v Copyright 2018 Marline E. Pearson Introduction T his adaptation of Love Notes builds skills and knowledge for healthy and successful relationships for romance, friends, family, school, and work. Love Notes is an innovative and strengths-based approach within a positive youth-development framework that teaches youth about forming and maintaining healthy relationships. This unique approach also empowers them to make healthy sexual choices that will boost sexual delay and sexual risk avoidance. It is developed especially for teens and young adults at risk for unstable and poor quality relationships, risky sexual behaviors, unplanned pregnancies, and for those who are pregnant or already parenting. That said, much of the content of Love Notes is relevant to any young person. Love Notes builds assets and strengthens protective factors. It appeals to young people’s aspirations, rather than merely emphasizing what they must avoid. Love Notes engages young people in learning more about themselves and supports them in cultivating a vision for their future. Love Notes empowers youth with the skills needed to further their own personal development, to form and maintain healthy relationships, to make wise sexual decisions, and build their skill capacity to follow through with their intentions. It encourages them to set goals and to work towards success with education and employment. These skills help youth reap the benefits associated with self-regulation. All youth, regardless of sexual orientation, have attractions, emotions and desires for healthy relationships. All youth benefit from sexual delay and sexual risk avoidance. All youth need skills and knowledge to navigate their relationships and make wise sexual choices. This is an LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum. Building Models and Confidence for Healthy Relationships Many young people today lack models of healthy relationships. A recent Child Trends survey of disadvantaged youth reported that while respondents could list general qualities for healthy relationships, when asked if they saw many around them, they said, “No.” More sadly, they said they had little confidence they would be able to achieve a healthy relationship, despite their aspirations to develop one.1
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