CDC-Funded Program Offers Life Coaching for Native American Youth

"Track Change" is a Phoenix-based program that helps gay Native American youths reduce risky behaviors that could lead to HIV infection. The CDC-funded effort provides support, guidance, and education to males ages 14-24 to help them recognize and avoid self-destructive behaviors.

Gerardo Angulo, the Native health and comprehensive risk counselor who runs Track Change, said many young men who have sex with men (MSM) who come in are looking for advice on a wide spectrum of issues, including safe sex, sex addiction, binge drinking, drug use, and emotional needs. Track Change offers "more of a life-coaching experience," he said. It also provides STD testing.

Native LGBT youth face unique challenges, and the four-year-old program fills a need that others cannot, said Angulo. Often, they do not get "the attention and nurturing they need at home" because the parents do not accept their child as gay, he said. So far, nine young MSM have taken part in Track Change, he added.

Figures from the Maricopa County Department of Public Health show 465 MSM tested HIV-positive in 2008; of those, 23 self-identified as American Indian or Alaska Native.

Back to other news for July 2010