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STANDING UP FOR THEMSELVES |
STAYING OUT OF TROUBLE |
Standing Up for Themselves. Teachers and school staff regularly worry about students who are targeted by other students and/or are at risk for entering abusive relationships as they get older. These students are also at risk for being targeted by others outside of school. These students need concrete skills in personal safety and self-defense, understanding manipulative and abusive behavior, re-training in following their intuition (which may have been diminished as a coping mechanism), and understanding the social forces that create violence. In addition to concrete skills and improved analyses of what they have experienced, our goal is to increase their resiliency, adrenaline management, critical thinking, and self-esteem. Includes:
Personal Safety 101 teaches what an assailant is looking for and how to avoid being that target by teaching awareness skills, body language, and using one’s voice to prevent or stop an assault. We address how our socialization and media images affect how we react in threatening or dangerous situations. Students have an opportunity to question safety information they have received in the past to discover whether it is relevant or effective.
•Healthy Relationships Seminar
This seminar examines the behaviors that constitute healthy and unhealthy, or abusive, relationships. We begin with interactive activity to understand the progression along the increasingly controlling and abusive spectrum of domestic violence. Students learn early signs of domestic violence and discuss personal boundaries and choices they make with “lower level” domestic violence. The discussion then turns to healthy relationships and helps the students determine what healthy relationships might look like, and which aspects are particularly valuable for each participant personally.
•Technology and Safety Seminar
This seminar includes interactive activities which help connect the “unreal” world of technology to the “real” world. We explore the consequences of using these very public and seemingly – but not actually –anonymous media, which may affect the emotional health of others (by cyber-bullying), one’s reputation among peers (by posted pictures, sexting), or employers or colleges impressions (by “updates”.)
•Intuition Development Seminar
Physical and sexual assaults are perpetrated most often through manipulation and coercion rather than through physical force or physical force alone. In this seminar, students identify and analyze manipulative behaviors. They discover why the manipulation techniques are effective and how to avoid being drawn in. Intuition, the semi-conscious part of the brain that stores more information than the conscious part, often sends signals when someone is manipulating us. In this seminar we explore how the intuition sends us messages and how to deconstruct and use those messages most effectively.
•The Roots of Violence Seminar
People are assaulted differently based on the way that they are perceived. These perceptions are based on cultural legacies around factors like gender, race, and class. This seminar explores the link between casual use of derogatory language and hate-crimes like gay-bashing or domestic violence. Participants in this seminar identify how the use of this kind of language serves to socialize the behavior of the group or culture they belong to and how this socialization limits personal expression and encourages the continuation of institutional oppression.
•5-8-Hour Experiential Verbal & Physical Workshop
Awareness & avoidance skills; verbal de-escalation and dissuasion techniques; boundary setting skills with people we know; physical skills for a face-to-face confrontation. A longer workshop includes defense against predatory attacks (attacks from behind). Longer sessions allows for more physical skills that not only may save their lives, but also tends to make students’ verbal skills and body language stronger simply because they know that they can take care of themselves if the situation worsened.
Staying Out of Trouble. Oftentimes when individuals “get into trouble” it has less to do with wanting to hurt another person physically or emotionally, and more to do with acting out unexamined dynamics that they see around them in relationships or in relationships of power. This package shows students ways they can stay safe while reducing risk of getting into trouble with the law or at school, helps students see across differences to how violence can originate for everyone in society, addresses how they react in different situations and possible consequences, looks at what characteristics/dynamics they want to avoid and/or pursue in relationships, and finally, helps students learn the communication skills that can lead to effective resolution of problems, healthier relationships, and an increased ability to advocate for themselves and others. Includes:
Personal Safety 101 teaches what an assailant is looking for and how to avoid being that target by teaching awareness skills, body language, and using one’s voice to prevent or stop an assault. We address how our socialization and media images affect how we react in threatening or dangerous situations. Students have an opportunity to question safety information they have received in the past to discover whether it is relevant or effective.
•The Roots of Violence Seminar
People are assaulted differently based on the way that they are perceived. These perceptions are based on cultural legacies around factors like gender, race, and class. These perceptions are perpetuated by images in the media and the increasingly commonplace use of derogatory language. Participants in this seminar identify how the use of this kind of language serves to socialize the behavior of the group or culture they belong to and how this socialization limits personal expression and encourages the continuation of institutional oppression. This seminar explores the link between casual use of derogatory language and hate-crimes like gay-bashing or domestic violence.
•“What Would Provoke Me?” Seminar
While asserting boundaries is important, many people may react to provocations in a way that gets them in legal trouble, trouble at school, or puts them in physical danger. Others may not be aware that they have a right to stand up for their boundaries. In this seminar, participants study situations that provoke violence (deliberate rudeness, insults to self or loved ones, direct challenges) and consider how s/he has or would react to those situations personally.
We discuss how anger, vengeance or a sense of justice can fuel reactions to these situations. We also talk about potentially negative consequences: escalating a situation, getting hurt or into trouble at school or legally because of an aggressive reaction, or social stigma for not standing up for yourself. We explore the different ways to react and how it may make us feel, how it may affect the situation, and possible big picture outcomes. We discuss how socialization can factor into the reactions we choose and how to make the best choice personally.
•Healthy Relationships Seminar
This seminar examines the behaviors that constitute healthy and unhealthy, or abusive, relationships. We begin with interactive activity to understand the progression along the increasingly controlling and abusive spectrum of domestic violence. Students learn early signs and discuss personal boundaries and choices they make with “lower level” domestic violence. We also discuss the implications of drugs and alcohol use as it pertains to domestic violence. The discussion then turns to healthy relationships and helps the students determine what healthy relationships might look like, and which aspects are particularly valuable for each participant personally.
•3-5-Hour Experiential Verbal Dissuasion/De-escalation Workshop
Verbal de-escalation and dissuasion techniques practiced in situations the students have discussed finding provoking. It also includes boundary-setting skills with people we know, as those are the people who are most likely to cross our boundaries and create frustration that can come out against strangers and acquaintances.
