Child Safety Program (Child Sexual Abuse Prevention)

Stewards of Children
Adults Resolving Child Sexual Abuse in Community
Darkness to Light’s® Stewards of Children is a revolutionary sexual abuse prevention training program that educates adults to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse. The program believes and teaches that child safety is an adult's job. Stewards of Children is designed for organizations that serve children and youth.

What are the distinctive features of Stewards of Children?

• A comprehensive program that incorporates all of the fundamental mechanics necessary in creating organizational policies and procedures that keep children safe. Ideal for training staff and volunteers on child sexual abuse prevention.
• Includes the “7 Steps to Protecting our Children,” Darkness to Light’s core, evidence-based educational tool for sexual abuse prevention.
• A 3 to 3.5-hour training program that integrates the simple principles of choice, consciousness, and personal power to promote an understanding of the nature and impact of child sexual abuse, and that uses those principles to provide a context for empowered action. The curriculum is direct about holding each adult accountable, and generous in providing powerful, specific support for personal change.
• Video component of curriculum integrates personal stories of sexual abuse survivors, sharing their experiences of trauma and healing with the perspectives of professionals working with various issues of sexual abuse.
• The program is motivational and compelling. It calls participants into personal responsibility for the safety of children, while at the same time appreciates their fears and concerns.

How can it be used?

• By organizations that seek training for staff and volunteers in the prevention of child sexual abuse.
• By organizations that need to respond to insurance requirements regarding child protection.
• Continuing Education Credit Units are offered in most trainings. Ask about which credits are offered when you register for a training.

Stewards of Children Works!

• In pre-post evaluations of trainings conducted in 9 different organizations that included faith centers, schools, community-based youth programs, and sports/recreational programs, participants demonstrated a 38% improvement in knowledge about sexual abuse and in attitudes about adult responsibility in the resolution of child sexual abuse after exposure to the Stewards of Children program. Two months after training, participants showed a 29% increase in behaviors focused on the protection of children from sexual abuse (e.g., they directed more questions about child protection policy to staff of youth-serving organizations; they talked more with children about healthy sexuality and protection from sexual abuse)
• On a scale of 1 to 5 participant ratings on the quality and effectiveness of the program was higher than 4 on all questions, indicating that participants find the curriculum compelling.
• How is the training delivered?
• Stewards "Live"--a 3 to 3.5 hour in-person training, led by an authorized facilitator from Sexual Trauma Services of the Midlands, who uses a videotape, interactive workbook, and discussion to train responsible adults to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse.
• You can't afford to ignore sexual abuse. Protect their only childhood.

How do I schedule or register for a training?

Contact the Community Education Director at STSM via email or call 803-790-8208 to discuss training dates or to schedule a training for your group or organization.

Cut It Out

Salon professions are in a unique situation where they work intimately with men and women in a comfortable environment where intimacy and trust are often built over time. Many victims of sexual and domestic violence outright disclose their abuse to their hair dresser. Other times salon workers notice signs of abuse on their customers, signs such as bruising or cuts, but do not recognize these signs for what they are. Cut It Out is a program of the Salons Against Domestic Abuse Fund dedicated to mobilizing salon professionals and others to fight the epidemic of domestic and sexual abuse in communities across the United States. This unique training offered by Sexual Trauma Services of the Midlands staff to salon professionals will help the salon workers to recognize signs of abuse in their clients and inform them of where to safely refer victims for help. You can find more information about the nationally recognised Cut It Out program at their website.

Contact the Community Education Director at STSM via email or call 803-790-8208 to discuss training dates and requirements.

Internet Safety 101: Empowering Parents

Studies indicate that one in five youth experience a sexual solicitation online. More and more cases are coming forward of youth sending inappropriate pictures and private information across text messages or social media networks. This training teaches adults and parents how to apply key safety principals across all internet-enabled platforms used by children and youth.

Contact the Community Education Director at STSM via email or call 803-790-8208 to discuss training dates and requirements.

Other Professional Development Trainings

Child Safety Training (Sexual Abuse Prevention)
This 3.5 hour training will teach adults to prevent, recognize, and react to situations of child sexual abuse. This is a perfect training for parents/guardians, adults who work with youth, staff in child care centers, and other organizations that work with children and youth. Click here for more information about this program.

Healthy Sexuality and the Normalization of Sexual Harm
Popular culture is saturated with images of violence, especially sexual violence perpetrated on women and girls. With the help of research by two prominent professionals in the sexual violence field, Cordelia Anderson from Sensibilities, Inc. in Minnesota and Brad Perry from Virginia's Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance, this workshop explores stereotypes in society and how they may contribute to violence, especially for women and girls. Emphasis will be placed on the images of sexual harm in popular media and how they affect society and the concepts of "healthy sexuality."

