Home
A brief history
An aim of COUI is to prevent teenage pregnancy and tackle disadvantage and social exclusion through delivering a practical programme - 'Teens and Toddlers' that fosters through intensive interaction with small children and classroom time, greater awareness and respect for conception and parenting, whilst delivering a youth development programme.
The Teens and Toddlers approach to pregnancy prevention was originally conceived by Laura Huxley, widow of Aldous Huxley, in the late 1970s in California USA. Mrs. Huxley developed deep concerns about children and their earliest relationship experiences. After being established as a pilot programme in 1978, the approach and process was refined by the creation of , Children: Our Ultimate Investment [COUI], a non-profit foundation dedicated to the 'nurturing of the possible human'.
Laura's rationale for Teens and Toddlers was that, 'the greatest gifts life has to offer are sound health and good relationships - with ourselves, our relationships, our environment. Unfortunately both health and relationships are often undermined when we are totally dependent and most vulnerable: that is during conception, pregnancy, birth and the first five years of life. Consequently, the largest portion of human suffering - illness, loneliness, a lack of meaning, anti-social behaviour, etc, would be greatly diminished if that period were lived in harmony and love. The well being of the world depends largely on the quality of the relationship between parents or parent substitutes and their children. If they were to live in a loving state of consciousness, the benefit would be universal'.
Teenage pregnancy can be an adaptive mechanism to deal with difficult life situations, which gives an immediate gain, but long- term loss. When young people find themselves without hope for a better future and without the necessary life skills to change their circumstances, having a baby can seem like an easy 'way out' - they can go on social benefits, get a Council flat and mistakenly believe that having a baby will bring love, meaning and positive change into their lives. There are also the accidental pregnancies, through poor sex education and lack of sexual responsibility, which devastates their future both educationally and socially. All this is at great cost to our society, for in the long term, the results are devastating. The Teens and Toddlers programme engenders in young people a sense of responsibility and empowerment, awakens their sense of potential and creates a more informed sense of choice; and gives them an experience that they can find and value their self worth in new ways.
COUI UK
In 2001 Diana Whitmore and Stacey Millichamp, supported by the Psychosynthesis and Education Trust, founded COUI UK and brought the Teens and Toddlers programme to the UK.
COUI UK is a charity delivering Teens and Toddlers programmes with partners in the public sector. Teen graduates of the Teens and Toddlers programme are awarded a National Award in Interpersonal skills(NCFE). Additionally, COUI UK's main work is delivering Sustainability Programme which mainstreams the project to be delivered by local people in their local community (Diploma in Youth Work, Level 3).