Smoky River Family and Community Support Services – In Focus
Georgia Iliou
Director
Unbeknownst to many, more than 20 per cent of female youth have reported that they have been the victims of sexual, emotional, verbal or physical abuse from a romantic partner.
In addition, more than 10 per cent of male youth have reported the same. These numbers are alarming, which makes Smoky River FCSS very proud to be able to contribute to educating our youth on the skills needed to recognize unhealthy situations and how to deal with them effectively. Local autonomy, one of the abilities of the Smoky River Family and Community Support Services programmers to be in the know of the local needs of the Smoky River region.
Collaboration, with the 2016-2017 school year almost seeing the end of the school year, FCSS is very pleased to have partnerships with the schools in the region in facilitating excellent preventative programming for the youth. Starting March 2, Crystal Marschner, our Youth Program Coordinator, will be delivering the Healthy Youth Relationships program to the students of Georges P. Vanier.
This year, the program is being offered to the Grade 7 and 8 students in the personal life skills classes. There will be eight units facilitated for this program.
Healthy Youth Relationships program explores healthy and unhealthy peer relationships, focusing on awareness, communication and prevention on such topics as: recognizing healthy dating and supportive behaviours, knowing what makes a relationship abusive, to recognize sexual harassment and inappropriate sexual behavior, offering knowledge of legal definitions, ramifications of assault, knowledge or consent, protections and reporting procedures and learning to help themselves and their friends.
The Healthy Youth Relationships program, which is a part of the RespectED: Violence and Abuse Prevention Program. The program is aimed at youth between the ages of 12 and 18.
If you would like further information regarding this program, please feel free to contact Crystal Marschner at (780) 837-2220 or at youthsrfcss@live.com.