Safe Futures Resource Guide

Contents

The purpose of this guide is to provide educators and those who work in or with schools with resources to prevent and respond to dating violence, domestic violence, and sexual violence.  Many school districts recognize that social and emotional needs and skills must be addressed and taught in order to support student success.  The Safe Futures Resource Guide is a tangible example of social-emotional learning strategies that can be applied in partnership with community-based organizations.    

The introduction and foundational principles and theory sections of this guide provide context and a strong foundation of the public health model for promoting broad community shifts towards desired health outcomes.  The resource guide is then broken into four core strategies that promote healthy relationships, consent, and healing after trauma in schools.  Each theme outlines key strategies, as well as partners and tools for implementation.

The four strategies are:

• Prevention

• School Response and Intervention

• Staff Capacity-Building

• Family and Community Capacity-Building

Introduction

Foundational Principles & Theory

Strategy 1: Prevention

Working directly with students to prevent teen dating and sexual violence

• INTRODUCTION: What Works in Preventing Teen Dating and Sexual Violence

• OVERVIEW: Prevention Evidence and the Center for Disease Control’s Evidence-Based Practices

• TOOLS

  • Youth Engagement

  • Classroom-Based

Strategy 2: School Response and Intervention

Connecting students who have been impacted by domestic, dating, and sexual violence to support and services

• INTRODUCTION: Best Practices in School Responses to Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, and Sexual Violence

  • Domestic, Dating, And Sexual Violence Dynamics

  • Trauma-Informed Schools

  • Overview of Best Practices in School-Based Responses

• TOOLS

Strategy 3: Staff Capacity-Building

Building the knowledge and skills of school district employees to prevent violence and to promote healthy relationships and consent

• INTRODUCTION: Topics and Resources That Will Build Skills and Capacity of School Staff

  • Trauma-Informed Schools

  • Risk and Protective Factors for Perpetrating Dating and Sexual Violence

  • Impacts of Domestic, Dating, And Sexual Violence on Children

• TOOLS

Strategy 4: Family & Community Capacity-Building

Building the knowledge and skills of parents and guardians to prevent and respond to these types of violence

• INTRODUCTION: Resources That Help Build the Skills and Capacity of Parents and Community Members

  • Faith Toolkit

  • How To Support a Survivor

  • How to Talk to Your Children About Healthy Relationships and Consent

• TOOLS

Resources

List of local, regional, and national providers that can offer assistance and expertise

This resource can also be accessed in PDF format: Safe Futures Resource Guide

If you discover a link that is not working, please email us at contact@dvcommission.org

This resource guide is for educators, school counselors, school administrators, or other school staff who want to improve their responses to and prevention of dating violence, domestic violence, sexual violence, and stalking.  Schools hold a unique position in impacting social change and a future without violence in our communities.  This resource guide can help to maximize this position by offering evidence-based strategies for addressing these intimate forms of violence.  The Bellingham-Whatcom County Commission on Sexual and Domestic Violence has compiled these tools after many years of work in partnership with school districts in our county.  Some are locally developed resources which have been adapted from best practice models, and some are from regional or national providers.

The tools in this resource are meant to be integrated and aligned with school-based social emotional learning initiatives, behavioral and discipline strategies, partnerships with families, and communication and outreach campaigns.  They are also best utilized in partnership with local services and expertise.  The Commission on Sexual and Domestic Violence invites you to utilize our staff as a partner and resource as you apply these strategies.  If you decide to use any of these tools, please reach out to us so that we can learn about the good work you are doing, support that work, and connect you to experts who can help you improve your outcomes.  You can reach our staff at contact@dvcommission.org or by calling 360.312.5700.

This resource guide includes select strategies for schools to support healthy relationships and consent among their students.  There are many more resources, which can be explored through the resource list at the end of this guide.  Please visit the Commission on Sexual and Domestic Violence website or follow our Facebook page to learn about our other initiatives, resources, and learning opportunities on best and promising practices in this field.   

The Commission on Sexual and Domestic Violence inspires and coordinates community efforts to prevent and address sexual and domestic violence.  The Commission works with local agencies, government institutions, and community networks to improve responses to and prevention of sexual and domestic violence by providing resources, support, and technical assistance.  Our strategies are survivor-centered, which means we gather input and stories from survivors about their experiences and interactions with systems (such as schools, law enforcement, and the courts), in order to promote justice, autonomy, and well-being.  Our strategies are also collaborative and self-reflective.  We work together with systems to identify and close gaps identified by survivors of abuse and assault.     

