Education Courses - Prevention - YWCA Northcentral PA

Education Available

Below are education courses our Wise Options Prevention Educator can deliver to your club, religious group, class or staff meeting. The prevention educator keeps all of these topics relevant and interactive to create a positive and informative experience.

Our sessions use a primary prevention approach. Each primary prevention education session includes the following learning techniques:

Knowledge: Awareness can be raised in a one-time brief (up to one hour) session.

Attitudes: These classes change attitudes. The education classes focus on skills such as recognizing emotions and healthy relationships. These are multiple sessions and we use curriculum that can appeal to many demographics and ages of people.

Beliefs and behaviors: These education sessions help change beliefs and behaviors. The classes focus on learning healthy relationship skills and healthy communication skills. These are multiple sessions and are combined with classes designed to help change attitude.

Courses Available

An early childhood (3- 8 years of age) sexual abuse prevention curriculum. Topics include communication skills, nurturing skills (empathy), developing positive attitudes toward sexuality, and understanding healthy boundaries. Trainings are also provided for educators and caregivers.

A curriculum for students in grades 3-6. Each grade level includes 6 lessons that focus on various topics related to healthy relationships. Topics include feelings, communication, recognizing boundaries, asking for permission and bystanders. Trainings are also provided for educators and caregivers.

The Sexual Abuse Free Environments for Teens

A curriculum for 7-8 grade students. SAFE-T includes 10 lessons in each grade with a focus on skill-building related to healthy relationships. Trainings are also provided for educators and caregivers.

Multi session lessons for ages 10-17 and for college students. Lessons focus on building healthy relationships, power and control, recognizing unhealthy relationships, consent (asking and giving), conflict resolution, dealing with relationship problems, assertive communication skills.

Multi session lessons designed to help individuals with developmental disabilities recognize signs of abuse and coercion, use assertiveness, and report abuse, while also training people how to obtain consent and recognize social-sexual laws and norms.

Relationships Decoded is divided into two programs, an Introductory Program and an Advanced Program.

The Introductory Program focuses on foundational concepts such as differentiating between public and private places, identifying wanted/unwanted touches, and practicing the use of assertive communication. It also provides foundational information on attraction, dating, expected behaviors on public dates, and sexual abuse.

The Advanced Program explores signs of healthy and unhealthy relationships, explores their own values and boundaries, and discusses dating safety (including online safety). It also addresses consent, coercion, sexual abuse, contraception, and sexual health.

Multi session presentations., specifically geared to the audience. Bystander education programs teach potential witnesses safe and positive ways that they can act to prevent or intervene when there is a risk for sexual violence.

This two-part presentation will focus on students being a proactive bystander, distinguishing between playful teasing and hurtful actions such as bullying or aggression. Safe and respectful intervention techniques will be discussed and practiced.

Informational session where participants will gain and understanding of what is DV, types of abuse, the cycle of abuse, who are abusers and who are victims, effects of DV on children, safety planning, and helping survivors.

Multi session lessons around the topic are explored through children’s literature for preschool through 5^th grade. Lessons designed for 6^th through 12^th grade, help students identify bullying and how to stop it.

Multi session training to help employees become more aware of unconscious bias and other barriers to diversity and inclusion and motivate positive behaviors and attitudes – essential for creating and maintaining a respectful, inclusive workplace. Sessions are custom tailored to each group.

Informational presentations for all ages, geared toward the audience. Topics included are: introduction to what sexual assault is, sexting, helping someone you care about, human trafficking and what a rape kit is.

This is an informational presentation to introduce participants to the services offered at the YWCA and possible volunteer opportunities for groups or individuals.

Multi-session lessons focused on what abuse is, patterns of abuse, red flags, how to help friends, how to end abusive relationships, equal power through communication and steps to help end dating violence. Lessons are geared toward 14-18 year old youth.

Two session presentation will give an understanding of what ACEs are and explore the connection between ACEs domestic violence and sexual assault. Risk factors, protective factors and working toward reducing ACEs will be discussed.

This multi session presentation will give adults the opportunity to reflect on healthy and unhealthy relationships in their lives and how to improve them, warning signs , creating boundaries, effects of unhealthy relationships on children, how to help someone in unhealthy relationships, self-esteem, positive affirmations and self-care.

This multi session presentation explores our ability to understand, use and manage our emotions in a positive way. Emotional intelligence touches on self-awareness, self-regulation, self-motivation, empathy and social skills. These presentations can be tailored to any age group, starting with preschool aged children and working all the way through adulthood.

This presentation is for anyone who would like to know more about trauma and the effects it has on an individual in all aspects of their life. Participants will learn the impact trauma has and how to respond appropriately. This presentation can be tailored to the audience. The impact of trauma during childhood and adulthood and how it may present itself will be explored.

This informational presentation can be tailored to children or adults. Information shared will be a basic overview of what trafficking is, how to recognize it and how to respond if you think it is happening in your community.

Information taught in this group will equip girls with tools and information to make positive choices and educated decisions regarding their lives. Girls will engage in activities that improve their self-confidence, ultimately instilling the skills and mindsets they need to go out and make an impact in the world.

This presentation will explore what sexting is, identifying the risks and potential consequences of sexting, understanding peer pressure and identify strategies for avoiding sexting while enhancing positive relationships.

To adequately address the negative climate toward the LGBTQIA+ community, this is a series of presentations discussing sex and gender, gender expression, names and pronouns, making mistakes and saying sorry, microaggressions, being an ally, bystander awareness and addressing harassment, creating safe spaces and more. Separate presentations are available for students, adults and health professionals.

This 4-6 week course will help parents understand their role in the primary prevention of sexual abuse of their child/ren. Skills to talk to your child about healthy relationships, consent, respect, becoming a trusted adult, talking to your kids about sexual abuse, warning signals and much more. The main goal is to help parents learn to have open and honest conversations with their child/ren related to the issues of dating violence and sexual assault.