TDVAM 2023: "I Draw the Line"
/From our youth advocates:
February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month (TDVAM). The goal of TDVAM is to raise awareness about the prevalence and seriousness of teen dating harm. In the United States, 1 in 3 teenagers will experience physical, sexual, or emotional abuse from a dating partner.¹ Walnut Avenue’s youth services seek to prevent and respond to violence between teenagers through one-on-one mentoring and advocacy, social media engagement, healthy relationship workshops, free childcare for survivors attending support groups, weekly teen groups, and youth leadership opportunities.
This year, our TDVAM theme is “I Draw the Line…” This theme asks young people what relationship behaviors from friends/partners they draw the line at. Local youth have already started answering this question, sharing that they draw the line at the following behaviors: feeling unsafe around friends or dating partners, not being allowed to be themselves in their relationships, and not having their boundaries respected. There will be a social media campaign around this theme in February, accompanied by a virtual teen art show, an in-person youth-led event, and materials displayed in our lobby. Please follow us on social media for more information (@walnutavenue_center on Instagram).
For TDVAM 2023, our Services for Children & Youth (SCY) team is deferring to our Youth Advisory Committee, known as YAC, an advisory body composed of local teenagers who assess the efficacy and relevance of our prevention materials. YAC has decided to focus on the power of teenage ambassadors. A teenage ambassador assists their peers in navigating relationships by helping them access resources and sharing basic healthy relationship information. These youth ambassadors receive healthy relationship education from our SCY team. By focusing on peer-to-peer learning, our agency is hoping to empower youth to help each other, set positive examples, and practice healthy relationship behaviors amongst themselves. We know from providing presentations in schools that teenagers open up to each other about their friendship and relationship issues before disclosing to an adult. Our goal is to help their peers understand how to respond appropriately and how to access help for their friends--which is something we also cover in our school workshops.
We believe in the power of youth to advocate for themselves, understand complex issues, and support each other. As safe adults and advocates in this field, we are simply here to help them stay safe. We believe that teenagers are the experts of their own lives. Thus, TDVAM 2023 is being designed by and for teenagers. The goal of our team in 2023 is to elevate adolescent voices so the adults in our community can truly listen.
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¹ https://www.loveisrespect.org/get-involved/tdvam/