Improving adolescent health WITH youth FOR youth... because THEY are the experts.
Through our PATCH Program, we work to ensure that adolescents gain the knowledge and confidence to get the health care they need and deserve, have a successful health care transition, and are well-prepared and well-supported to manage their own health care into adulthood. We do this work in partnership with youth, for we believe that health care practices, programs, and policies should be developed with young people rather than just for them. After all, who could be better than teens at providing insight into the needs and desires of teens?
PATCH, briefly yet originally known as the Wisconsin Adolescent Health Care Communication Program (WAHCCP), began in 2010 when the National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH) awarded the Wisconsin Alliance for Women's Health a single $10,000 grant to capitalize on the success of a New York City-based peer-to-peer education program –the Teen Outreach Reproductive CHallenge, or TORCH®.
Additionally, PATCH implements the PATCH Youth Advocacy Fellowship here in Wisconsin. This program empowers young people, ages 12-21, from all corners of our state to grow as leaders and young activists by making their voices heard in community and state level conversations.
To learn more about the PATCH Program or to explore bringing PATCH to your own community, visit www.patchprogram.org. To learn about the robust Wisconsin PATCH Collaborative and all we have to offer, visit www.wipatch.org.