How to Address Relationship Violence with K-12 and College Students

These resources show students what healthy and unhealthy relationships look like, as well as how they can identify verbal abuse.

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, one in three women and one in four men will be victims of some form of physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime, and women ages 16-24 are particularly vulnerable to abuse. With statistics like these, it makes sense for K-12 schools and universities to educate their students about relationship violence.

The challenge, however, is finding an effective way to reach youth and young adults about this topic. In this video, Seanna Bruno, who is the managing director of partnerships for the One Love Foundation, describes the approaches that work when addressing this issue with 16- to 24-year-olds.

RELATED: Abuse: The Dark Side of Dating on Campus

The One Love Foundation was founded by family members of former University of Virginia student Yeardley Love, who was beaten to death by her boyfriend in 2010 three weeks before her graduation. One Love is dedicated to ending relationship violence and specifically targets high school and college-age students about this topic.

In her interview with Campus Safety magazine at the Conference on Crimes Against Women in April, Bruno discussed how campuses can help students learn about healthy and unhealthy relationships, and how to identify when they are being verbally abused or manipulated.

For more information on the One Love Foundation, visit JoinOneLove.org.

Photo: Thinkstock

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About the Author

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Robin has been covering the security and campus law enforcement industries since 1998 and is a specialist in school, university and hospital security, public safety and emergency management, as well as emerging technologies and systems integration. She joined CS in 2005 and has authored award-winning editorial on campus law enforcement and security funding, officer recruitment and retention, access control, IP video, network integration, event management, crime trends, the Clery Act, Title IX compliance, sexual assault, dating abuse, emergency communications, incident management software and more. Robin has been featured on national and local media outlets and was formerly associate editor for the trade publication Security Sales & Integration. She obtained her undergraduate degree in history from California State University, Long Beach.

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