Response & Intervention Theory

The intervention and response tools in this resource are trauma-informed strategies to address and prevent relationship abuse and sexual violence. Below are the six guiding principles that define trauma-informed organizations, developed by SAMHSA (the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration), a federal organization:

Guiding Principles of Trauma-Informed Care

1.      Safety - Staff and the people they serve feel physically and psychologically safe.

2.      Trustworthiness and transparency - Organizational operations and decisions are conducted with transparency and the goal of building and maintaining trust among staff, clients, and family members of those receiving services.

3.      Peer support and mutual self-help - These are integral to the organizational and service delivery approach and are understood as a key vehicle for building trust, establishing safety, and empowerment.

4.      Collaboration and mutuality - There is true partnering and leveling of power differences between staff and clients and among organizational staff from direct care staff to administrators. There is recognition that healing happens in relationships and in the meaningful sharing of power and decision-making. The organization recognizes that everyone has a role to play in a trauma-informed approach. One does not have to be a therapist to be therapeutic.

5.      Empowerment, voice, and choice - Throughout the organization and among the clients served, individuals' strengths are recognized, built on, and validated and new skills are developed. The organization aims to strengthen staff's, clients', and family members' experience of choice and recognize that every person's experience is unique and requires an individualized approach. This includes a belief in resilience and in the ability of individuals, organizations, and communities to heal. This builds on what clients, staff, and communities have to offer, rather than responding to perceived deficits.

6.      Cultural, historical, and gender issues - The organization actively moves past cultural stereotypes and biases (e.g., based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, geography), offers gender and culturally responsive services, leverages the healing value of traditional cultural connections, and recognizes and addresses historical trauma.

Becoming trauma-informed is a philosophical process of recognizing the impacts of trauma on individuals and communities and orienting our work towards survivor-defined experiences of healing and justice.  It is an ongoing process of listening, reflecting, and shifting our strategies based on what we hear and learn.  The six principles outlined above are a roadmap for systems to reflect on their strategies and impacts.  The tools in this resource should be implemented in ways that evaluate whether their application is serving survivors’ healing. 

Prevention Theory

Preventing relationship abuse and sexual violence requires addressing these complex social problems at multiple levels.  This is an “ecological approach” to prevention, also called the “socio-ecological model” to change.  The ecological approach means that we are addressing change at many levels: the individual, relationship, community, and society levels.  Prevention strategies should be rooted in promoting healthy, safe relationships based on shared power.  Holistic approaches that work achieve multiple outcomes: addressing the root causes of gender-based violence, shifting culture, building skills, and promoting healthy relationships.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has done significant research to uncover which strategies are shown to prevent sexual violence.  The key elements that have shown the most comprehensive evidence can be distilled into the acronym STOP SV, which stands for promoting Social Norms, Teaching skills, creating Opportunities to empower girls and women, creating Protective Environments, and Supporting Victims. 

This strategy and the following infographic were taken from the sexual violence technical assistance package and report found here: https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/sexualviolence/prevention.html

The Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence also regionally supports programs to implement evidence-based prevention of domestic and dating violence.  They provide a framework for prevention strategies that are in line with the ecological approach recommended by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention: https://wscadv.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Prevention-Guidelines-for-DV-Programs.pdf

This framework demonstrates examples of prevention strategy outcomes (addressing root causes, shifting culture, building skills, and promoting healthy relationships) at each of the four ecological approaches (individual, relationship, community, society). 

These are two examples of frameworks for implementing prevention strategies that work.  The research in this area also recommends that strategies include nine characteristics, in order to be effective.  Researchers identified these nine principles as the most consistently associated with effective prevention programs, and this list is widely used in the field of sexual and relationship violence prevention to create and evaluate educational programming.  They are a helpful checklist for ensuring that programming is strong: 

1. Comprehensive Services

Strategies should include multiple components and affect multiple settings to address a wide range of risk and protective factors of the target problem.

2. Varied Teaching Methods

Strategies should include multiple teaching methods, including some type of active, skills-based component.

3. Sufficient Dosage

Participants need to be exposed to enough of the activity for it to have an effect.

4. Theory Driven

Preventive strategies should have scientific or logical rationale.

5. Positive Relationships

Programs should foster strong, stable, positive relationships between children and adults.

6. Appropriately Timed

Program activities should happen at a time (developmentally) that can have maximum impact in a participant's life.

7. Socio-Culturally Relevant

Programs should be tailored to fit within cultural beliefs and practices of specific groups, as well as local community norms.

8. Outcome Evaluation

A systematic outcome evaluation is necessary to determine whether a program or strategy worked.

9. Well-Trained Staff

Programs need to be implemented by staff members who are sensitive, competent, and have received sufficient training, support, and supervision. Follow up (booster) training and technical assistance to staff are critical.

