First Witness’s comprehensive prevention strategy includes outreach to schools, families, and the community. Safe and Strong Child© is a sexual abuse prevention program for children from pre-K to Grade 6, their teachers, and caregivers. First Witness offers Safe and Strong Communities presentations to organizations and groups across the northland. We provide training to adults in youth-serving agencies, churches, sports leagues, and beyond. Participants learn how to recognize, respond to, and report child abuse. Safe and Strong bridges our community by building partnerships with schools, child-care centers, youth-serving agencies, hospitals, churches, and other community organizations. Together with our Child Abuse Prevention Coalition, we provide a powerful public education message encouraging society to recognize that child sexual abuse is both everyone’s problem and everyone’s responsibility.
Schools
First Witness CAC’s Safe and Strong Child© (SSC) program provides 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.
SSC consists of developmentally appropriate classroom lessons that are taught interactively through stories, facilitated conversation, and scenarios in a non-threatening environment. Children are taught to identify the difference between safe and unsafe touches and how to set and honor personal body boundaries. Through SSC, children learn that it is never a child’s fault if they get an unsafe touch. SSC utilizes a three-pronged approach which means in addition to the classroom sessions, we also speak with teachers and caregivers about how to keep children safe.
If you are seeking to have the Safe and Strong Child curriculum come to your school, please call us at 218-727-8353 or email us at prevention@firstwitness.org.
Families
Our family advocates provide prevention education to all families of children we serve. A one-on-one Safe and Strong session is a free service provided to the children in our community from the ages of pre-kindergarten to 6th grade. In addition to this conversation with a child, sessions are also available to caregivers to discuss and learn more information in order to keep children safe. To get connected with an advocate to discuss this, please call our crisis line at 218-727-8353 or email us at prevention@firstwitness.org.
Parenting Groups
Safe and Strong caregiver sessions are available to parenting education classes, ECFE classes, and caregiver groups in the Northland. During these sessions, we discuss body safety tips, how to encourage bodily autonomy in children, red flags of abuse in children, and the grooming process. To get more information about these sessions, please reach out to us at prevention@firstwitness.org.
Safe and Strong Communities
First Witness CAC offers Safe and Strong Communities presentations to adults in youth-serving agencies, churches, sports leagues, and beyond. Participants learn how to recognize, respond to, and report child abuse. This training goes far beyond basic mandated reporting; we delve into the dynamics of child abuse, how to respond to a child in a trauma-informed way, red flags of child abuse, child resilience, Safe and Strong Child© body safety curriculum, and more. To get more information on Safe and Strong Communities, please email us at prevention@firstwitness.org.
Prevention Resources
Understanding ACEs in Indigenous Communities
The page presents studies, frameworks, history, a video on prevention of ACEs in Indigenous communities, and more. Healing Frameworks: Understanding ACEs in Indigenous Communities…
Healing Trauma Through Islamic Counseling
Canadian organization of therapists, counselors, and social workers for those seeking Islamic faith-based counseling. – Their website states they can offer services outside of Canada,…
Head, Shoulders, Penis, Vulva: How Using Anatomical Names for Anatomical Parts Can Keep Children Safe
Teaching kids the anatomically correct words for all body parts is a way to prevent child sexual abuse. Click on the link to be rerouted…