Community Articles

2021 was a challenging year for us as we were not able to do much classroom education because of the Covid school lockdowns in New Jersey and California. It was heartbreaking to see so many young people shut off from their teachers and peers and confined in their homes!

We did use the time to upgrade all of our multimedia Relationship Intelligence Training presentations aka LoveSmarts education.

We WERE able to meet many times with young people in our after-school clubs, sometimes in person and sometimes via […]

By Linda Doering, SRAS

To learn about the research on the “Pygmalion Effect,” especially as it concerns developing the “high expectations” of Teaching Professionals in their own classrooms was enlightening and profound. Something that has always been hidden in plain sight: drawing out our students’ potential through believing in them and putting that belief, as Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) Educators, into action vs. their self-defeating self-talk such as “I am a product of my past experience and current environment.”

Not only can this be an advantage for students and parents, but also for teachers themselves, as they draw out that budding […]

10th Graders at Lincoln HS, Jersey City

• I liked that everything was straight-forward. I feel like everything that was talked about was serious and real.

• I really like how open our conversations were. No dead space.

• It’s teaching me the things I don’t know and information I can take into consideration when I’m in these situations. One thing I learned and I found interesting is the difference between mature and immature love.

• Yes (I liked the program), because school doesn’t really talk about these types of things.

• It was very eye-opening hearing what happened with teens who had sex so […]

On August 14, 2018, Julie Edwards, regional Free Teens club coordinator, spoke to the Camden City Council which recognized the work of Free Teens USA (Institute for Relationship Intelligence) for its educational programs for youth for developing “leadership skills, healthy relationships and sexual risk avoidance.”

In the group photo: Julie Edwards (black t-shirt)

From left: Sabreen Pitts, coordinator of the new Free Teens club in Camden, club member Daneazha Lee in middle with her mother Victoria Simmons behind her, and Councilman-at-large Angel Fuentes.

As a school counselor for Jersey City and a mental health clinician for several counties, I believe that the best way to help someone make the best decision for themselves is to provide them with as much information as possible. Too often, people will make life-changing decisions without weighing the pros and cons of the situations or even knowing what other options there could be for them out there.

Our adolescents are constantly being bombarded with different messages and suggestions of how to be cool and respected by their peers but not by their own standards and definitely not how to […]