Introduction
Prevention of sexual violence and relationship abuse can be done on many levels, in many different ways: with students and families in the classroom or another more formal educational setting; through broad positive norming media campaigns that promote healthy relationships and consent; within a school community that creates a culture of care, encouraging students to identify as people who are kind and compassionate.  The tools in this section are based on the ideas outlined in the Foundational Principles and Theory section. 

Tools
Tools, or resources, in this section are divided into two separate categories: Youth Engagement and Classroom-based Education.  

Youth engagement strategies promote youth ownership over initiatives for change, in partnership with adult mentors.  Youth engagement is another term for mentoring youth to develop, design, and deliver content that prevents dating and sexual violence.  Some youth engagement strategies help young people build skills to offer prevention lessons to peers.  

Classroom-based strategies rely on the delivery of prevention curriculum directly to students, in schools, delivered by people in different roles.  There are several curricula listed, each designed to be delivered by people in different roles. Some of these tools can be delivered by youth to their peers as well.  The final tools in this section are meant as advocacy tools—policy and procedural templates that school districts commit to ensuring that all students receive prevention education.  

Prevention Tools: Youth Engagement

PURPOSE: To create prevention campaigns that engage young people in:

• learning about healthy relationships and consent 

• designing and delivering prevention content and activities

• raising the consciousness of their peers through activism and peer education.

TARGET AUDIENCE: Teens/young adults and their mentors

STRATEGY

Incorporating healthy relationships work with ASB and other prevention clubs

LEAD PARTNER(S)

DVSAS

TOOLS

• Advisory Lesson Plans

Locally adapted lesson plans to be delivered during advisory or club time. 20- to 30-minute lesson plans for middle and high school students. These can be delivered by staff advisors or by youth with the support of adult mentors and advisors.  Adapted by DVSAS, the Commission on Sexual & Domestic Violence, and Mount Baker Schools.

• “Making Caring Common” Resources for Educators 

Includes lesson plans and ideas for incorporating conversations that promote empathy, gender equity, and healthy relationships. Published by Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Prevention Tools: Classroom Education

PURPOSE: To create primary prevention campaigns that provide classroom instruction to all students

TARGET AUDIENCE: Children, teens, educators

Introduction

Schools interact daily with students and families who have been impacted by domestic and sexual violence.  When students or family members disclose experiences with abuse or assault, staff need to know how to respond and intervene in ways that will support survivors’ healing.  Strong school responses should always include connecting students and families with local services that provide support to survivors.  Many local organizations provide free, confidential support on school campuses.  These services and agencies are outlined in the chart below.  Policies and procedures are another way to ensure consistent, trauma-informed responses.  In partnership with local districts and in line with national recommendations, the Commission on Sexual and Domestic Violence developed policies and procedures that outline such best practice responses.  In addition to locally adapted policies, the tools below include model policies that have been developed by national organizations and that can be used as they are, or adapted to the needs of individual districts and communities, with support from the Commission on Sexual & Domestic Violence. 

School Response & Intervention Tools

PURPOSE: To improve school partnerships and responses to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking

TARGET AUDIENCE:    Schools, community services, and criminal legal system

Introduction
School staff have a unique position of influence on children, youth and families. The tools identified in this section offer ways to increase skills in preventing, identifying, and responding to students and families who have been impacted by domestic and sexual violence.

The best practices for schools are to create trauma-informed classrooms and school building cultures.  Many of the strategies recommended connect violence intervention and prevention work with school-based Social Emotional Learning strategies and professional development opportunities related to ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences).  Schools should address dating, domestic, and sexual violence congruently with other social challenges, like suicide, bullying, and drug and alcohol use and abuse.  While these strategies should still name dating and sexual violence specifically, and should not be completely lumped together, it is best to address aligned healthy youth development issues and efforts in coordination. 

There are a number of general resources for schools to learn more about becoming trauma-informed.  There are also resources listed here for staff to learn more about domestic, dating, and sexual violence in their professional development.  

One great resource for increasing awareness about the impacts of childhood trauma is the www.changingmindsnow.org website, created by Futures Without Violence.    

Staff Capacity-Building Tools

PURPOSE: To build the knowledge and response skills of service providers and school staff who interact with children and families impacted by domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking

TARGET AUDIENCE: School staff and service providers

Introduction
It takes all of us to end sexual and domestic violence. Schools can help promote community learning and action toward more homes and communities free from abuse. Schools have become more than a place for children to learn. They are community centers where adults can get connected with other services and opportunities. 

Anyone can contribute to violence prevention or to support a person who is a survivor. The tools in this section provide accessible ways for schools to help parents and other members of our communities to take steps towards peace and healing. 

