sexual assault crisis
and
prevention services
Project Sister Family Services (PSFS) strives to reduce the trauma and the risk of sexual assault, child abuse, and child sexual abuse
in the East San Gabriel and Inland Valleys of Southern California by providing a variety of crisis intervention services and outreach and prevention programs.
|
Free teen prevention education programs
available to local schools and organizations
"The one with the most knowledge has the greatest advantage."
-Benjamin Disraeli
There is no better place to apply this thinking than in the protection of children. Consider the following facts:
- According to the 2004 report of the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA), recent studies indicated that 9% of girls and 6% of boys had already experienced some sort of dating violence before they reached high school.
- The same studies found that 1 out of every 10 girls and 1 out of every 20 boys reported that they had experienced violence and /or rape while on a date.
- A national study of college students conducted by the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control reported that 27.5% of the women surveyed said that they had suffered rape or attempted rape at least once since age 14.
- According to the 2000 population report, between 1/3 and 2/3 of known sexual assault victims are age 15 or younger.
Teen years are some of the most exciting and challenging years of a person's life. It is the time to meet new people, form special friendships and make life long decisions. Some of these decisions are fairly simple, while others are more complex. Some involve dating. While dating can be a wonderful experience to some, it can also be frightening and traumatic to others.
Project Sister Family Services knows that a well-informed teenager can make better decisions and is better prepared to address and handle potentially risky situations. Our agency offers Teen Sexual Assault Prevention Education programs in an effort to reach at-risk youth with the information they need to keep themselves safe and healthy. Our programs are directed specifically toward students in middle schools and high schools, when they are particularly vulnerable to violence that can change the direction of their lives.
Our classroom presentations help to make at-risk teens more aware of their vulnerability, and of the many ways in which they can protect themselves and avoid yielding to peer pressure, through self-awareness, setting and enforcing personal limits, and using self-defense techniques. Our prevention programs are specifically designed to help teens:
- Understand the dynamics of date and acquaintance rape and sexual harassment
- Make healthy decisions about dating
- Establish their own personal limits
- Understand when others are ignoring their limits
- Avoid situations that put them at risk.
Our programs introduce the concepts of date and acquaintance rape, sexual assault, self-protection and issues of sexual harassment (in conjunction with the school code of conduct). We discuss myths about sexual assault, relationship socialization that may lead to an assault, signs of a potentially abusive dating relationship, tips on dating and information about sexual harassment and how it differs from flirting. All of our materials are age appropriate with a very strong focus on risk reduction.
We invite local schools and organizations to call us to schedule one of our presentations. We can address students, teachers, staff and parents. We have served numerous local schools and organizations over the years at no charge. Our programs are positively received and age appropriate in content.
For more information and/or to schedule a presentation, please contact our prevention education staff by calling (909) 623-1619 or (626)-915-2535. You can also email us at
info@projectsister.org. We look forward to working with you.
*24-hour Help Line • 909.626.HELP (909.626.4357) • 626.966.4155
7 days a week
For immediate crisis assistance, please call our 24-hour Help Line. All other questions or comments can be directed to
Project
Sister Family Services Information. Questions and comments should be non-emergency in nature and will be answered within a week of receipt. |
How can we help?
Here are some comments sent to our agency from high school students who attended one of our presentations in a Health class.
"I learned that when a woman or man is raped it is not his/her fault and you do not have to have sex. Saying NO is enough and the person should get it. If they don't, they are in trouble because sexual assault is against the law."
-Linda
"It is important to be safe and have a person that you can trust and can help you when you are scared. People like the people from Project SISTER are what teens need. Girls in high school need someone who can help them when their boyfriends force them into doing things they don't want to do."
- Kim
"I am concerned about some of my friends' behavior. I noticed that some of them are touching girls without their permission."
-Jacob
We find the comments of students like Kim and Linda very gratifying, and helpful to us in determining the content and effectiveness of our programs. We also use these opportunities to solve problems, for example, to give information to Jacob and make suggestions on how to talk to his friends about their behavior.
|
