CHAT

Choose Health Action Teens

Teens as teachers engaging youth in health promotion

The Choose Health Action Teens (CHAT) program is a collaborative initiative of Cornell’s Division of Nutritional Sciences and Cornell Cooperative Extension’s 4-H Youth Development Program that integrates youth civic engagement with efforts to encourage healthy lifestyles by engaging teens in teaching healthy eating and active living to younger youth. Cooperative Extension educators or other adult mentors recruit, train, and mentor local teens to teach or co-teach the Choose Health: Food, Fun, and Fitness (CHFFF) youth curriculum to 8-15-year-olds in after-school programs, summer camps, schools, and other settings.

Evaluation suggests that participating teens gain leadership and facilitation skills and also change their own eating and physical activity habits.

  • CHAT Evaluation Report, 2014
  • Evaluation of virtual CHAT in New York City during COVID-19 (link coming; article submitted to the Journal of Extension, 1/23)

 Steps for successfully leading CHAT

The CHAT program is intended for use by Cooperative Extension educators and other adult mentors with some knowledge of nutrition and experience working with youth. Those without a nutrition background are encouraged to carefully review the CHFFF curriculum and materials including the background for each CHFFF lesson and work closely with a local nutrition professional, if possible, in learning the curriculum and training the teens.

  • Become familiar with the program by thoroughly reviewing the CHFFF curriculum and training materials, the CHAT webinar and the CHAT Resources, below.
  • Learn to teach CHFFF, either by attending a training or by learning and practicing the lessons on your own.
  • Recruit teens with an interest in health, teaching, and improving their leadership skills.
  • Provide high quality training to enable the teens to be successful by following the 12-hour teen training modules, which include lesson teach-backs, relevant nutrition content, and effective group leadership skills.
  • Provide ongoing mentoring and support, including debriefing with constructive feedback after practice and live teaching.
  • Coordinate teaching sites, gather supplies, and help prepare and co-facilitate each lesson.
  • If you are not in Extension, connect with your local Extension association, as some can provide support for CHAT and/or CHFFF.

 CHAT Resources

The CHAT Facilitator Guide and other resources are available to download and use for the limited purpose of education and training by non-profit organizations. Please be sure to acknowledge Cornell in any media coverage.

 Other Training Resources

Local CHAT Experiences