PARENTS, TEENS TO DISCUSS LOOMING DANGER OF STDS GROUP HELPS ADULTS ADDRESS SEX ISSUES.

Byline: Daily News

SAUGUS - Teen sex and the risk of sexually transmitted infections will be the topic at Tuesday night's meeting of Action, a support group for parents and teenagers.

Guest speaker Judy Belty, executive director of ATEAM, a local community sex education program for teens, will speak at 7 p.m. at Saugus High School about STDs and other hazards of teen sex. Every year, 2.5 million U.S. teenagers contract STDs.

``Most parents tell me the hardest talk they have with their teens is the sex talk and discussing their own personal sexual values with their teens,'' said Belty. ``In the '60s and '70s, there were two or three identifiable STDs. Today there are over 30 STDs, and in many teen minds if they are not having intercourse they are not subject to getting those diseases.''

STDs can, in fact, be spread orally. Often there are no symptoms, so the consequences of their earlier teen sexual activity might not show up for years.

Those attending the meeting will learn how to talk with their teenagers about sex. Parents will learn to set the boundaries they want to set for their teens while leaning how to discuss what the pressures of teen dating are and how to resist those pressures.

``We want to help empower parents with the tools to talk to their teens about sex and teen high-risk behavior with regard to sex,'' Belty said. ``Hopefully, we are all talking to our children from the day they are born about the tough issues of life.''

Action is a gathering of parents who meet to offer each other support and practical solutions to problems. A parent who has been trained as a group facilitator, who has experienced just how tough it is to raise a teenager in this day and age, leads each group. The program is structured very differently from most parent support groups. While parents are meeting, teens attend a group of their own.

For information, call the Action hotline at 1-800-For-Teens or [phone]. The Action support program is nonprofit.

IF YOU GO

Action, a parent and teenager support group, will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the ZT bungalows in the student parking lot at Saugus High School, 21900 Centurion Way.

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IF YOU GO (see text)