Addressing teen dating violence in our communities.

Roughly one in three high school students has been or will be involved in an abusive relationship. Further more, one in five adolescent girls experiences physical or sexual violence perpetrated by her dating partner, according to a recent large-scale study. The prevalence of dating violence is staggering, its impact enormous.

As a group, adolescent girls and younger women are especially vulnerable to sexual assault and intimate partner violence. The National Women's Study revealed in 1992 that nearly two thirds of all rapes occurred when the victim was under the age of 18. Also, according to a 2000 Bureau of Justice Statistics report, women ages 16 to 24 are almost three times more likely than women of any other age group to suffer non-fatal intimate partner violence.

The impact of such abuse pervades Native American communities, as well. Alarmingly, a 2000 National Violence Against Women Survey by the National Institute of Justice stated that the rate of reported intimate partner rape for Native American Women is over twice that for white or African American women.

"As a community member that lives, works, and raises my family in the [Yankton Sioux] community, we're very much aware of the level of domestic violence, sexual abuse, incest, and partner rape that is occurring," says Charon Asetoyer, Executive Director of the Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center. In 1997, the Resource Center began support groups for adolescent girls; the program underscored the extent of dating violence faced by young teens.

"The theme of dating violence or partner pressure to have sex kept occurring and recurring over and over again throughout the program," Asetoyer explains. "So it was at that point that we realized the need for putting together a curriculum that would help the victims to begin the long journey of healing."

A "Teen Dating Violence Prevention Curriculum and Workbook for Native American Girls" was developed from presentations and exercises given to the support group. Consisting of a Personal Workbook for each participant and Facilitator's Guide, the newly inaugurated curriculum emphasizes an early prevention framework, seeking to provide youth the education on dating violence to avoid, recognize, and escape abusive situations. At the same time, it also includes exercises to help survivors of abuse deal with their experiences and begin to heal. Topics include qualities of a healthy relationship, setting boundaries, assertiveness and communication, danger signs, defining abuse, gender stereotypes, what to do in case of assault, legal rights, understanding feelings, and dealing with trauma.

"The exercises will help young women to identify and have a better understanding of healthy relationships, and to realize that they have rights in a relationship [that] those rights need to be respected by their partners," says Asetoyer. "That's what this is all about -- helping young women to gain confidence and build self-esteem. The skills that they learn will last them a lifetime."

The dating violence curriculum is designed to be presented during workshops or classes with a limited amount of time. Material is broken into topic chapters, and the Facilitator's Guide offers suggestions for how to conduct each section. Also, the Personal Workbook includes journal pages where participants can further contemplate exercises on their own time. Structured by "Rules of Group" such as confidentiality and respect, the presentation format outlined in the curriculum strives to provide participants a safe environment to process their experiences and voice their feelings, questions, or concerns.

Over the following months, the Resource Center is launching trainings to introduce the curriculum to educators, counselors, tribal agencies, and advocates nationwide. Training sessions have already been held at the Montana/Wyoming and Wisconsin Indian Education Association conferences this April, and will be conducted at conferences throughout the country, such as the South Dakota and National Indian Education Association conferences in the fall, to phase the curriculum into schools. The materials will also be available for purchase through the Resource Center's clearinghouse.

"It's time to bring this very sensitive topic out from behind closed doors and into the classroom," Asetoyer emphasizes, "so that our young people can learn about this issue as a social issue -- and start their own personal journeys to recovery, for those that have become victims."