"My Teen Moms group gives me the support I need as a single mother," says Michelle. "I thought I wasn’t any good because I was a teen mom, but now I think maybe I’m even better because I’ve had so many hurdles to get over."

In April of 1993, Wanda MacNevin, a Community Health Worker at Black Creek Community Health Centre and Cary Milner, the Executive Director, met with the "Teen Moms on the Move" group to explore interest in preparing a proposal for a Health Promotion grant. The teens were very excited because they wanted to share their experiences with other teens and they thought the best way to do this would be through telling a dramatic story in the form of a play.

The women were actors but they were acting
out their own lives and it took a lot of courage.

Throughout the summer, the teen moms helped hire a coordinator and a director and then began to tell and write their stories. It was a very emotional experience and also one that created a great deal of group solidarity. Most of the young women were concerned that their personal lives would be part of a public record and they knew that there could be negative reactions to their stories from audiences in the schools and from their family members. They especially worried about the possibility of physical abuse from their partners because of they way they presented them in their stories. The women were actors but they were acting out their own lives and it took a lot of courage.

Rehearsal times, child care issues, school assignments ... all were challenges to deal with over the next months. In the fall of ‘93, "Teen Moms:Our Stories" went on the road - to local middle schools and high schools and in March of ‘94 the cast did a special presentation for community members at a local library. Almost 900 people, mostly students, saw the play over several months and talked about its positive effects. The teen moms received letters from the schools and one mother, whose daughter saw the play, said "For the first time, the two of us have been able to talk about teenage sexuality."

Hundreds of students saw the video and
many filled out the questionnaires.

In September of 1995, "Teen Moms on the Move" and the Black Creek CHC decided that it would be a good idea to make a video of the stories and see if such a video would be an effective tool to use in schools to prevent teen pregnancies. The Trillium Foundation funded the project and the teen moms told their stories on videotape. Questionnaires were prepared for students to fill out right after they saw the video and again several months later.

There was lots of red tape to cut through to get the video into some schools but the journey from September to June was very worthwhile. Hundreds of students saw the video and many filled out the questionnaires.

Almost two years later, at a screening of the video at Downsview Secondary School in March of ‘98, a Positive Peer Culture class was absolutely rapt as Patty told her story of shaken baby syndrome. And they all gasped when Ashley said that she was pregnant at 13. Many were visibly upset when one of the fathers violently smacked his daughter when she told him she was pregnant.

I hope our video helps other young women
and men to think more responsibly about
their sexual relationships.

During a discussion after the video, a class member asked Michelle, a 19 year old high school student who goes to the schools to talk about her own personal experiences as a teen mom, if she regretted her decision to keep her two children.

"If I had it to do over again, much as I love my kids, I wouldn’t choose to be a mother at such a young age," says Michelle. " But the support and strength that I get from our Teen Moms program helps me to cope with my really difficult life situation. And I hope our video helps other young women and men to think more responsibly about their sexual relationships."

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