Willow Teen Health Services

This center is on Cata Bus Route #3

Willow Plaza Services is an Ingham County Health Department initiative to address the health needs of Ingham County adolescents, particularly needs related to pregnancy prevention and infant mortality. Willow Plaza Services strives to improve the overall health status of Ingham County adolescents through community awareness, direct services and health promotion activites.

Services offered through Willow have been designed to assist families and adolescents in obtaining health  care services, reproductive health information, counseling, crisis intervention and case management services, abstinence education, support services for pregnant and parenting teens and employment services.

Programs at Willow Plaza Services were established to address several community-wide problems:

• Unacceptable rate of pregnancy and infant mortality among adolescents
• Increased demand for family planning and prenatal service
• Case management and referral services for high-risk adolescents
• High adolescent unemployment and drop-out rates

The Adolescent Health Center is a comprehensive health center that provides both family planning and general health care services to adolescents between the ages of 11 and 21 years.

The  Peer Education Program is a  health education program that utilizes college aged young adults trained as older peer role models to conduct workshops within schools and community agencies.  Workshop sessions focus on providing adolescents with factual and appropriate information related to reproductive and adolescent health.  The Peer Education Program was presented in almost every middle school and high school within Ingham County.

The Turning Point program provides intervention, emergency services case management and coordinates health care follow-up with high risk youth between the ages of 11 and 21 years.  Last year, more than 75% of the adolescents served engaged in multiple high risk behaviors.  In addition, the Turning Point Program facilitated life skills training groups for at-risk youth within the Ingham County school districts.

Teen Parent Network is a comprehensive program that provides intensive case management and support services for pregnant and parenting adolescents utilizing a large network of community agencies.  The Teen Parenting Network provided parenting classes for teens throughout the community and support groups for teen parents in school.  The Teen Parent Network coordinated a speaker's bureau related to teen parenting issues.

The Ingham County Abstinence Coalition facilitated by the Ingham County Health Department assisted the community in developing a community-wide plan aimed at promoting abstinence from high risk behavior, especially eary sexual activity among nine to fourteen year olds.  The coalition provided parent workshops, sponsored youth events, and awarded mini-grants to community groups.