Health Education Consultant, Puberty Prof, and Creator
whose mission is to strengthen the wellness of children, youth, and adults
It’s not too difficult to get in front of a group of children and list off a set of health facts. But how do you give children some of the most important tools and facts of their life? The tools and facts they need to stay with them long after they have grown up? The tools and facts that can set them up for a life of health and happiness and healthy relationships? The tools and facts that can literally mean the difference between wellness and sickness, life and death? And how do you do this in a manner that supports positive values and beliefs?
Lori Reichel knows the answers to these questions. A nationally recognized and innovative health educator, she has successfully provided these tools and facts in age- and developmentally-appropriate ways for almost 30 years.
Lori’s background and experience includes:
- Being trained in best practices as a licensed school health educator and administrator with over 20 years experience teaching children and youth in the K-12 setting;
- Receiving her PhD in Health Education from Texas A&M University (Research 1 University) in less than 3 years;
- Preparing future school health educators in updated standard-based practices at Western Michigan University, while also serving as the PHETE Coordinator;
- Providing tools to help families and educators talk honestly about sensitive health topics including the Puberty Prof Podcast and TALK apps;
- Authoring Common Questions Children Ask About Puberty, an easy to understand award-winning book that tackles over 500 questions for caregivers and their children;
- Receiving the New York, Eastern Division, and National Teacher/Professional of the Year Health Education Awards;
- Creating and revising health education curricula to be standard-based (ex. all of Chicago Public School’s K-12 Sex Ed curricula within one year);
- Planning, instructing, and assessing skill-based health education;
- Being an expert in how to responsibly teach children and youth all topics related to sensitive topics, including consent and sex education, in an age- and developmentally-appropriate manner;
- Providing assistance for administrators, teachers, and others to strengthen their Whole School Whole Community Whole Child Framework (WSCC);
- Assisting/training educators in backwards design (Understanding by Design) in order to be strong curriculum developers; and
- Collaborating with others to help empower children and youth, as well as their caregivers, to live healthy and happy lives!
Her goals include:
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Providing tools for families and teachers that increase positive communication and decision making on a variety of health topics.
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Shifting outdated, fact-focused, lecture-based health education instruction to the student-centered and skill-based approach, while supporting state and National Health Education Standards. This includes helping health teachers and schools update their Sex Ed curriculum.
To learn more about Lori’s projects, please go to these links:
Consent Education – including how Lori can help update or create your child-friendly lessons
The Puberty Prof – including “tools” Lori created to help you have positive conversations
The Puberty Prof Podcast – the family-friendly podcast with more episodes being released each season
The TALK Puberty app – the interactive talking “tool” that helps lead your conversations
Common Questions Children Ask About Puberty – the book with over 500 questions children ask about puberty and other growing up topics
The TALK B4 Sex app – another interactive “tool” to help people of all ages have conversations on real sex ed topics