ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month and we’re learning more about a prevention program aimed at promoting healthy relationships.

What You Need To Know

  • February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month

  • The Peacemakers Program promotes healthy relationships

  • The CASA prevention program teaches peaceful alternatives to violence

Community Action Stops Abuse, or CASA, offers the Peacemakers Program to area schools and other youth programs to teach kids about peaceful alternatives to conflict.

“We go into the schools and we teach kids what it looks like to be in a healthy relationship,” said CASA CEO Lariana Forsythe. “So it’s age appropriate, we start with pre-schoolers and kindergarteners and we talk about healthy boundaries."

The social-emotional curriculum covers, among other topics: personal safety, diversity, dating violence, self esteem and self expression.

“Conflict resolution, empathy building, fostering respect for yourself and others," said Riley Redington, the Peacemakers Program manager at CASA. "Then as it gets a little bit older, then we get more into the dating violence, healthy relationships.”

“It’s important for us to get in early and make sure that they understand what a healthy relationship looks like and what can they do, what steps can they take if they’re uncomfortable in a situation,” she added.

Foster mother Karen Bowen has mentored more than 300 kids in the last 15 years and said a lot of them were teenage girls interested in dating. The foster parent certified by the Children’s Home Network said she’s glad programs like this are available in schools and she works to reinforce similar safety measures at home.

“Looking out for cues, red flags, if you don’t feel safe you call, you let me know, you text me that safe word,” Bowen says to her foster children. “You have to teach people how to treat you.”

The Peacemakers Program works to teach kids that self worth — one exercise uses actual red and green flags as an interactive learning activity.

“If it’s wanting access to all your social media accounts, Instagram, wanting your passwords, wanting to control what you post would that be a green flag or a red flag and then those prompts can really spark some discussion about what the teens themselves have experienced,” said Redington.

The Peacemakers hope teens take empowerment out of the classrooms and into all of their relationships.

“I hope that moving forward, they value their feelings; their emotional wellbeing and themselves,” said Redington.

Bowen, who started her own foundation, Nekkts Step Hope Foundation, said she’s grateful teens have access to such sessions and she will work to continue such conversations in the home.

“That program can go into school and they have this whole conversation, now they’re home and they can sit with me and we can talk about it,” she said.

The Peacemakers Program is funded by the Juvenile Welfare Board.