Prevention Education
"Domestic and sexual violence prevention isn't just the absence of violence. It's also giving youth the opportunity to practice skills for creating healthy relationships." –Colorado Public Health and Environment.
Current Activities
Tu Casa currently provides presentations about healthy relationships to agencies and schools throughout the San Luis Valley.
Healthy Relationships
Brief description: Safe Dates Curriculum helps teens recognize the difference between caring, supportive relationships and controlling, manipulative, or abusive dating relationships. Through these material teens are provided various activities, scenarios and discussions aimed at developing tools and skills to reduce incidences of unhealthy relationship. It also gives peer bystanders ways to intervene when signs of an unhealthy relationship are occurring with their friends. Among sessions offered are: “defining a caring relationship”, “defining dating abuse”, “helping friends”, “how do we feel, how do we deal”, etc.
Tu Casa has also developed a Social Norming Project in Alamosa High School to address the norms that create intimate partner violence. This project looks for inconsistencies between actual behavior, attitudes, and perceived norms that students self-report. This information is analyzed and then developed into a poster and provided to the student body to create positive change.
Trainings & Presentations
Tu Casa Staff is available to any group interested in a presentation about issues related to Healthy Relationships, Healthy Sexuality Domestic Violence, Teen Dating Violence, Sexual Harassment and Sexual Abuse. Specific topics include:
My Body Belongs to Me
Brief description: This engaging presentation is designed to educate children on body safety and the prevention of sexual abuse and violence. Children are taught to identify how to use their voices and body signals to communicate when they are in a situation where they feel uncomfortable - whether with a peer on the playground or with an adult at home. This activity hopes to create a safe, positive environment that leads to open discussion and empowerment for both children and adults to stop abuse before it happens.
Signs of Abuse and When to Report
Brief description: how to identify an abuser, how children disclose, consequences of abuse, types of abuse, age appropriate sexual behavior, how to report/refer, do’s and don’ts for disclosures
From Playground to Prom Training
Brief description: This is a two hour workshop for parents of elementary age to adolescent children. It is designed to increase parent’s competence to talk with your children about sex and sexuality and to help parents give their children solid foundations of knowledge to make healthy decisions regarding their health and relationships. This training addresses positive ways to discuss sex and sexuality with your children. Participants will be asked to identify “teachable moments” and work on skills that will help them and their children to hold positive and comfortable discussions about this important subject.
What is Consent?
Brief description: discusses laws around consent, what is consent, how to give consent, how to ask for consent, relationships don’t obligate anything – you always need to consent! Aims to develop student understanding about consent in relationships , uses group discussions and explores real life scenarios to understand individual’s rights and responsibilities in intimate relationships
Bystander Intervention
Brief description: Bringing in the Bystander. This training engages a subtle definition of sexual assault to identify opportunities and strategies for bystander intervention. By shifting responsibility for preventing sexual violence to a community level this training hopes to discourage victim-blaming and change social ideas around appropriate and safe sexual interactions. Both men and women will increase their knowledge on both the scope and causes of sexual violence and their skills to identify risky situations and effectively intervene.
College Prep: What to Expect as a College Freshman
Brief description: In this presentation, college senior’s experiences with sexual assault and relationships are shared with future freshman as a tool for examining safety options and common relationship dynamics. Expectations and beliefs regarding healthy and appropriate behavior will be discussed as a means to review personal boundaries and the notion of comfort versus safety. Students will be better prepared for the unique challenges of a college environment by building skills for preventing sexual assault, domestic violence, and unhealthy relationships.
Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault: Skills for Nurses
Brief description: This training is designed to help nurses identify the signs of and appropriately respond to disclosures of intimate partner violence, sexual assault and sexual abuse. Participants will learn about how they can appropriately respond when patients disclose abuse, make appropriate referrals for services or support, and mandated reporting. Participants will learn about the dynamics of these victimizations, how to help patients who may be experiencing violence in their homes, and ways to help break the cycle of abuse.
Signs of and Responding to Intimate Partner Abuse (Helping Students, Coworkers, Friends & Family)
Brief description: This training is designed to help school personnel identify the signs of and appropriately respond to disclosures of dating violence, sexual assault and sexual abuse. Participants will learn about how they can appropriately respond when students or coworkers disclose abuse, make appropriate referrals for services or support, and actively enhance protective factors in their school environment through the creation of policies and procedures. Participants will learn about the dynamics of these victimizations, how to help students and coworkers who may be witnessing violence in their homes, and ways to help break the cycle of abuse.
Tu Casa also customizes trainings for professionals and community groups to fit their needs. For information on fees, length of presentation and participation size please contact Tu Casa.