Violence Prevention
Violence is preventable
Victim Services has offered prevention programs for over 30 years to Dodge and Olmsted County. We are committed to providing these services to our community because we know violence prevention works. Over the last couple years, we have greatly expanded our prevention programming to reflect evidence-based practices.
Overview of violence prevention
Historically, prevention efforts have focused on risk reduction. However, we target potential perpetrators of sexual violence as it is the perpetrator's responsibility to prevent sexual violence. Our prevention efforts focus on the entire spectrum of prevention which includes strengthening individual knowledge and skills, educating providers, and changing organization practices to best prevent sexual violence. We offer several different informational prevention programs, please contact our office for more information.
Community based prevention programs
And Then It Changed: Child Sexual Abuse is Preventable: is a 50-minute presentation that demonstrates healthy ways of talking about challenging topics relevant to 5th grade students including how the media influences body image, how people can use tricks and lies to get what they want, and how to respond when someone does something that makes you uncomfortable or that you don’t like. The vast majority of the content demonstrates positive ways to handle situations.
Exploitation Through Technology: is a 50-minute interactive program that focuses on what exploitation is and how it is used through technology. This presentation defines exploitation bringing awareness to students on how exploiters target and trick teens into exploitive relationships. It will show that exploitation can range from being asked to send revealing pictures, to sex trafficking. Students will also be given information on what they should do if they experience a risky online situation, and how they can prevent exploitation from happening in their lives.
Living in a Digital World: is a 1-hour interactive program that explores the pressures students face in a digital world, particularly the issues of sexting and the risks students take when sending, requesting, or forwarding these images and videos. This presentation provides an in depth look at the legal and social consequences of this activity, possible reasons why students engage in this risk-taking behavior, and the impact it has on a student when a photo has been leaked or forwarded to others.
The Mask You Live In: Pressured by the media, their peer group, and even the adults in their lives, men of all ages confront messages encouraging them to disconnect from their emotions, devalue authentic friendships, objectify and degrade women, and resolve conflicts through violence. These gender stereotypes interconnect with race, class, and circumstance, creating a maze of identity issues boys and young men must navigate to become “real” men. By using clips from the film "The Mask You Live In", this 50-minute interactive program will help students better understand how our society and media has created a false picture of masculinity and understand its harmful effect on our society.
Not a Number: is an interactive, five-module prevention curriculum developed by Love146. It is designed to teach youth how to protect themselves from human trafficking and exploitation through information, critical thinking, and skill development. The curriculum was developed for youth ages 12-18, including male, female, and youth that identify as LGBTQ. Not a number is applicable across gender, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Safe Dates: A Teen Relationship Abuse Prevention Curriculum: this is a 10, 1-hour sessions curriculum. Studies show that one in five teenagers in a serious relationship report being physically abused by his or her partner. It's not a question of if or when an incident of dating violence will happen. Dating violence is happening now. This program, which has been shown to be effective with both boys and girls, addresses perpetrators of violence as well as victims. It works as both a prevention and intervention tool, with case studies and activities that are relevant for tweens who have not started dating as well as those who been "going out" for a long time.
Safer Dating for Youth on the Autism Spectrum: is 6 1-hour curriculum, was authored via a collaborative process with multiple rounds of feedback from autistic youth, autistic adults, parents of autistic youth, and professionals and advocates who work with families of autistic youth. It is intended to be used with teenagers 15-19 years old with diagnosis of ASD (autism spectrum disorder), who are verbal and would like to date in the near future.
Sexual Violence Prevention for Disability Services Professionals: Victim Services of Dodge & Olmsted Counties is proud to present our newest sexual violence prevention program, designed for professionals in the disability services field. This 1-hour interactive presentation will empower disability services professionals how to recognize, respond to, and prevent sexual violence against people with disabilities. Individuals with disabilities are seven times more likely to be sexually assaulted, and it's not being talked about enough. This presentation is available in person or virtually and can be tailored to fit an individual disability services organization's need.
The Spectrum of Violence: is an interactive 50-minute lesson that can be presented to middle school and high school students.
Steward of Children: Darkness to Light's, Stewards of Children is a revolutionary sexual abuse prevention training program that educates adults to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse. The program believes and teaches that child safety is an adult's job and is designed for organizations that serve children and youth. It is a 2.5-hour training that integrated the simple principles of choice, consciousness, and personal power to promote an understanding of the nature and empowered action. The curriculum is direct about holding each adult accountable, and generous in providing powerful, specific support for personal change.
The presentation focuses on the following:
- The various forms of sexual violence
- What to do and where to go if it happens to them or someone else
- Criminal versus wrong
- Consent and age of consent
- The impact of media, advertising, and society has on sexual violence
Learn more!
All Victim Services violence prevention education is offered free of charge to organizations within Dodge and Olmsted Counties. To schedule a presentation or for more information please contact Sarah Palmer - sarah.palmer@olmstedcounty.gov or 507-328-7271.