A Project of Healthy Futures of Texas
bigdecisionsinfo@hf-tx.org

Our Curriculum

Your community has many choices when it comes to the curriculum you can use to shape young people's understandings of sex and relationships. Big Decisions has been designed to engage students with effective lessons involving parents and other trusted adults in the learning process. We offer high-quality training and technical assistance to facilitators, and we work hard to ensure our program is medically-accurate, inclusive, values neutral, and relevant to teens today.

For Youth: Big DecisionsFor Parents: Key Conversations

Each of the ten lessons of Big Decisions has been designed and evaluated to ensure they deliver essential information to teens regarding sex and relationships.

The program starts by developing understandings of respect and thinking about the goals they want to achieve in life, then they cover important topics like anatomy, abstinence, STIs and contraception. Big Decisions also covers consent, both in legal statute and common understanding. It offers many role play activities for young people to practice using the skills they've been developing. The curriculum ends by tying the information people have learned back their goals and their families and communities, ensuring a strong foundation for their health and wellness.

Big Decisions 5th Edition

Big Decisions is an abstinence-plus sexual health education curriculum that is suitable for grades 8 to 12, and for 7th grade with some adaptation. The program is easy to use, medically accurate, compatible with Texas law, and it has been approved and used in numerous Texas school districts.
Our new 5th edition has relevant lessons that teens need to make healthy decisions about sex and relationships. The curriculum has continued to evolve with the challenges that teens are currently facing. The 5th edition now addresses issues like internet safety and mental health. We have also refreshed the curriculum to make it easier for teachers to use.  Big Decisions is designed to ensure  medical accuracy and inclusivity. This means that the medical and health information in the curriculum is guided by accepted evidence according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Inclusivity means that the curriculum talks about relationships and sex in ways that does not exclude LGBTQ youth, nor youth who've experienced trauma, a previous pregnancy or a previous STI.
If you have an older edition, contact us about virtual resources, new guidance, and pricing for the latest edition.

Looking for virtual implementation resources?

Our team has developed a series of recommendations for how to implement Big Decisions remotely, including options for synchronous and asynchronous learning, and options for teens without internet access.

Contact Us

Key Messages of Big Decisions

The curriculum helps youth to focus on their future - their goals and dreams. Then, in a setting of a safe and respectful group, students learn that not having sex is their most effective option.  Youth also learn the about the important responsibilities people have if they have sex - to reduce risks of both infection and unplanned pregnancy.

The Curriculum

The ten lessons of Big Decisions guide youth through learning about the basics of healthy relationships and sexual health with a trained facilitator, like a teacher or a coach, as the adult guide.  The group experience is important to the effectiveness of the curriculum - students learn healthy social norms and positive expectations from peers and adults.

01
Rules of the Game
Forming a Respectful Group
02
Goals & Dreams
My Future
03
Relationships & Romance
What is Healthy?
04
Anatomy & Reproduction
How it Works
05
Abstinence
Decisions to Wait
06
A CLEAR "NO"
My Limits
07
Sexually Transmitted Infections
Including HIV/ AIDS
08
Contraception
Pregnancy at a Good Time for You
09
Staying Healthy & On Track
Defending My Limits
10
Overcoming Challenges
Big Decisions
View the Curriculum Outline

Responding to
Challenging Questions

Big Decisions nurtures a classroom environment that encourages youth to ask the questions they have about sex and relationships. It can be a challenge for facilitators to respond to these questions when they don't know the answer, or when the question is shocking.​ We've developed a supplementary guide to responding to challenging questions. Facilitators, administrators, and parents can use this guide to navigate the questions that arise as youth complete Big Decisions.

Download the Guide

Key Conversations

Parents and other caregivers are an essential component of a young person's health. While schools and organizations can do much, these trusted adults play a critical role in a young person's success. But, sometimes, parents may feel nervous or unprepared for these challenging conversations.
‍
We can help!

Key Conversations prepares parents and caregivers to have conversations with their teen about sex and relationships. They learn specific strategies for talking with their teen both to share information and their own values.

Parents who complete the program report it has transformed their relationship with their teens.

The Sessions

Offered as one or two workshops, sessions are designed as 90-minute sessions to help caregivers of teens to learn what they can do to help their teen succeed and avoid unplanned pregnancy. A trained facilitator serves as a guide for the group.

Session #1
• Personalize the risks that your teen faces
• Describe what you can do to help your teen make healthy decisions
• Identify strategies for talking with your teen about relationships and sex
• Practice talking with your teen through role-play with other parents
• Prepare for talking with your teen
Session #2
• Reflect on your experience talking with your teen
• Identify strategies for monitoring your teen
• Plan for your teen's preventative health care
• Practice talking with your teen in challenging situations
• Celebrate completion of the Key Conversations program

Our Founder

Janet Realini, MD, MPH is the author of Big Decisions and founder of Healthy Futures of Texas. Since 2006, Healthy Futures of Texas has worked to reduce unplanned and teen pregnancies through science-based education and advocacy efforts that empower young people, women, and families to make the best decisions for their futures.

Dr. Realini was the founding Chair of the Texas Women’s Healthcare Coalition (TWHC), a statewide coalition of 87 organizations dedicated to improving the health and well‐being of women, babies, and families by ensuring all Texas women access to preventive healthcare, including contraception. The TWHC has been instrumental in increasing funding for Texas family planning programs and improving their effectiveness.

Dr. Realini taught Family Medicine for 18 years at the UTHealth San Antonio, and served as a Senior Public Health Physician for 10 years at the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District. There she served as Medical Director of the Family Planning program and helped to found Project WORTH, the City of San Antonio’s teen pregnancy prevention program.

Dissemination of BIG DECISIONS is a project of
Copyright © 2020 Healthy Futures of Texas
All rights reserved. Instructors are authorized to reproduce the handouts and other activity resources from the curriculum solely for instructional use.
Any more extensive reproduction requires the prior written consent of the author.

 This project was supported by Award No. TP2AH000044 from the Office of Population Affairs (OPA). Its contents are solely the responsibility
of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of OPA or HHS.
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