“Over 80% of high school counselors report feeling unprepared to address incidents of abuse on their school campus”
(Break the Cycle, 2014)
(Break the Cycle, 2014)
I know very little about the issue of teen dating violence. In fact, I did not even consider this to be an issue until about two years ago when my sister mentioned to me some statistics she had read about teen dating violence. I do know that intimate partner violence is prevalent in adult relationships and that domestic violence is most often not reported, but know almost nothing about this being an issue among teen relationships. My naivety angers me. As I question myself as to why I didn’t know this, I begin to realize that this topic is not talked about in schools. Middle and high school students learn about drugs and unprotected sex, but there is no mention of teen dating violence. Why is this? Is it because our society normalizes intimate partner violence? Because we have a strange idea that such issues are “private”?
School psychologists work to ensure that all students achieve their potential. Not simply their academic potential, but their potential to be a kind, good, respectful person. We teach students how to exist and function within society teaching executive functioning and social skills. We should also teach young people how to make responsible, safe decisions in their social lives including in their relationships. There is an expectation in our society that we should all know how to act and be, but we learn through example and too often those examples show us that violence is a natural part of a relationship. Students need to understand what makes a relationship safe and respectful and that violence of any kind is not okay. We also need to teach students how to responsibly and safely emote their feelings without turning to violence. We need to educate our students, empower our students, and give them safe spaces to share their needs, concerns, and fears.
Break the Cycle (2014). Why it matters. Retrieved from http://www.breakthecycle.org/
School psychologists work to ensure that all students achieve their potential. Not simply their academic potential, but their potential to be a kind, good, respectful person. We teach students how to exist and function within society teaching executive functioning and social skills. We should also teach young people how to make responsible, safe decisions in their social lives including in their relationships. There is an expectation in our society that we should all know how to act and be, but we learn through example and too often those examples show us that violence is a natural part of a relationship. Students need to understand what makes a relationship safe and respectful and that violence of any kind is not okay. We also need to teach students how to responsibly and safely emote their feelings without turning to violence. We need to educate our students, empower our students, and give them safe spaces to share their needs, concerns, and fears.
Break the Cycle (2014). Why it matters. Retrieved from http://www.breakthecycle.org/