Family & Community Capacity-Building Tools

PURPOSE: To build the knowledge and skills of parents and community members for preventing and responding to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking

TARGET AUDIENCE: Parents and Community Members

Local Resources

Domestic Violence Sexual Assault Services (DVSAS)

Website: http://dvsas.org

24 Hour Helpline: 360-715-1563

Administrative Line: 360-671-5714

General Email: info@dvsas.org

Address: 1407 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225

Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services of Whatcom County (DVSAS) supports people affected by abuse, whether it happened twenty minutes or twenty years ago. Through individual and group advocacy counseling, legal assistance, and community trainings, DVSAS provides support, education, and healing to thousands of people each year. On a broader scale, DVSAS builds partnerships with law enforcement, social services providers, and policymakers to improve the community response to domestic violence and sexual assault. DVSAS is the only program of its kind in Whatcom County and has over 35 years of experience in delivering compassionate and confidential help. Support from volunteers, donors, and partners allows DVSAS to provide these critical programs and services to those who need them most, free of charge.

Bellingham-Whatcom County Commission on Sexual & Domestic Violence

Website: http://dvcommission.org

Phone: 360-312-5700

General Email: contact@dvcommission.org

Address: 1407 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225

The Bellingham-Whatcom County Commission on Sexual & Domestic Violence was created in 1998 by the City of Bellingham and Whatcom County. The Commission on Sexual & Domestic Violence inspires and coordinates community efforts to address sexual and domestic violence. The Commission works with local agencies, government institutions, and community members to achieve change in systems’ prevention and responses to sexual and domestic violence by providing resources, support, and technical assistance.

Brigid Collins Family Support Center

Website: http://brigidcollins.org

Phone: (360) 734-4616                                                                                    

TTY: (360) 734-4616                                                                              

General Email: contact@brigidcollins.org

Address: 1231 N. Garden St. #200, Bellingham, WA 98225

Brigid Collins Family Support Center is a commitment-based organization causing the end of child abuse. When one child is hurt, it means the child, their family, and the community need healing. Brigid Collins envisions a world that cares for and nurtures all of its children and share a dedication to this vision's fulfillment.

Northwest Youth Services

Website: http://nwys.org

Phone: (360) 734-9862

TTY/TDD services number: 1-800-833-6388

General Email: hello@nwys.org

Address: 1020 North State St., Bellingham, WA 98225

Northwest Youth Services is a non-profit organization serving young people ages 13-24 experiencing homelessness in Whatcom and Skagit Counties. Northwest Youth Services offers housing, street outreach, help finding a job or enrolling in school, connection to mental health services, support for LGBTQ youth, restorative justice for juvenile offenders, and referrals to other services in the community.

Regional Resources

Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WSCADV)

Website: https://wscadv.org

Phone: (206) 389-2515

Email: wscadv@wscadv.org

Seattle Office: 107 Spring St. Seattle, WA  98104

WSCADV is the leading voice to end domestic violence in Washington State. We improve how communities respond to domestic violence and are working to create a world where all people can live and love freely without fear. Their work includes supporting our member programs, visionary leadership, engaging the public.

Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs (WCSAP)

Website: http://wcsap.org

Phone: (360) 754-7583

Address: 5426 N. Rd 68 Suite D #311, Pasco, WA 99301

The Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs (WCSAP) is a non-profit organization that strives to unite agencies engaged in the elimination of sexual violence. WCSAP provides information, training and expertise to program and individual members who support victims, family and friends, the general public, and all those whose lives have been affected by sexual assault. WCSAP is committed to providing equal access to services to all program participants and to treat individuals with fairness, dignity, and respect.

National Resources

Idaho Coalition on Sexual & Domestic Violence

Website: https://idvsa.org/

Phone: (208) 384-0419

Email: info@engagingvoices.org

Address: Linen Building, 1402 W Grove St, Boise, Idaho 83702

The Idaho Coalition Against Sexual & Domestic Violence works to be a leader in the movement to end violence against women and girls, men and boys – across the life span before violence has occurred – because violence is preventable.

ValorUS (formerly California Coalition Against Sexual Assault [CalCASA])

Website: http://www.valor.us/

Phone: 916-446-2520

ValorUS (formerly The California Coalition Against Sexual Assault [CALCASA]) provides leadership, vision and resources to survivors of sexual assault, rape crisis centers, community members and other entities committed to ending sexual violence.

In 1999, CALCASA was selected to be national Training and Technical Assistance Provider to the “Grants to Reduce Violent Crimes Against Women on Campus Program” funded through the Office of Violence Against Women (OVW), US Department of Justice. Additionally, CALCASA provides training and technical assistance to DELTA and RPE grantees through it's Prevention Connection project.

