To help educators address youth dating violence and promote healthy relationships in the classroom, PREVNet has created the Resource Hub for Educators. This hub is your one-stop source for evidence-informed resources on dating violence and strategies you can apply in your classroom.
What Educators Need to Know About Youth Dating Violence
Start Here: What Educators Need to Know About Preventing Youth Dating Violence
Click the icon below for an overview on youth dating violence and its risks, the role of the educator in preventing and responding, and how to support youth.
Interactive Training Module: What Educators Need to Know and How You Can Help
PREVNet Scientific Co-Director Dr. Wendy Craig leads this interactive training module for educators on youth dating violence and healthy relationships.
Complete the training module here.
Watch: Understanding and Preventing Youth Dating Violence
Dr. Claire Crooks shares that effective curriculum-based approaches can reduce youth dating violence by 75%, and provides strategies for educators. Watch below, and download the accompanying tip sheet.
Watch: Cyber Dating Violence: What it Looks Like and How to Support Youth
Dr. Brett Holfeld discusses how the use of technology has transformed teen dating relationships and has created opportunities for cyber dating violence. He also discusses some strategies that parents and educators can use to prevent and reduce cyber dating violence among youth. Download the Tip Sheet.
Watch: How to Promote Healthy Relationships in the Classroom
Watch Dr. Joanne Cummings discuss the essentials of healthy teacher-student relationships in this video for educators. She provides strategies for promoting healthy relationships in the classroom. Download the Tip Sheet.
How To Respond to Disclosures of Youth Dating Violence
Read: Adolescent Dating Violence Affects 1 in 3, but Murky Policies Mean Most Adults Don’t Know How to Help
Interactive Tool: How the Law Deals with Youth Dating Violence Across Canada
PREVNet is proud to release this new interactive map to provide guidance on dating violence policy in each province or territory. Early intervention is critical to preventing the negative impacts of dating violence, yet educators and other adults often do not know their role in responding. This map is an important first step in listing available policy protections for youth who experience dating violence in Canada.
View the Interactive Map.
Read and Act: How Educators Can Make a Difference
Youth Dating Violence is a serious problem in Canada, but steps can be taken to prevent it from occurring, and educators can support those in need of healthy relationship solutions. This document will help educators understand the characteristics of a healthy relationship and how TDV develops, the pyramid of discrimination and violence, and the four competency buckets. It also provides a self-assessment.
Download the Document
Watch: Canadian Policy to Address Youth Dating Violence: What Educators and Caregivers Need to Know (Panel Discussion)
This panel discussion will help attendees better understand the prevalence of youth dating violence in Canada and examine best practices for responding to dating violence disclosures. The webinar also discusses our new policy map, which provides guidance on dating violence policy in each province and territory.
Watch: Responding to Disclosures of Teen Dating Violence at School
In this webinar, you’ll learn more about the scope of your role in responding to youth dating violence disclosures and increase your confidence in responding to disclosures in a trauma-informed way. Hosted by child psychologist and PREVNet Knowledge Mobilization Director Dr. Joanne Cummings. Download the Tip Sheet.
Learn: Healthy Relationships Training Module
This free 5-part online training module fills a gap in the formal training of all adults who work with children and youth, and gives adults the knowledge they need to help young people develop healthy social skills. The training is evidenced-based and was co-created by PREVNet, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada, Canadian Red Cross and Scouts Canada, and was funded by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.
Topics for Educators to Explore
Equity Literacy
Watch: Inclusive Prevention Practice – Incorporating Equity Literacy into Adolescent Dating Violence Prevention
In this interactive workshop, Dr. Deinera Exner-Cortens reviews what is meant by the concept equity literacy and discusses how to incorporate equity literacy into adolescent dating violence prevention. Download the Tip Sheet.
Watch: Potential Considerations for Educators Working with Diverse Groups of Youth
Dating violence researcher Dr. Deinera Exner-Cortens examines how educators can help children and youth thrive by creating violence-free schools.
Intersectionality and Dating Violence
Watch the Video
Youth Mental Health
Watch: COVID-19 When You Are Under 19: Adolescents’ Relationships and Well-Being During the Pandemic
Dr. Melanie Dirks, McGill University and Dr. Alexa Martin-Storey, Université de Sherbrooke discuss what research is telling us about adolescent well-being during the pandemic. Download the Tip Sheet.
2SLGBTQIA+ Youth
Watch: Dating and Sexual Violence among Gender and Sexual Minority Adolescents
Dr. Alexa Martin-Storey describes and contextualizes dating and sexual violence among sexual and gender minority students. She discusses barriers to help seeking for sexual and gender minority adolescents, and provides guidelines for educators and other professionals. Download the Tip Sheet.
Tip Sheet
Consent: How You Can Support Students in Learning About Boundaries
This document is a guide for educators to help them support their students in learning about consent and boundaries within their relationships.
Tip Sheet
Preventing Dating Violence in Autistic Youth
This document is a guide for service providers and educators to help them support autistic youth in building healthy relationships and addressing dating violence.
Tip Sheet
Coercive Control Guide for Educators
It is important that educators know how to support their students in learning how control within relationships occurs along a spectrum and how to address some of the specific control tactics concerns.
Watch: Neuroscience of Trauma Webinar
The Neuroscience Of Trauma: Strategies for Professionals Working with Youth Who Have Experienced Dating Violence
Dr. Marla Buchanan from the University of British Columbia focuses on how traumatic events affect the brain and body. Participants will learn about the neuroscience of trauma and how the mind/body responds to traumatic events, such as dating violence. Watch here.
Resources for Your School
Order Healthy Relationships Posters for Your School
Three informational posters were created by PREVNet’s National Youth Advisory Committee to help youth in Canada better understand healthy and unhealthy relationship behaviours. The content is evidence-informed and has been reviewed by teen violence prevention experts.
These posters address important relationship topics, like building healthy relationships, the warning signs of unhealthy relationships, and how to get help if you think you might be in an unhealthy or dangerous relationship.
View the posters and request a completely free poster for your school or organization on this webpage: youthdatingviolence.prevnet.ca/poster
