Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month
February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month!
One in every three teens will have experienced some form of abuse in a dating relationship before they reach adulthood. At Prevail, adolescent services are our fastest growing population. In 2018, Prevail provided services to nearly 500 teens. With this understanding, our hope is to unite our community in creating space for teens to recognize and develop healthy relationships with themselves and those around them. Our teens are surrounded with many conflicting messages about relationships from friends, family, movies and television shows, and social media. As adults, you have the unique opportunity to guide and educate young people so they can experience a future free of dating violence.
We encourage you to “Go Orange” with us by wearing an orange article of clothing on February 12th and post a picture online using the hashtag #GoOrangePrevail. Teen dating violence occurs every day in our community, so it is important for each of us to come together and bring about change. While intervention is important, there is a need to raise awareness and work to prevent teen dating violence from occurring in the first place. Included in this toolkit are activity suggestions ranging from five minute conversations to full lesson plans, so there are many options to fit the time you have available. Please consider what part you can play in creating a culture that does not permit, allow, or tolerate violence.
Thank you for your support and active involvement with the teens in our community. We really cannot bring about change without you!
