Acoma-Canoncito/To'Hajiilee-Laguna (ACL) Teen Centers

Acoma-Canoncito/ To’Hajiilee-Laguna (ACL) Teen Centers

Principal Investigator: Sally M. Davis, Ph.D.
Coordinators: Peou Lakhana, M.S.W., Coordinator for Clinical Services; Lora Church, B.S., Coordinator for Prevention
Start and End Dates: 1983 -
Sources of Funding: Various State, Federal and Private Sources

The Acoma-Canoncito/ To’Hajiilee-Laguna (ACL) Teen Centers were founded in 1983 as a collaborative effort initiated by the New Mexico communities of Acoma, To'Hajiilee and Laguna to address their concerns about adolescent suicides, alcohol-related accidents, and adolescent pregnancy. They developed a model, in partnership with the University of New Mexico, to address these issues through an interconnected holistic set of school-based health services, with both clinical services and prevention programs. The ACL Teen Centers consist of two school-based health centers, one at To’Hajiilee Community School, the other at Laguna-Acoma Junior/Senior High School. The long-term success of the Teen Centers is attributable to the manner of engaging in collaborations with the three communities. The Teen Centers consistently have respected the roles and expertise of community members that, in offering expertise and resources, enabled creating comprehensive programs that unambiguously met the needs that these communities identified.

Each center works closely with community organizations, tribal leaders, and schools to meet the physical, social, psychological and spiritual needs of their adolescents. The School Health Advisory Council (SHAC) plays a significant role with input about needs and programmatic guidance. Several agencies in each community collaborate with the Teen Centers as consultants, providers or subcontractors in rendering a continuum of behavioral health and primary care services—from primary prevention, to early identification and referral, to treatment--for students and families. Furthermore, all three communities have tribal programs called the Community Health Representatives (CHRs) Program that employ community members to promote community health and well being through community events and home-visits. The CHRs are trained to be lay health advisors, some of whom have a health profession background.

The Teen Centers clinical program provides year-round, cultural- and age-sensitive medical and behavioral health services to adolescents, including physical examinations, sports physicals, well visits, reproductive health, sick visits and referrals, substance abuse services and mental health counseling. The To’Hajiilee Teen Center serves youth at To’Hajiilee Community School (grades 6-12). The Laguna-Acoma Teen Center serves pueblo youth, as well as a small number of Hispanic youth who attend Laguna-Acoma Junior/Senior High School (grades 7-12) and students who attend Laguna Middle School and Sky City Community School. The Teen Centers train first and second year pediatrics residents on community health issues, who assist in providing basic medical services supervised by the medical director and nurse practitioner. Psychiatric interns provide psychiatric services under the supervision of the psychiatrist and nursing students provide secondary prevention services and prevention case management under the supervision of the nurse practitioner. Various other interns have been hosted, including individuals from social work, pediatrics and psychology, who assist with offering medical, substance abuse and mental health services.

In each community, the Teen Center is the primary agency that addresses adolescent prevention issues, by encouraging and supporting healthful adolescent behavior and lifestyles. The Teen Centers collaborate with school officials and the Laguna Prevention Coalition to identify needs and develop prevention programs, with culturally-sensitive curricula. Numerous culturally-appropriate prevention programs are offered: substance abuse prevention, pregnancy prevention, HIV prevention, diabetes prevention, and asthma prevention programs. Training needs have been identified and workshops conducted to train teachers, community providers and parents about early identification of adolescent behavioral health issues, primary prevention, violence prevention and support group development, and other prevention issues. Among the many other programs the Teen Centers have offered are the Botvin Life Skills classes to youth in grades 4-9, and the DARE To Be You parenting curriculum. The Teen Centers have worked with the Laguna Services Center and To’Hajiilee Behavioral Health System, which provide substance abuse prevention and counseling services to adolescents, and to co-sponsor treatment camps for youth.

Extramural funding has supported many of the ACL Teen Centers programs over the years, both ongoing programs and for newly developed efforts. The sources include the New Mexico Department of Health Behavioral Health Services Division, the New Mexico Department of Health Office of School Health, the University of New Mexico Center for Alcoholism, Substance Abuse and Addiction (CASAA), the Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) program, Indian Health Services, the Robert Wood-Johnson Foundation, the McCune Foundation, and many others.

For more information about the Teen Centers, please contact at 505-272-4462, Peou Lakhana, M.S.W., Coordinator for Clinical Services, lpeou@salud.unm.edu ; or Lora Church, B.S., Coordinator for Prevention, lchurch@salud.unm.edu. [updated 02/01/05]