Violence Prevention
Violence is preventable
Victim Services has offered prevention programs for over 30 years to Dodge and Olmsted County. We are committed to providing these services to our community because we know violence prevention works. Over the last couple years, we have greatly expanded our prevention programming to reflect evidence-based practices.
Overview of violence prevention
Historically, prevention efforts have focused on risk reduction. However, we target potential perpetrators of sexual violence as it is the perpetrator's responsibility to prevent sexual violence. Our prevention efforts focus on the entire spectrum of prevention which includes strengthening individual knowledge and skills, educating providers, and changing organization practices to best prevent sexual violence. We offer several different informational prevention programs, please contact our office for more information.
Community based prevention programs
Just Ask by Safe House Project (formerly Anti-Trafficking International)
“Just Ask” provides evidence-based lessons for 6th-10th grades to provide students with the tools and skills to recognize sexual violence, teen trafficking, and unhealthy relationships, as well as how to access resources when needed. Lessons are designed to be delivered in two 45-minute sessions but can be adapted as needed.
Topics by grade level:
6th: Teen Trafficking, Abuse, and Neglect
7th: Teen Trafficking and Online Safety
8th: Trafficking, Exploitation, and Healthy Relationships
9th: Sexual Violence, Exploitation, and Sex Trafficking
10th: Healthy Relationships, Exploitation, and Sex Trafficking
One Love Workshops
“One Love’s interactive skills-based workshops create opportunities for participants to practice the language of healthy and unhealthy relationships, actively explore and express their ideas with peers, and to reflect on their experiences. One Love’s workshops often utilize compelling, relatable films that allow participants to explore the complicated dynamics of relationships.” (joinonelove.org)
Evidence-based workshops are available for middle school through college audiences. Most workshops take about an hour.
Coaching Boys Into Men by Futures Without Violence
“FUTURES’ Coaching Boys into Men (CBIM) program leverages the power of sports by providing high school athletic coaches with the resources they need to promote respectful behavior among their players and help prevent relationship abuse, harassment, and sexual assault. For more than a decade, the program has been implemented in communities across the U.S. and around the world. From Sacramento and Dallas, to India and South Africa, the program’s messages have proven universal.
The CBIM curriculum consists of a series of coach-to-athlete trainings that illustrate ways to model respect and promote healthy relationships. The CBIM card series instructs coaches on how to incorporate themes associated with teamwork, integrity, fair play, and respect into their daily practice and routine.” (futureswithoutviolence.org)
Coaches attend a two-hour training clinic with Victim Services to learn the CBIM curriculum and then facilitate one 15-minute discussion with their athletes once a week throughout the season.
Safe Dates by Hazelden
“As the only research-based curriculum of its kind, Safe Dates helps young people recognize the difference between healthy, caring, and supportive relationships, and controlling, manipulative, and abusive dating relationships.
Now in its third edition, as well as highly engaging and interactive, this program incorporates updated facts and statistics about teen dating violence, scenarios that now reflect a more diverse population, and information regarding dating abuse via technology.
- This evidence-based curriculum gets young people thinking about:
- how they want to be treated by a dating partner
- how they want to treat a girlfriend or boyfriend
- what abusive dating relationships look like
- why dating abuse happens and its causes and consequences
- how to tell if they are in an abusive relationship
- what to do about feelings of anger and jealousy
- how to help a friend who might be in an abusive relationship
This program, which has been shown to be effective with both boys and girls, addresses perpetrators of violence as well as victims. It works as both a prevention and intervention tool, with case studies and activities that are relevant for teens who have not started dating as well as those who have been “going out” for a long time.” (impactpublications.com)
Safe Dates is delivered in 10 one-hour sessions.
Not A Number by Love146
Not A Number “is an interactive, five-module prevention curriculum developed by Love146. It is designed to teach youth how to protect themselves from human trafficking and exploitation through information, critical thinking, and skill development. The content of Not A Number is presented in a manner that inspires youth to make safe choices and utilize healthy support systems by not focusing on one particular aspect of the issue, but instead taking a holistic approach focusing on respect, empathy, individual strengths, and the relationship between personal and societal pressures that create or increase vulnerabilities.” (love146.org)
Not A Number caregiver training is also available for parents, guardians, and other caregivers of youth 12-18.
Stewards of Children by Darkness to Light
“Darkness to Light’s® Stewards of Children is a revolutionary sexual abuse prevention training program that educates adults to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse. The program believes and teaches that child safety is an adult's job. Stewards of Children is designed for organizations that serve children and youth.” (childrensadvocacyproject.org)
Stewards of Children is a 2.5-hour training.
And Then It Changed: Child Sexual Abuse is Preventable
And Then It Changed is a prevention program created especially for 5th grade students and their families as a tool to prevent child sexual abuse. This one-hour presentation and its activities demonstrate simple changes each of us can make to help end the sexual abuse of children.
Learn more!
All Victim Services violence prevention education is offered free of charge to organizations within Dodge and Olmsted Counties. To schedule a presentation or for more information please contact Sarah Palmer - sarah.palmer@olmstedcounty.gov or 507-328-7271.