Keep Your Teen Healthy and Safe in Their Relationship Choices
Many people may be surprised by the statistics that 1 in 3 young people will be in an abusive or unhealthy relationship. Women between the ages of 16-24 are three times more likely than the rest of the population to be abused by an intimate partner.
The violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, or verbal, but increasingly abuse is taking place online.
And the consequences can be long-lasting. Substance abuse, eating disorders, acting out behaviors, thoughts of suicide, and other mental health issues can follow as teens and young adults struggle with how to cope.
Teen dating violence is a leading mental health concern. Patrick M. DeCarlo has experience helping teens escape violent relationships.
As a child advocate and the lead trainer at Women in Distress of Broward County, I spent nearly five years educating youth on the dynamics of healthy relationships, establishing consent, setting boundaries, and what to do if they or a friend were in an abusive relationship. When designing curricula to be delivered in middle schools and high schools I found resources online that can benefit not only teens, but parents as well.
The NO MORE Campaign. The NO MORE Campaign not only offers a plethora of research into the scope of teen dating violence, but also includes excellent Bystander Intervention scenarios for both teens and adults. Their website references the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, another quality resource for teens, parents, and educators, and includes information on how to Engage Bystanders to Prevent Sexual Violence. The most useful section for parents and allies might be instructions on WHAT TO SAY to your daughter or son when you suspect they are a victim of teen dating violence.
Love Is Respect. Love Is Respect (dot) Org empowers youth with major support coming from big players in violence prevention, such as The National Domestic Violence Hotline and Break the Cycle, another organization chock full of resources. Love Is Respect's site directly discusses the additional risks LGBTQ teens experience while also citing ways to stay safe online.
Resources local to South Florida. You can support violence prevention programming in your child's school through these organizations. In Broward County visit Women In Distress, in Miami-Dade County visit The Lodge Miami , and in Palm Beach County visit AVDA.
There are many different programs that are available for community-wide resource and intervention building. For instance, I had the pleasure of serving as a consultant for The Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Dating Matters program which enjoyed much success in Fort Lauderdale, Oakland, Baltimore, and Chicago. These are just a few resources that you can find online and in your community.