Men Can Stop Rape

Website: https://mcsr.org/

Phone: (202) 265.6530

Email: info@mcsr.org

Address: 1130 6th Street NW, Suite 100, Washington, DC 20001

Since its inception in 1997, Men Can Stop Rape (MCSR) has led the call to redefine masculinity and male strength as part of preventing men’s violence against women. MCSR has received accolades from The Ms. Foundation for Women, the State Department, the United Nations, and in 2007 was named the United States Changemakers Winner in a contest to identify the world’s most innovative domestic violence prevention programs. Through our groundbreaking national projects, youth programs, public education materials, and trainings, we have reached more than 65,000,000,000 men and women across the world.

Alliance of Local Service Organizations (ALSO)

Website: http://also-chicago.org/

Phone: (773) 235-5705

Address: 2401 W. North Avenue, Chicago, IL 60647

Incorporated in 1998, ALSO was created to coordinate services for youth and families in the Logan Square community on Chicago’s Northwest Side. Becoming aware of the devastating impact of community violence on those families ALSO began to take action by implementing prevention programs to end street violence. However, violence is pervasive and spans beyond the streets. In 2007, ALSO expanded its violence prevention and intervention efforts to include intimate partner violence. By working to end violence more broadly, ALSO began to see connections between violence on the streets and violence in the home. Today, ALSO works both locally and nationally to end violence. By expanding its reach, ALSO informs its national work from a local perspective and brings knowledge and best practices from around the country to our neighborhoods in Chicago.

Culturally Specific Resources

The NW Network of Bi, Trans, Lesbian, & Gay Survivors of Abuse

Website: https://www.nwnetwork.org/

Phone: +1 206 568 7777

Email: info@nwnetwork.org

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 18436, Seattle, WA 98118

The NW Network increases our communities’ ability to support the self-determination and safety of bisexual, transgender, lesbian and gay survivors of abuse through education, organizing and advocacy. We work within a broad liberation movement dedicated to social and economic justice, equality and respect for all people and the creation of loving, inclusive and accountable communities.

API Chaya

Website: https://www.apichaya.org/

Helpline: 1-877-922-4292 or 206-325-0325 (Helpline Hours: Monday-Friday 10am-4pm)

Administrative Line: 206-467-9976

Email: info@apichaya.org

Mailing Address: PO Box 14047, Seattle, WA 98114

API Chaya empowers survivors of gender-based violence and human trafficking to gain safety, connection, and wellness.  We build power by educating and mobilizing South Asian, Asian, Pacific Islander, and all immigrant communities to end exploitation, creating a world where all people can heal and thrive.

Esperanza United

Website: https://esperanzaunited.org/en/

Administrative Line: 651-646-5553

Email: info@esperanzaunited.org

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 40115, St. Paul, MN 55104

Casa de Esperanza is a leader in the domestic violence movement and a national resource center for organizations working with Latin@s in the United States. Based in St. Paul, Minnesota Casa de Esperanza’s mission is to “mobilize Latinas and Latin@ communities to end domestic violence.” Founded in 1982 to provide emergency shelter for Latinas and other women and children experiencing domestic violence, the organization has grown to become the largest Latina organization in the country focused on domestic violence. Casa de Esperanza is also committed to becoming a greater resource to organizations and communities in the areas of sexual assault and trafficking.

Strong Hearts National Native Helpline

Website: https://www.strongheartshelpline.org

Helpline: 1-844-762-8483 (Helpline hours 7am-10pm)

Email: info@strongheartshelpline.org

The StrongHearts Native Helpline 1-844-7NATIVE (762-8483) is a safe domestic violence and dating violence helpline for American Indians and Alaska Natives, offering culturally-appropriate support and advocacy daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. CT. Anonymous and confidential.

WomenSpirit

Website: https://www.womenspirit.net/

Phone: (360) 633-7083

Mailing Address: 10049 Kitsap Mall Blvd, Suite 304, Silverdale WA 98383

Washington State Native American Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (WomenSpirit Coalition) advocates for and promotes policy on behalf of member Tribal programs to ensure that 1) Tribes are receiving equal access to funding streams to establish and maintain services to increase the safety of Native women victimized by crimes under the Violence Against Women Act, 2) that applications are “culturally relevant” and appropriate for Tribes, 3) that relevant Technical Assistance is offered to ensure successful implementation, 4) that set aside funding for Tribes is sufficient for meeting needs in Tribal communities, and 5) that Tribal communities have the opportunity to decide/give input into the funding processes and distribution of funds.