When I think about PrEP and prevention, and my work as a sexual health educator and navigator, I almost always time travel back to my high school days. The bulk of my educating has been with teens and close-to-teenage people. Young people get a bad rap, mostly because everyone older than them used to be them, and that comes with some insights, prejudices, and pitfalls. This mindset is especially true when young people seek information about sex, sexuality, and sexual health.

I remember Rodrigo*, for instance, an emerging adult with thick eyebrows and sharp, curious eyes. Rodrigo was a dream to teach but nightmare to care for, due mostly to his influences and life experiences. He was sitting in Room 12, I believe, in MetroHealth’s ID Clinic. My colleague and friend, Kat, came to me and asked, “My patient in 12 has a lot of questions, and this seems more in your wheelhouse. Would you mind chatting with him for a bit?” Kat is much too polite. I am always ready to answer questions about sex and sexual health. “Just don’t get too personal, now,” Kat urged, as she waved an “uncle-ish” finger.

 Speaking to Rodrigo for only five minutes, I could tell there might be 100 questions boiling beneath the surface. Knowing I had an evening clinic at another location, I invited Rodrigo for a quick chat at the café in the outpatient pavilion. Once we sat, Rodrigo released an onslaught of questions about sexuality, how HIV works, how someone can get it, what’s risky and what isn’t, and why he might need PrEP.

He confided to me that even at 19, he felt unsafe to come out at home. He was attracted to men but terrified to try anything with a person of the same gender. Since Rodrigo knew very little about STIs and risks, they were mysteries that made him afraid to kiss another person. We spoke for a solid hour, and as I answered his questions, you could see the relief and appreciation in his eyes. Rodrigo thanked me about thirteen times before he got up to leave.

I’ve always believed that knowledge is not exactly power but empowering. A young person who knows about a specific subject is strong; a young person who understands it is nearly unstoppable. Society, in some ways, has lulled us by a sense that different types of people and ways of living are much more acceptable than they’ve ever been. And while that may be true on a macro level, when it comes to self-love and our interactions with loved ones on the micro-level, individuals can still struggle to be and become. What makes me so proud of this moment with Rodrigo is that I helped a young man become. To know not just who he is, but to help Rodrigo understand he is worth protecting.

*The name has been changed to protect the identity and ascribe to HIPAA guidelines

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