The WV Adolescent Health Initiative

The West Virginia Adolescent Health Initiative (WVAHI) supports a dedicated network of eight regional Adolescent Health Coordinators across the state of West Virginia.  The Region VI Coordinator serves Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall and Wetzel Counties by providing community education opportunities and coordinating collaborative efforts fostering the social, emotional, cognitive, physical and spiritual well-being of youth through a positive youth development approach.

The Region VI Coordinator offers the following workshops free of charge to you:

• A Positive Youth Development Approach
  An Introduction to the Developmental Assets Model

• A Powerful Tool For Positive Change
  The Developmental Assets Model & Your Family

• Building Developmental Assets In School Communities
  
  
• Measuring Success
  An Introduction to Getting to Outcomes with Developmental Assets

• What Do You Stand For?
  An Introduction to Character Trait

For more information, call the FRN office at (304) 845-3300 or email ahicoordinator@comcast.net.

The Developmental Assets Model

The West Virginia Adolescent Health Initiative (WVAHI) has embraced the Developmental Assets Model developed by Search Institute (SI).  This approach utilizes an asset framework identifying forty concrete, positive experiences and qualities that have a tremendous influence on the lives of young people. 

Search Institute research has found that the presence of the forty assets are powerful influences on adolescent behavior – both protecting young people from high-risk behaviors and promoting positive attitudes and behaviors – evident across all cultural and socioeconomic groups of youth.

The Framework includes :
External Assets: Strength and resources provided by family and community
              Support
              Empowerment
              Boundaries & Expectations
              Constructive Use of Time

Internal Assets: Individual commitments, values, competencies and identity
              Commitment to Learning
              Positive Values
              Social Competencies
              Positive Identity

West Virginia's Adolescent Health Initiative is a project developed and coordinated by the Infant, Child and Adolescent Division, Office of Maternal, Child and Family Health, Bureau for Public Health, Department of Health and Human Resources.