Healthy
W
hile February is the
month of love and
valentines, it’s also Teen
Dating Violence Awareness Month. However, there really isn’t
much difference. Teens in unhealthy
relationships don’t recognize controlling, manipulating or possessive
behavior as unhealthy. They rationalize
it as love.
One out of every four teenagers
will be involved in some type of abusive relationship. Dating violence, like
domestic violence, includes physical,
emotional, sexual, or mental abuse.
For today’s teens, this also involves
digital dating violence (intimidating,
harassing behavior by a dating partner through social media, phones, or
digital devices.) It’s real. It needs to be
talked about. Kids need to know how
to navigate through it and parents
need to know how to assist them.
The past two years, Elijah Haven Crisis Intervention Center has
been providing Teen Dating Violence
education in LaGrange County Schools
through health classes and The Outrage, a drama about teen dating
violence performed by area teens. Last
spring, The Outrage was performed in
Hearts
?Healthy
Homes
by Brenda Yoder, MA,
Education & Prevention Advocate for Elijah Haven Crisis Intervention Center
all three public high schools and they
have been asked to return this month.
The Outrage will be performed at The
Howe School on February 20, Westview Jr-Sr High School on February
22, Lakeland High School on February
26, and Prairie Heights High School on
March 8. There will be a public performance in March.
Some warning signs of teen dating
violence include:
• A partner says he/she can’t live
without you.
• He/she threatens to hurt themselves if you break up with them.
• He/she pressures you into any type
of sexual behavior.
• She/he humiliates you or belittles
your opinions.
• She/he is constantly checking up
on you, texting you, asking where
you have been/what you’ve been
doing.
• He/she asks you to take sexual
photos and posts them on social
media or sends them to friends.
• She/he physically hurts you – even
one time.
• She/he insults you or humiliates you in front of your peers or
friends.
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•
He/she forces you to choose to be
with them instead of your family
or friends.
• When they get angry, he/she calls
you names, swears at you, kicks,
hits, or pushes you.
• You’re frightened of him/her and
worry about how they’ll react to
the things you say or do.
• He/she wants you to be available to
them at all times.
• He/she constantly threatens to
break up with you or accuses you of
planning to break up with them.
If you or someone you know is in
a relationship like this, don’t brush
it off or think it will change. Teens in
relationships that are abusive even as
young as middle school tend to repeat
those relationships into marriage.
Develop a safety plan, tell an adult you
trust, call a national hotline 1-866331-9474, visit www.loveisnotabuse.
org, www.breakthecycle.org, or call
the National Sexual Assault Hotline
1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
If you or someone you know is in
an adult relationship involving similar
types of abuse, call Elijah Haven Crisis
Intervention Center at 260-463-8700.
Love is not abuse.
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The Hometown Treasure · February ‘13 · pg 57