1. Effective Education
“The program provides effective education about the impact of domestic violence or sexual assault, offender intervention, and victim support. The program also motivates constituents to work actively to end violence in their community.”
Effective Education is not the easiest challenge to accomplish, but it is imperative to having a successful program.
Effective Education:
- increases the factual knowledge of audience about the topic at hand
- increases the audience’s understanding of the dynamics of the topic at hand
- supports and gives suggestions for offender intervention
- encourages healthy, proactive strategies for supporting victims of domestic violence and/or sexual assault
- motivates the audience to reduce/end violence in their community
What a tall order!! But it CAN be done - believe me, I’ve seen it.
Let’s start by learning from the past. Your experience is invaluable for solidifying this first pillar. Reach back and remember past workshops/sessions/classes you’ve been in that were awesome and awful. Start developing a list of what was awesome and awful and why they had that effect.
For example, “My sociology class was awesome because my professor took huge theories and made them very personal. I could understand it better this way.” or “The workshop I went to last week was awful. The speaker spoke for two hours straight in a monotone voice, with no activities, and no break!”
When reflecting, don’t feel restricted to think only of education sessions about violence prevention. You can develop a list of positive and negative aspects from all different education moments in your life. When you reflect in this manner, you will incorporate more positive strategies and create a well rounded workshop.
