Primary Prevention Programs – School and Community
The It’s On Us WV Prevention Initiative provides primary prevention programs, education and training to school-aged children, schools and universities, social service providers and persons with disabilities. Because we know that violence is preventable, our plan is to develop comprehensive sexual assault and abuse prevention programs to be implemented throughout WV.
The ultimate goal of this programming is to increase individual social knowledge and attitudes, communication skills for respectful and healthy intimate and peer relationships, as well as body safety and consent. These programs allow our WV communities to come together to address societal norms that do not tolerate gender-based sexual violence or other forms of inequalities.
The success of these programs are guided by a set of prevention principles that include:
- Sexual violence prevention education programs for students K-12, along with school staff.
- The utilization of bystander intervention strategies.
- Reducing risk factor while increasing protective factors;
- Using the best available data and information when planning, implementing and evaluating prevention programs.