COVID-19 UPDATE: All presentations are offered virtually!

Workshops for Schools, Groups,
& Youth Organizations

Staff contact: Youth Prevention Specialist - avelazquez@wafwc.org
View our digital introduction packet for schools and youth organizations.

Our evidence-based youth workshops can be brought into classrooms, after-school groups, homeschool groups, or youth organizations by our youth advocates for any age. For more information on our youth groups, mentoring, childcare, and other offerings, please visit our Services for Children & Youth.

Our workshops are designed to be age-appropriate to the audience. Workshops for youth age 11+ explicitly includes healthy dating as well as friend and family relationships.

All workshops are:

• Free

• Offered in Spanish or English

• Available online or in person

• Intersectional (including discussion of dynamics of race, queerness, disability, and other lived identities)

• Customizable to meet program/curriculum needs

• Designed to be an hour or less in length

The Curricula

A Window Between Worlds (AWBW)
All age groups. All genders.

• From AWBW: “By creating art in Windows workshops, participants are provided a safe environment to express themselves and tell their stories, build resilience, identify and name emotions, self-regulate, gain a stronger sense of self-worth and much more.”

• Our youth advocates are trained and certified by AWBW to facilitate workshops from a library of over 500 crafts with children, youth, and adults alike. Here are some workshop examples!

Dating Matters (DM)
Ages 11-17 (middle school & high school). All genders.

• The CDC says that the Dating Matters youth program “provide middle school students—ages 11 to 14– with the knowledge and skills they need to have healthy, safe relationships before they start dating. Research shows that supporting healthy emotional development can prevent a variety of negative outcomes, including teen dating violence. Research also shows that healthy relationship attitudes and behaviors start developing early.”

• A breakdown of the Dating Matters youth programming can be viewed here. Please note that Walnut Avenue does not charge for any of its workshops.

Customized Workshops for Supplemental Classroom/After-School Learning
All age groups. All genders.

Domestic and gendered violence impacts everyone in different ways in all kinds of contexts, and it can be helpful to have some extra support in navigating those complexities with students when they come up in your classroom, no matter what the main subject is. Walnut Avenue also offers individual, research-supported presentations and workshops that are designed to dovetail with a classroom’s current learning plan. For example:

• The sociology of domestic and gendered violence (Sociology, History, Social Studies)

• Discussing domestic and gendered violence in the context of The Farming of Bones, The Taming of the Shrew, Of Mice & Men, and other texts (English, Literature)

• Consent and healthy relationships (Health, P.E.)

• Discussions and workshops with school groups (e.g. the GSA, Feminist Club, Film Club, Rotary, and others)

If you’re interested in this kind of customized workshop, please contact the Community Engagement Coordinator at mcoffey@wafwc.org.

Presentations for Adult Community Members & Service Partners

Staff contact: Community Engagement Coordinator - mcoffey@wafwc.org

Our presentations on domestic violence provide practical knowledge and skill implementation which is tailored to meet the specific needs of the audience. This has included:

• professional workplaces

• medical centers

• community centers

• different faith groups

• individual folks in the community who want to learn how to be a better, safer ally for survivors

Topics in the past have included Domestic Violence 101, Legal Rights of Survivors in the Workplace, how to be a safer and more effective ally, how to support survivors in the specific population that you serve, and more.

For more information on our domestic violence advocacy certification training, please check out our Internship & Training page.

Interviews for News, Media, & Academic Sources

Staff contact: info@wafwc.org

In the past, we’ve been honored to be highlighted in news articles, podcasts, radio shows, academic research, and other sources. If you’d like to feature Walnut Avenue in your writing, interview an advocate, or find out more about the work being done in Santa Cruz County, please reach out to us at info@wafwc.org and you will be contacted by the appropriate staff person.

Consultations

Sometimes situations around domestic, dating, and gendered violence arise that are complicated and for which there isn’t any precedent for knowing how to address it safely. Our advocates have offered advice, support, information, and resources for schools, youth organizations, faith organizations, and other groups.

If your administration, organization, group, or client would like support from a certified advocate, you may:

• Call our 24-hour hotline at 1 (866) 269-2559

• Call our front office to make a phone appointment with an advocate at (831) 426-3062. Please specify if the situation involves a minor or transition-aged youth as the survivor so that we can ensure a youth advocate responds.

Note: Walnut Avenue does not require parental permission for a person under 18 to speak with an advocate or participate in our services.