Outreach Program, they began offering services through the YMCA at the local high school and middle school. Throughout the years, they grew their offerings to include independent living skills, mentoring, youth leadership and advisory council, and a family engagement program. In 2022, they relaunched the organization as RiseUp Red Wing. 

Caring, trusted relationships are at the core of all of their work with youth. Specifically, they support youth by connecting them with caring adult mentors and growing their social-emotional and independent living skills. For more information, visit RiseUp Red Wing.  

Let’s Talk Month is a national and statewide initiative that provides parents, caregivers, and children the chance to learn how to communicate honestly and openly about relationships, sexuality, and other sensitive topics.  Minnesota parents and guardians agree (a resounding 96%) that students should be encouraged to talk to them about sex and sexuality and want youth to receive to medically accurate information on sexual health. The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) recommends parents and caregivers start having age-appropriate conversations about healthy relationships, their body, and sexuality early in a child’s life. For more information, visit MDH’s let’s talk webpage. 

This webinar series explores research from social work and psychology reframing “positive youth development” as “identity-based positive youth development.”

Aqui Para Tí created the webinar series to support health care providers, educators, counselors, and other caregivers to learn about emerging research and strategies. 

The importance of intersectionality in our care

The Minnesota Partnership for Adolescent and Young Adult Health

This collaboratively developed plan was designed to support community-based efforts with a unifying vision, and collectively agreed-upon priorities to motivate, engage, and inspire action. Efforts can be led by a wide variety of groups such health systems, youth-serving organizations, or young people. If your agency has a program that you would like featured or an event or resource you’d like to share with this network, please send it to us at Health.AdolescentHealth@state.mn.us.