Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month 2023: Resources for the Field
For those of us working in violence prevention, February signals the start of Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month: a time for our field and communities to raise awareness about teen dating violence and center the needs and voices of youth in our efforts to prevent it.
One in three teens report experiencing physical, sexual or emotional abuse from their romantic partner(s) and nearly half of U.S. college women report experiencing dating abuse.
In his 2023 National Proclamation, President Joe Biden said “By recognizing the signs of dating and domestic violence, setting positive examples of healthy relationships that lift up instead of tear down, and making clear that abuses of power are never acceptable, we can build a culture where respect is the norm, dignity is the rule, and safety is the expectation — both online and offline.”
We know that our most powerful prevention strategies come from the communities we want to impact. When it comes to teen dating violence, this means dismantling agesism in our programs and agencies, both explicit and implicit, making space for youth at our decision-making tables and honoring their expertise in their experiences.
Below are several resources, events and campaigns happening across the field this February, to strengthen your efforts to center youth voices and prevent teen dating violence.
2023 Campaigns and Events
Love is Respect 2023 TDVAM Campaign: Be About It
The Love is Respect Youth Council selected “Be About it” as a continuation of their 2022 theme, “Talk About it.” According to the campaign website, the campaign will unapologetically discuss education, engagement, and empowerment, and amplify the voices of teens and young adults and those who support them by uplifting positive, healthy, and safe relationships. Join us as we magnify our young people’s voices, highlighting the issues teens face related to healthy relationships. Whether offering support, or relationship education, or connecting someone to resources, “Be About It” calls on us all to create a world free from relationship abuse.
Be About it Calendar of Events
Be About It Social Media Guide
California Partnership to End Domestic Violence Orange Day
The California Partnership to End Domestic Violence will host a rally on the steps of the California State Capitol Tuesday, February 7th to advocate for state funding for prevention programs.
The rally will feature youth speakers from across California, as well as state legislators and leaders from the anti-violence field.
RSVP here.
Resources and Trainings
Preventing and Responding to Teen Dating Violence: A Special Collection
Published in 2019, this special collection from VAWnet, emphasizes collaborative and multi-level approaches to the prevention of and response to teen dating violence. The collection specifies approaches to reaching multiple populations, including:
- Young people
- Bystanders
- Parents and caregivers
- Men and boys
- Teachers and school-based professionals
- Health care professionals
- Pregnancy prevention programs
- Domestic violence and sexual violence service providers.
Read the special collection here.
VetoViolence Prevention Toolkit
In partnership with the White House, the CDC offers multiple trainings, toolkits and guides for prevention practitioners to strengthen their strategies to prevent teen dating violence:
- Connecting the Dots introduces prevention practitioners to the links between multiple forms of violence, shared risk and protective factors and intersectional approaches to violence prevention.
- Dating Matters offers a self-guided online course for educators, school personnel, youth mentors and people working in a school-based setting to identify and respond to teen dating violence.
All trainings and toolkits are available here.
OneLove Film Library
OneLove offers multiple production-quality videos that discuss relationships, abuse tactics and workshops to start relationships about healthy and unhealthy relationships at all age-levels.
The full library is available for free and comes with sample discussion guides and opportunities to become trained on OneLove Curriculum.
Visit the library here.
PreventConnect trainings and resources
- Creating Protective Environments for LGBTQ+ Youth Within Schools and Communities to Prevent Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence
- Roadmap to Prevention: Connecting Critical Race Theory and Anti-Oppression
- Promoting Healthy Relationships at School-Based Health Centers
- Preventing Child Abuse in Schools
- Fostering New Masculinities and Preventing Sexual Violence with High-School Age Youth
- Fostering School Environments that Prevent Teen Dating Violence and Sexual Harassment
Note: PreventConnect is producing a special February episode of our Podcast, in honor of Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month. If you or someone you know is doing innovative work centering and amplifying youth voices, reach out to us at [email protected]