Prevention Education
Educating the public is one of the most effective tools for reducing domestic violence. The Laurel House Community Educators provide free, interactive professional development, and other speaking engagements. Suggested audiences include: parents, educators, classroom (middle school, high school, college), athletes, coaches, student organizations, faith leaders, medical staff, law enforcement, youth groups, Greek Life, etc.
Our highly trained staff and volunteers can provide customized training on any of the following topics:
- Overview of Laurel House
- Domestic Violence 101
- Dynamics of Domestic Violence
- Domestic Violence & Children
- Teen Dating Violence & Healthy Relationships
- Healthy Friendships
- How to Get Help
- How to Help a Loved One, Friend, or Co-worker
- For Parents & Caregivers: Talking With Your Teen About Dating
The content of each presentation can be adjusted to meet the needs and focus of your particular group.
School and Youth-Based Programs:
Nearly 1 in 3 teens will experience some form of physical, verbal, emotional, or sexual abuse within a dating relationship. Laurel House offers Prevention Education Programs for middle school to college-aged participants to help keep them informed and safe within their friendships and dating relationships and empower them to be active bystanders in their communities. While these programs are typically presented in school settings, they can also be adapted to fit the needs of youth-based organizations. Our curriculum covers:
- Creating a framework for building and maintaining healthy relationships
- Defining and differentiating between healthy, unhealthy and abusive relationships
- Recognizing warning signs and patterns of abusive relationships
- Safely ending an abusive relationship and community resources/services available to help
- Develop bystander intervention strategies for helping a friend
- Responding appropriately to a friend who may be demonstrating unhealthy or abusive behaviors in a relationship
- Identifying societal areas of learned unhealthy/abusive behaviors and how stereotypes may impact relationships
College Partnerships:
Under the guidance of Pennsylvania’s It’s On Us Act (Act 55), Laurel House has developed partnerships with 22 colleges, universities, and other post-secondary institutions in Montgomery County to provide our services on their campuses.
Services we provide to students, faculty, and staff at our partner institutions include:
- Trainings and workshops on recognizing and responding to intimate partner violence on college campuses
- Guest speakers on the intersection of many classroom subjects with intimate partner violence (previous topics have included: Intimate Partner Violence & Women’s Health and Intimate Partner Violence & Criminal Justice)
- Informational materials on Laurel House’s free and confidential services for survivors of intimate partner violence
- Other Support for School Administrators and Staff:
- Free trainings for school staff and faculty on recognizing and responding to teen dating violence in school
- Free materials on Laurel House services and responding to teen dating violence for school nurses, guidance counselors, and teachers
- Free awareness posters
- Guidance and support for implementing school policy to address teen dating violence
Click here for a description of each of the available school programs.
If you would like to schedule a presentation, please contact our Community Education Supervisor, Eve Johnson, at 610-277-1860 ext. 121.