Transitioning Times

Last year, the Greater Susquehanna Valley United Way enlisted Transitions’ elementary education department in helping them promote a prevention measure in the Chief Shikellamy Elementary school.  The Be Your Own Superhero – Tell a Teacher program is based on the idea that kids who live in at-risk environments will identify their teachers as a trusted adult to help them with situations that are beyond their control at home.  Using colorful, cute, and engaging caricatures of kid-size superheroes, kindergarteners and first and second graders will be encouraged to tell a teacher if they are allowed to smoke or drink bad things, taken to scary places, told to keep secrets about bad things, left alone and scared, go to bed hungry, or are afraid of their parents or guardians.    Participating teachers receive an identifier – a superhero figure that says:  “ Tell Me!” – as a way for students to know that this teacher will do what it takes to ensure their safety....

Over the past three days, I've trained as a facilitator for The Strengthening Families Program for parents and youth between the ages of 10 and 14 years old.  PROSPER (PROmoting School-community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience) provides evidence-based programs for youths ages 10 to 14 and their families. Many school districts in Pennsylvania have PROSPER programs. As a matter of fact, for six years, 14 rural school districts in Pennsylvania and Iowa have used these programs to coordinate a community-wide effort to reduce alcohol, tobacco, and drug use among youth. I knew going into this training that these programs were somewhat relevant to our mission as a comprehensive crime victim center, but I wasn’t certain just how significant they would be until I completed the course.  For three days we concentrated on bringing families together through a series of sessions for a seven-week period.  These sessions are filled with problem-solving activities, ...

With one in six women in the U.S. having experienced sexual assault 1 , the first question that springs to my mind is: Why aren’t there more abundant resources for shaping boys’ and young men’s perspectives on healthy sexuality and relationships? Our boys need clear information and guidance on growing into responsible young men who reject pervasive cultural influences of macho violence, domination/subjugation of females, and glamorization of violence against women in pop culture. We have to start with the basics: How do we talk about women’s and girls’ bodies? What does consent for any kind of touching look like? While the resources for parents and mentors may seem lacking at first glance, there are books and websites as well as education programs available specifically for youth ages 12-19, ranging from PSA campaigns to year-long interactive courses to prevent attitudes and behaviors that lead to sexual assault and dating violence. One recent review by the Sexual Violence Researc...

Since its origin in 2007, Transitions’ Internet Safety program for Middle and High School students has been presented in nearly 2,000 classrooms to more than 40,000 students.  The program summarizes a number of safety issues and concerns related to teens being online through social media sites and chat rooms, talking to others they don’t know.   The Internet Safety program is just one key program included in the sizable collection of programs for students in our local schools.  Classroom discussions include; domestic violence, sexual assault prevention, sexual harassment, and healthy relationships to name a few.  The curriculums are created to build on each other grade by grade, year after year, with age appropriate dialogue and media.  Several schools have arranged their schedules for the students to participate in multi-session programs within the school year.  This style of programming is more primary prevention based.  Other schools still...