
Respecting the Circle of Life has been tailored to American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) community context, needs, and values in several ways: Respecting the Circle of Life is one of the first sexual and reproductive health programs to be developed and rigorously evaluated with Native American youth and families. The program also covers decision making, values, goal setting, communication, and knowledge about risk behaviors associated with HIV, other STIs, teen pregnancy, violence, and alcohol and drug use.

This circle of knowledge means that we use it as a tool and as a system for passing on knowledge.Respecting the Circle of Life: Mind, Body, and Spirit (RCL) is an evidence-based STI, HIV and pregnancy prevention program for American Indian/Alaska Native youth and their parents or other trusted adults.ĭeveloped by Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health in collaboration with Native American community members, the primary goal of the program is to give youth the knowledge and skills they need to protect themselves from unplanned pregnancy and STIs. This represents the personal power that we each possess to learn about the different attributes and have control over our states of being to maintain our happiness. For example, in order to exist on Earth, all four elements are needed and not only are they needed, they also need to be in balance. We need to be aware of each set of attributes and what they teach us. We can be aware of our own balance and help steer ourselves toward a more balanced life. Mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional and in order to be happy, we need all four of those states to be balanced. The circle also represents our own awareness of ourselves and our state's. Similar to the circular nature of the seasons and the life cycles.


Our spirits live forever, on Earth, and then into the spirit world. We believe that life continues on and on. Indigenous people of North America looked to this circle as a reminder that everything flows in a circle. The circle represents the circle of life, the circle of self-awareness, and the circle of knowledge.
