Safety Bay High takes part in domestic violence prevention pilot program

SAFETY Bay Senior High School is one of 10 schools in a pilot program to reduce rates of family and domestic violence in Australia.

The Respectful Relationships Teaching Support Program delivered by White Ribbon Australia is based on breaking the silence.

The program is tailored to an individual school’s context, with each school determining its requirements to create a better understanding of family and domestic violence.

WA has the second-highest rate of reported physical and sexual violence perpetrated against women, with response teams dealing with 50,000 incidents, half of those involving children.

Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence Minister Simone McGurk said the community needed to promote healthy and respectful relationships.

“We need to reinforce the message that violence is never OK,” she said.

“The Respectful Relationships Teaching Support Program is a voluntary program providing teachers with evidence-based skills to talk with students about mutually respectful relationships and reinforce the positive relationships most children see at home.

“This is about creating generational change to break the cycle of violence and stopping violence before it occurs.”