The Organization Revolutionizing Health Education

Health education in this country is broken. Teens are often resistant to the traditional methods used to teach health education — adult teachers, scare tactics, cheesy videos, lectures and textbooks. Today’s high school students face an unprecedented amount of peer-pressure, trauma from COVID-19 and negative social media influences that are affecting their emotional and physical health. As a result, we are seeing increases in depression, suicide, obesity, abuse, eating disorders, sexual assault, bullying, and anxiety.

At Health Information Project (HIP), we focus on health awareness by delivering an innovative, peer-to-peer, school-based education program for teenagers and young adults. HIP trains high school juniors and seniors to lead their freshmen peers in interactive discussions that include topics covering mental health, relationships, nutrition, and drug use — just to name a few. The program promotes candid conversations and connects students to reliable health resources, both in their communities and online.

HIP started in 2 Miami schools and has now expanded to nearly 85 high schools — -including public, private and charter schools. The peer health educators who lead the HIP program learn important life skills such as empathy, public speaking, and, most importantly, emotional and physical health information that is critical for their success in the future. HIP has taught over 260,000 students since inception and has trained over 12,500 student peer health educators. HIP invites you to visit our Medium page and check out www.behip.org for resources, student testimonials, and the latest health education news focused on ensuring that all teens feel emotionally and physically safe, supported and healthy.