Teen Lures Prevention
To make personal safety and teen sexual assault education compelling for older students, the interactive Teen Lures TV Newscast curriculum was created for middle and high school students as an extension of Think First & Stay Safe.
Teens wanted a program they could call their own. The Teen Lures Prevention website, student-led TV Newscasts and corresponding teacher-facilitated Class Discussions were created specifically with these students in mind. The curriculum was formulated to deeply involve teens in the learning process via student anchors and peer learning.
Grades 7-12 Program
Program Goals
The goal of Teen Lures Prevention is to bring about peer to peer conversations regarding sexual assault, harassment, dating violence, bullying/cyberbullying, sexting, identity theft, online luring, suicide and human trafficking. By providing a platform to openly discuss these issues and their prevention, Teen Lures Prevention ensures the information teens are sharing about their personal safety is accurate and productive in preventing crimes against them. This generation of teenagers may very well be the first in history to have a direct impact in reducing the incidence of these issues affecting their well-being. Teens can change the world!
Safety Skills Prevent Victimization
Teenagers are the primary target of sexual crimes. They account for 51% of all reported sexual abuse, and teens aged 16-19 are three and a half times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault. All too often, it's a peer who takes advantage. With Teen Lures Prevention, students are trained and motivated to be part of the solution.
Schools provide a safe environment that allows teens to openly discuss the issue of sexual abuse and to reach every student with specific prevention strategies. Schools also provide the ideal opportunity for teens to disclose sexual abuse (only 31% of teen sexual abuse incidents are reported), since school counselors and other mandated reporters are readily available.
Peer-to-Peer Abuse/Juvenile Perpetrators
Teen Lures Prevention addresses peer-to-peer abuse and also provides an opportunity for youngsters who are having thoughts of abusing others to come forward and get help.
Nearly 1/3 of sexual offenders are aged 12-19; teens themselves. Therefore, it's important to be able to recognize risk factors involved.
Safety Education Helps Keep Teens Safe
Teenagers are well aware that sexual crimes happen to teens. They see it on the news, online, on TV and in movies, and discuss it with their friends. By talking openly about these crimes in peer-to-peer formats, this generation of teens can be the first in history to do away with the secrecy surrounding sexual and other predatory crimes and help stop the cycle of abuse that has persisted for generations.
Roadblock to Education
Educators typically witness first-hand the ensuing aftermath of sexual abuse, which can include learning challenges, behavioral problems, low self-esteem, depression, suicide, substance abuse, eating disorders, and teen pregnancy. Educators who proactively support personal safety education help ensure their students come to school prepared to learn and free of the challenges that are often associated with the aftermath of exploitation.
Cell Phones and the Internet are a Teen's Life!
America's teens have grown up online, and the majority of them regularly and safely interact online with people they don't know. Many of today's teenagers know how to block, ignore, delete, or handle unwanted online or electronic solicitations. They tend to use closed social networks (Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and Kik) as opposed to open social networks like Twitter, because closed networks are inherently safer.
Students who participate in Teen Lures Prevention programming become especially well versed in Internet/Electronic safety, as most lures can also be used online. Teens are taught not to send self-exploitive, cruel, threatening or disrespectful texts, IMs or images, nor share them. In today's world, responsible use of technology is imperative.
Expect Respect: Fostering Self-Esteem
Teenagers with self-confidence are less likely to be victimized or engage in at-risk behavior. Therefore, it is of vital importance to build self-esteem at every opportunity. By nurturing their sense of self-worth, we can instill in students an expectation to be treated with, and to treat others with, respect and dignity. Assuring teens of their right to control what happens to their own bodies gives them the confidence to assert themselves with adults or peers who attempt to abuse them.
Family Involvement Is Essential
Recent polls prove that teens are listening to and respecting the advice of parents and caregivers. Parents and caregivers play an essential role in protecting their teens from sexual assault. Teen Lures Prevention provides several options for schools to ensure parental involvement, including Student Handouts and a parent-teen handbook entitled Let's Talk Teens.
Parents will want to be familiar with the programming, so when their teens start talking about the Teen Lures and sexual assault prevention, parents will feel more comfortable discussing these issues with their teen(s). Teens should be praised for raising awareness and spreading the words of prevention and personal safety.
Grades 7-12 Program Specifics
Personal Safety Curriculum for Grades 7-12
The Teen Lures provides an excellent opportunity for middle and high school students to actively participate in preventing sexual crimes against teens and youth.
Parent Resource: Let's Talk Teens
For Parents/Caregivers of Teens & Young Adults
Being the parent of a teen is a challenging experience, especially in today's high-tech world. Seventeen percent of teens are cyberbullied, 20% of teens have sent inappropriate images, and 1/3 of sexual assault victims are 12-17 years old. Most of these crimes are committed by someone known to and trusted by the teen, including peers.
Let's Talk Teens navigates parents through tough issues facing teens and provides specific strategies for keeping them safe. This 20-page guide provides home reinforcement of the Teen Lures discussions and helps facilitate personal safety conversations at home. Parents learn how to help teens understand what healthy and respectful relationships look like and how to set personal boundaries.
Let's Talk Teens parent handbook includes:
Developing and maintaining healthy relationships
Setting personal boundaries
Teen Lures, Disclosing & Reporting Crimes; Authority Lure
Dating Violence, Date Rape, Drugs & Alcohol; Affection Lure
Stewardship, Instincts, Asking for Assistance; Assistance Lure
Cell Phones, Sexting, Human Trafficking; Ego-Fame Lure
Cyber Solicitations, Risk-Takers, Extreme Social Networking; E-Lure
Social Networking & Privacy, Over-sharing Online; Name Lure
Electronic Aggression, Teens & Internet Pornography; Games Lure
School Violence, Teen Suicide Prevention; Emergency Lure
Preventing Lures and Cons
Help Hotlines and Links
NOTES:
For more information about these programs, please visit www.childluresprevention.com
Contact us to request more information and to schedule a presentation.