National Sexual Assault Conference 2023: When Prevention is Prevented: Proactive Strategies to Overcome School-Based Barriers

The 2023 National Sexual Assault Conference® was held in San Francisco, California, August 22-24. The conference theme, Equity in Action, called for conference participants to fearlessly pursue a world free from sexual violence and address change across systems and institutions. This session was part of the Prevention track, sponsored by the National Sexual Violence Resource Center with funding from the Centers for Disease Control Prevention. Learn more and access session materials here.

Facilitated by Sarah Ferrato, this workshop explore the impacts of an increasingly divisive legislative landscape on primary prevention education in school-based settings and how to proactively plan to meet these moments through a disaster management lens. The session will open with a brief history of legislative attempts to suppress anti-oppressive education, the intersections of anti-oppression with prevention and social-emotional learning, the ripple effect of violence, and an introduction to disaster management frameworks. Using the Disaster Management Cycle, supplemental handouts, self-reflective journaling, play, and group activities, participants will work together to identify common prevention barriers, build adaptable strategy toolboxes, and begin the development of their primary prevention sustainability plans.