The Safe and Strong Child© program, a body safety curriculum aligned with evidence-informed best practice standards outlined by the National Sexual Violence Research Center’s “Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Programs for Children” programming guidelines.
The curriculum package was gifted to Minnesota Children’s Alliance by First Witness Child Advocacy Center in 2018 to be used as a statewide resource.
Program Overview
The Safe and Strong Program utilizes a three-pronged approach to prevention education that not only reaches out to children in communities, but also informs the adults they spend the most time with – their parents, teachers, school staff and community members – about sexual abuse.
The three components are as follows:
- Developmentally appropriate curriculum: The classroom presentations are designed to teach children about safe, confusing, and unsafe touch in a non-threatening environment. It helps them identify safe people to talk to and removes shame and isolation surrounding abuse. The presentations are interactive and children are encouraged to participate and ask questions.
- Professional teacher and staff training: The purpose of the teacher/staff training is to provide teachers and support staff with information on the content of classroom presentations and how the personal body safety concepts can be reinforced in the classroom and with children and families.
- Parent/Caregiver Meeting: The purpose of this meeting is to introduce the Safe and Strong Child© curriculum which will be presented in the classroom to parents or caregivers. Also discussed at this meeting are grooming/manipulation tactics used by perpetrators, age appropriate sexual behavior and how to respond to disclosures of abuse. The focus of this meeting is to address parent/caregiver concerns and to have an open conversation about body safety and the curriculum.
Training Overview
Messaging, materials and activities from the core curriculum can also be utilized during individual or localized advocacy with children and families.
This training will cover the following:
- Intro and child abuse overview
- Foundation for the Safe and Strong Child Program
- Curriculum core messages
- Overview of programming
- Uses and implementation
- Demonstrations
- Overview of materials and parent and professional group outlines
- Potential issues/sticky situations
- Practice
- Responding and reporting alleged abuse
- On-going support/technical assistance
FAQs
Lunch
Lunch will be on your own.
What are my transportation/parking options for getting to and from the event?
There is street and lot parking in front of and behind the building.
Who can attend this training?
This training is intended for child advocacy center workers, school professionals and community partners interested in implementing child abuse prevention programs on an individual, community or school level. If you have questions about whether or not this training would be appropriate please contact Rachel Johnson at rachel@minnesotachildrensalliance.org or 612-850-8727.
What does the schedule look like?
June 20, 2019 from 9a to 4:00 pm: Foundation and curriculum overview
June 21, 2019 from 9a to 4:00 pm: Practice and Implementation (we will try and get done early)
Is there a cost associated with this training?
There is no cost for the training, but you may order a set of display boards from the Minnesota Children’s Alliance for approximately $250 (at cost). Please indicate if you’d like to purchase boards in your registration.
How can I contact the organizer with any questions?
If you have any questions about the Safe and Strong Prevention Education training please do not hesitate to contact
Rachel Johnson, Program Director – Minnesota Children’s Alliance
(612) 850-8727
rachel@minnesotachildrensalliance.org