In recognition of Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Week, local professionals, parents and community leaders on Wednesday discussed ways to address this serious social problem.

“Teen dating violence affects one in three teenagers and can result in serious educational, physical, psychological and societal difficulties,” the press release for the discussion said.

Eight women, ranging from school counselors to ComCorps members, took part in the event. Leading the discussion was Lindsey Daniels, program coordinator for the Tri-County Mental Health and Counseling Sexual Assault Prevention Program, which is based in Athens.

Calling the event a “World Café Discussion,” Daniels posed questions and gave the group a chance to talk with one another.

The group commented on what a community free of teen dating violence would look like. Positive role modeling, from parents and mentors, a positive image of relationships and communication for kids were mentioned as places to start.

A lack of fear for women, from sexual violence and rape, would also be present in this utopia.

“The norm is that (violence) is not acceptable,” stated Kelly Cooke, a counselor coordinator for My Sister’s Place. She referred to the gang rape of a 15-year-old girl in California late last year where as many as 20 people were believed to have watched or participated.

Daniels stressed the need for everyone to be an “active ally,” where each person takes on the responsibility to prevent violence.

Not only in preventing gang rape, she said that being an “active ally” means starting from the roots: the underlying ethos of our society.

As an example of how society is structured, Daniels said that boys often think that sexual violence is a girl’s issue, and boys and men do not have any role.

Changing this thinking is one goal of “Men of Strength” clubs starting in local schools, where boys are given the opportunity to explore issues with masculinity.

Having boys communicate with one another is the first step. However, the ultimate goal is teaching boys and girls to talk to one another, one individual said.

When asked who needs to be involved, the group mentioned law enforcement, the medical community, parents, schools, churches, coaches and kids as mandatory participants.

This includes basically anyone who works with youth so that it’s a unified message of no tolerance, ComCorps Director Lauren Borovicka said.

Susan Urano of the Athens Foundation noted that the prevention process must start with the schools to make an impact.

“It’s not ‘everyone under the sun’ (that needs to be included) because that makes you feel powerless,” she said.

Daniels explained three levels of prevention to have the greatest effect: primary, secondary and tertiary. Primary occurs before violence ever happens, whereas secondary is immediate responses after violence has taken place. Tertiary prevention involves long-term strategies to deal with consequences of violence, such as counseling.

The state of Ohio facilitated some primary prevention when Gov. Strickland on Dec. 28 signed the Tina Croucher Act, a bill mandating teen dating violence prevention education for grades 7-12 in Ohio schools.

While schools may recognize the importance of this legislation, Daniels said, one criticism is that this bill is an unfunded mandate of another issue the government wants schools to tackle.

However, Ruth Dudding pointed out that once schools realize that healthy kids will perform better on tests, schools might make more of an effort to battle teen dating violence. She works with the Athens City-County Health Department and Community Health Program.

Currently, many girls in local schools do not recognize healthy relationships, group participants stated.

Girls are taught in Meigs County that an abusive relationship is normal, stated Rachel Farcas, a counselor at Southern Local Schools in that county south of Athens.

“Their perception of what a relationship should be is so skewed,” she said.

Becky Joyce, a teacher at Nelsonville-York Local School District in Athens County, agreed, noting, “Some of our girls don’t think they can do any better.”

Support for this cause encouraged Congress to dedicate the month of February as Teen Dating Awareness and Prevention Month.

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