News

Working to prevent dating violence

September 14, 2016

As students return to school in the fall, several will participate in a pilot program on teen dating violence prevention: Me and You Curriculum. At the request of the El Paso Independent School District, the Paso del Norte Health Foundation collaborated with Health Advocates, LLC to assist with the design and pilot testing of a regional dating violence prevention curriculum for middle and high school students.

Parents, school personnel, and students from local districts in Deming, NM, and El Paso, TX, participated in a needs assessment on dating violence prevention initiatives in their schools. An advisory team of six teachers from regional school districts reviewed program models and identified six topics that will serve as the lessons shared with students. Topics include:

• Defining dating violence
• Characteristics of healthy relationships
• Warning signs for dating violence
• Prevention and ways to stop dating violence
• Community influences on dating violence prevention
• Technology and dating violence prevention

Deming Public Schools and El Paso Independent School District have identified schools and teachers that will participate in the pilot testing phase starting September 2016.