Healthy Relationships: Among Many Ways to be Healthy

Recently we posted a question to our Women's Fund Facebook fans: "What makes you feel fit and healthy?" It was awesome to see the diverse responses of many of our fans (click here to see). It is so important to keep our health top-of-mind. Many things can come between us and good health; it depends on our eating habits, exercise, strong relationships, mental fitness, and more. I'm glad that there are campaigns to help us think about certain aspects of our health, such as breast or heart health. For example, February 5th was "Go Red for Women" day, where people wore red to raise awareness for women's heart health.

Last week, I had an opportunity to go to the Ruth Lilly Health Education Center, along with OPTIONS Alumnae member Melissa Averitt. Women's Fund provided a transformational grant of $150,000 in 2006 for the center to provide healthy relationships programming to all Indianapolis Public Schools 5th and 7th graders twice per year over three years. This is truly an amazing program focusing on an important area of overall health and well-being. We hope that this program will help break the cycle of domestic violence.

Melissa interviewed President Julian Peebles, Program Director Diana Ruschhaupt, and IPS School 39 5th grade teacher Aksa Shami, who shared the impact this program has made on students. Click here to learn more about "STOP: Know What's Right" for 5th graders and here to learn more about "STOP: No Excuse for Abuse" for 7th graders.

We heard that teachers strongly believe in the program, students are enjoying it, and Ruth Lilly Health Education Center receives requests for the program to be expanded to other schools (they need more funding to do so). Because of this program, students have an awareness of what constitutes a healthy relationship and what doesn't. And, the innovative way the center delivers the program holds their interest. Rick, an IPS middle school teacher, told Diana "With the use of technology, music, statistics, and real-life scenarios, the instructors' interactive program allows the class to explore and think critically about the subject matter."

I love that Women's Fund supports of this important program for girls and boys in IPS Schools. And, I appreciate the great work of Ruth Lilly Health Education Center to provide high-quality programs for youth in our community.