Healthy Relationships for Teens Program
 

The Healthy Teens program goal is to educate at-risk teens ages 13-19 (boys and girls) and young mothers up to age 24 about domestic violence and teen dating violence in order to prevent intimate partner violence and assist those already experiencing violent relationships.

YWCA staff conduct educational, health-promoting presentations focused on intimate partner violence, which help participants learn about, avoid, and get out of violent relationships. The curriculum defines healthy and abusive relationships, signs of abuse, characteristic behaviors of victims and perpetrators, and available resources. Presentations include group discussions, Q&A, and handouts, such as the Teen Power and Control Wheel. Post-presentation questionnaires are used to evaluate participant changes in knowledge. Those teens already experiencing violence are provided with assistance.

As a support to the Healthy Teens program, the YWCA SGV also conducts presentations for police officers, medical professionals, and local service club members. These presentations (a) help train service personnel to recognize the signs of dating/domestic violence so that they can effectively assist teens and adults in need and (b) increase community knowledge of dating/domestic violence.

Respect for All Program

The Respect for All project goal is to create safe, hate-free schools and communities by giving youth and the adults who guide their development the tools they need to talk openly about diversity and the prevention of prejudice. Through this project, the YWCA SGV trains teachers to effectively respond to incidents of bullying and supports them as they implement the curriculum, which teaches youth empathy and ways to take a stand against bullying. The program was originally developed by Groundspark, a San Francisco-based national non-profit that creates films and educational campaigns to uproot entrenched prejudices.

Each year, 3.2 million students in grades 6-10 are targets of bullying and 3.7 million students engage in bullying. An estimated 160,000 U.S. students skip school daily to avoid being bullied. One out of every ten students who drops out of school does so because of bullying. The problem is so extreme that, in fact, 30% of all child suicides can be directly related to bullying.

The California Department of Public Health officially recognizes Respect for All as a promising strategy that reduces bias-based discrimination and bullying among teenagers. For more information, or to request a presentation, please call 626-960-2995 or email info@ywcasgv.org