Friday, July 13, 2012

Interested in policy research? Statewide outreach? The Partnership seeks Prevention Program Interns!


Do you want to help promote healthy relationships and prevent dating violence in California?

Do you want to be part of a team that is promoting social change through
state-level leadership, advocacy and capacity building?

The California Partnership to End Domestic Violence is recruiting undergraduate and graduate student interns to work with our Prevention Program. Specifically we are recruiting:
  1. A Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month campaign coordinator
  2. Teen dating abuse policy research interns

Thursday, July 12, 2012

California Department of Education teen dating abuse webpage

The California Partnership to End Domestic Violence is collaborating with the California Department of Education to make dating abuse prevention resources widely accessible to schools and community partners throughout the state. 

The California Department of Education has published its first-ever webpage on teen dating abuse prevention. The page includes a link to definitions of key terms. The definitions used are the same definitions that were included in AB 1880 (Lara), a dating abuse prevention bill sponsored by the Partnership. 

The webpage also includes a link to California's Health Education Content Standards, approved by the State Board of Education in 2008. These standards include guidance on how to include the promotion of healthy relationships in an age-appropriate manner at each grade level.

In the future, a sample school dating abuse policy will be added to the web page. 

Monday, July 9, 2012

Most US high schools lack protocol and training on dating abuse

Despite research showing that 1 in 4 US teens have experienced some form of abuse in a dating relationship, according to a new study, the majority of high schools don't have procedures or trained staff to deal with the issue. In order to assess if high schools are prepared to address incidents of dating violence, researchers surveyed members of the American School Counselor Association, in the first national assessment of school counselors’ practices and perceptions of adolescent dating violence prevention. 

According to the study, “Adolescent Dating Violence: A National Assessment of School Counselors’ Perceptions and Practices,” in the August 2012 Pediatrics
  • The majority of school counselors (81.3 percent) reported that they did not have a protocol in their schools to respond to an incident of dating violence; 
  • Ninety percent of school counselors reported that in the past two years, there had been no staff training to assist survivors of dating violence, and their school did not have a committee to address health and safety issues including dating violence. 
  • The majority of school counselors (61 percent) reported that they had assisted a survivor of dating violence in the past two years.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Comprehensive strategies to promote healthy relationships & prevent teen dating abuse: highlights from the Safe At Our Schools Symposium

The Partnership's Prevention Peer Network Web Conference on Tuesday, October 23, 2012 1:30-3:00 PM will focus on comprehensive school-based strategies to promote healthy relationships and prevent teen dating abuse.

In the last 3 years, there have been significant advances in the research, theory and practice of school-based dating abuse prevention. Research and experiential evidence points to the need for comprehensive school-based strategies that include youth, school-based influencers, school policy and practice change, and linkages to broader community supports.  A paradigm shift is happening - from prevention as education to prevention as comprehensive community change through education and advocacy.

Monday, July 2, 2012

Breaking the silence – public health’s role in intimate partner violence prevention

On June 19, 2012, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Public Health Grand Rounds focused on public health's role in intimate partner violence prevention. 

(Video starts after 35 seconds)

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Innovative dating abuse prevention programs gather to share progress and lessons

Youth and adult leaders implementing Teen Dating Violence Prevention Demonstration Projects funded by the California Department of Public Health Violence Prevention Unit (CDPH/VPU) gathered in Sacramento to share progress and lessons in implementing innovative dating abuse prevention strategies.

Initiated in 2010, the six Demonstration Projects focus on preventing dating abuse among youth ages 11-18, with a strong focus on middle school age youth. Each community is pilot-testing one of three innovative strategies in their community:

The President, Vice President, Joe Torre, and high profile athletes call upon men to step up and speak out against dating violence


Vice President Biden, Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett and White House Advisor on Violence Against Women Lynn Rosenthal hosted an event on June 21, 2012 to launch a new Public Service Announcement (PSA) about dating violence, as part of the Vice President’s 1 is 2 Many campaign. Due to the fact that young women today ages 16 to 24 experience the highest rates of violence at the hands of someone they know, the PSA’s target audience is men of this same age group. The PSA, which was produced by the White House, features professional athletes and other male role models who deliver the message that dating violence is unacceptable, and men can step up and speak up to stop it.