DEVELOPING
A DIALOGUE
WO M E N ’ S R E SOU RCE CE NTE R ’ S SAFE DATE S
PRO G R A M SE E K S TO E DUC ATE TEE N S
SAFE DATES SESSION
BREAKDOWN
Session 1: Defining Caring
Relationships
Session 2: Defining Dating Abuse
Session 3: Why Do People Abuse?
Session 4: How to Help Friends
Session 5: Helping Friends
Session 6: Overcoming Gender
Stereotypes
Session 7: How We Feel, How We
Deal
Session 8: Equal Power through
Communication
Session 9: Preventing Sexual Assault
Session 10: Reviewing the Safe
Dates Program
“If you can’t talk about it—
you shouldn’t be doing it.”
When Patty McLain, a teen educator
for the Women’s Resource Center in
Scranton, heard these words from one
of the students in her “Safe Dates” class,
she knew they had gotten the message.
“The students listen to their peers,” she
said. “By allowing them to speak and
share their experiences, they can learn
from others and discover how people’s
lives and home cultures really shape their
experiences.”
Launched this past fall by the Women’s
Resource Center, “Safe Dates” is a
national program that includes an
evidence-based curriculum for grades
seven through 12 made up of 10
sessions, each focusing on a different
aspect of relationships, including
communication, abuse, friendships,
gender stereotypes and more.
“We are grateful for the tax credit
donations made by Lackawanna Casualty
Co., Fidelity Bank, M&T Bank and PPL
that made this important prevention
project possible,” said Peg Ruddy, the
center’s executive director. “Thanks to
this community support, we are able
to reach more students and raise more
awareness.”
Locally, the Women’s Resource Center
8 • The Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce
has hosted the program in the
Scranton, Riverside, and Abington
Heights school districts, with plans
to expand throughout the region.
“The Women’s Resource Center
has done a lot of education and
awareness events throughout our
history, but we’ve really started to
shift toward true prevention work,
not just raising awareness about the
issues,” said Sarah Dawgert, the center’s
education manager. “We seek to stop
the violence before it starts.”
Students are given the opportunity
to provide public, as well as private,
feedback at the end of each lesson to
ensure that if they need to speak out
against something they see happening,
they feel empowered to do so. They also
have the chance to win prizes featuring
the Women’s Resource Center’s hotline,
should the need arise.
“One of the things I love most about this
program is that it is intentionally created
to build on itself,” McLain said. “We
start with what a healthy relationship
looks like; the students think not only
about how they want to be treated, but
also about how to treat their partner
as well. They get tangible tools and
strategies to help them in their lives.”
Students in the Scranton School District
have also had the opportunity to be
part of a poster contest, where winning
artwork will be featured on billboards
donated by Lamar Advertising.
“The billboard artwork helps the
students put the messages we’re
teaching in their own words and
images,” Dawgert said. “Their peers
can see what they are learning, then the
community also gets to be a part of that
messaging.”
“The great thing about this program is
that it focuses on prevention, as well as
intervention,” she continued. “We try to
honor everyone’s experience.”
For more information, visit
www.wrcnepa.com or email Sarah
Dawgert at [email protected].
The Center’s 24-hour confidential
hotline number is 1 (800) 257-5765.