Discussing Healthy Relationships and Domestic Violence with Teens

1. Discussing Healthy Relationships and Domestic Violence with Teens Laura Valiukenas; lcsw, icdvp Jessie Spanton

2. Life-Span: Overview of Services

3. About the presenters:

4. Objectives for Today

5. What is teen dating violence? • Physical, sexual, psychological, or emotional violence within a dating relationship, including stalking. It can occur in person or electronically and might occur between a current or former dating partner. Vagi KJ, Olsen EOM, Basile KC, Vivolo-Kantor AM. Teen dating violence (physical and sexual) among US high school students: Findings from the 2013 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey. JAMA Pediatrics 2015; 169(5):474-482.

6. So Why do We Need to do Outreach? • Teen Dating Violence is a problem that exists and has been ignored • Among adult victims of rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner, 22% of women and 15% of men first experienced some form of partner violence between 11 and 17 years of age. • Violent behavior typically begins between the ages of 12 and 18. • Only 33% of teens who were in a violent relationship ever told anyone about the abuse. • Though 82% of parents feel confident that they could recognize the signs if their child was experiencing dating abuse, a majority of parents (58%) could not correctly identify all the warning signs of abuse. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Physical Dating Violence Among High School Students—United States, 2003,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, May 19, 2006, Vol. 55, No. 19

7. How Does a Witnessing Domestic Violence at Home Affect Young People?? Blame themselves resulting in guilt and lower self esteem • May try to run away to “fix” the problem • May try and be ideal child to stop the abuse • May act out because the already feel like they are the problem Difficulty regulating their own emotions • Difficulty trusting others leading to difficulty forming stable healthy relationships McNeal and Amato (1998)

8. Effects (continued) • (Rosenberg, 1987)

9. Physical Responses • Headaches • Bedwetting • Inability to concentrate • Stomach issues When Dad Hurts Mom: Helping Your Children Heal the Wounds of Witnessing Abuse by Lundy Bancroft (Putnam Adult, 2004) The Batterer as Parent by Lundy Bancroft and Jay G. Silverman (Sage Publications, Inc. 2002

10. Responses over time When Dad Hurts Mom: Helping Your Children Heal the Wounds of Witnessing Abuse by Lundy Bancroft (Putnam Adult, 2004) The Batterer as Parent by Lundy Bancroft and Jay G. Silverman (Sage Publications, Inc. 2002

11. Signs, Symptoms, Effects • Self destructive behavior • Self-injury • Eating Disorders • Suicidal Thoughts • High risk behavior • Experience nightmares • Sleeping disturbances • Changes in appearance or school/job performance

12. Why Don’t They Break-up?? http://www.loveisrespect.org/is-this-abuse/why-do-people-stay/

13. Clinical Interventions

14. What is Teen Outreach?

15. Brief History of Awareness • http://www.nrcdv.org/dvam/DVAM-history • http://www.loveisrespect.org/content/history-teen-dating-violence-awareness-and-prevention-month/

16. Best Practice in Outreach

17. Why is that best practice?? • A 2001 study on a program that discusses healthy behaviors, life skills, and sense of purpose found: • 52% lower risk of school suspension • 60% lower risk of course failure • Significantly higher levels of success for teen parents: 1/5 of repeat pregnancy risk relative to parenting teens in comparison group • Significantly higher levels of success for students with a history of school suspension • 53% lower risk of pregnancy • Significantly higher levels of success for females and racial/ethnic minorities http://recapp.etr.org/Recapp/index.cfm?fuseaction=pages.ebpDetail&PageID=572

18. What else is best practice?

19. Reasons for yearlong curriculum Science and Success, 3rd Ed.: Programs that Work to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, HIV and STIs in the U.S.

20. There is always that one student… Troublemakers: Lessons in Freedom from Young Children at School Book by Carla Shalaby

21. Real World

22. Challenges to working with students • Many of the students feel they’ve been “through the system” and do not think things will be different this time • Fearful of own safety and safety of family, friends, significant other • Want to test boundaries • Embarrassed by family history or beliefs • Will need time to decide whether or not they want to trust you • This one can take days or years and that is ok

23. What does Life Span do • We are constantly trying to improve our teen programming • Currently we have a three part curriculum to present • This includes basic definitions, legal rights, how to help a friend who is in an abusive relationship or an abuser, what is a healthy relationship, role plays, and various activities • Reaching out to young people who are risk of becoming an abuser is being discussed • Always open to making a longer curriculum 

24. Meeting one on one • Life Span will go out to schools and schedule to meet with students during any free period, before, or after school • Most teens do not have abilities to get to our office • Lets the teens retain confidentiality around their parents or guardians • Lets them do something different than the usual day

25. Tips for working with teens

26. Technology/Societal Changes

27. Where do we go from here?

28. QUESTION TIME!