Mandated Reporting
The STSM Mandated Reporter Training is perfect for businesses, schools and organizations that work with youth. This training includes an overview of South Carolina mandated reporting law, situations that constitute making a report, where and when to make a report, and resources in our community.

Sexual Assault 101
This workshop is an overview of the key concepts related to the topic of sexual assault. Participants will be introduced to the idea of consent, the Criminal Sexual Assault laws in SC, the statistics related to sexual assault and rape, the effects of this type of trauma on survivors.

Recognizing Signs of Sexual Abuse and Assault
This in-depth training focuses on the most common effects of sexual abuse and assault and how to respond appropriately to the warning signs. Information will also be given about how to refer clients to Sexual Trauma Services of the Midlands for clinical services.

How to Respond and Support Survivors of Sexual Abuse and Assault
This workshop focuses on the impact of sexual trauma and issues that survivors face during the recovery process. Information will be provided to assist staff in effective service delivery to survivors.

Impact of Sexual Assault
This workshop details specific behavioral, social, emotional and physical effects of sexual trauma. Information will also be given about how evidence is collected at the hospital and how Sexual Trauma Services of the Midlands works with survivors to recover from the trauma of the assault and/or abuse.

Alcohol and Drug Use and Sexual Assault and Abuse
This training is designed to provide an overview of the connection between sexual assault and addiction. Information is provided on effective ways to treat survivors who are actively using drugs or alcohol or who have begun the recovery process from both the trauma and addiction.

How the Family of Sexual Assault Survivors of Impacted
This workshop focuses on the impact of trauma for secondary survivors of sexual assault. Information is provided to help secondary survivors increase awareness of the effects of sexual assault on the primary survivor, learn how to be supportive, address their feelings/concerns about the trauma experience, and how to access services for themselves.

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
This training defines what sexual harassment is; explores federal and SC state laws & the impact of harassment on the victim, the accused, and the organization/office; and details how to recognize, prevent, and report sexual harassment in the office.

Teen Dating Violence
Research shows that physical or sexual abuse is a part of 1 in 3 high school relationships. And one in every four women experiences domestic violence in her lifetime. This training discusses healthy versus unhealthy relationships and serves as an overview of intimate partner violence and its effects on victims (adult and youth). The workshop introduces audience to early warning signs of abuse and ways to reduce risks in relationships, as well as increases understanding of what to do to prevent relationship violence and what to do in the event that someone you know is in an abusive relationship.

Contact the Community Education Director at STSM via email or the Director of Therapy and Outreach via email or call  803-790-8208 to schedule a training or to discuss requirements.

The Safe Side Program - For Elementary School Children

One of the most important things we can do to protect children is to talk with them about potentially dangerous situations. This 1 hour program is geared toward children in Kindergarten through 3rd grade. This program starts with the viewing of an Emmy Award-winning DVD which introduces program participants to seven easy-to-remember “Hot Tips” for safety. Following the video, trained instructors from STSM speak with the children about safety and lead fun, interactive discussions to get the youth involved and help them remember what they learned from the video.

To schedule a Safe Side presentation for your elementary school-aged group, email STSM's Community Education Program Director or call STSM at 803-790-8208.

Good-Touch/Bad-Touch - For Elementary School Children

In January 2011, STSM expanded our prevention programming into Elementary Schools. We will now be offering Good-Touch/Bad-Touch® to select schools in Richland, Lexington, and Newberry counties.  GT/BT is a body safety program, which teaches our children a comfortable way to talk about a very sensitive problem. Unfortunately, one out of four girls and one out of six boys are sexually abused in our country by the time they turn 18 years old. Informing children of the following concepts helps to lessen their vulnerability to abuse:

1.      Touch can be good, bad, or confusing.

2.      Children are special and have the right to know all the body safety rules.

3.      Children can say NO! to touches they don’t like.

4.      Children can tell a trusted adult if they ever have a problem with sexual abuse, bullying or other confusing touches.

5.      Abuse is NEVER the child’s fault.

This program also deals with bullying.  It has been validated as effective by professionals from a major university and is being used in many states throughout the nation.  We are very pleased and excited to be involved.  A carefully trained facilitator from STSM offers three age-appropriate sessions to students that include songs, stories, videos, and role play activities. We also send home materials so that families can continue the lessons at home and reinforce them according to their own family culture and values.

Contact STSM's Community Education Director via email or phone at 803-790-8208 to find out more information or to schedule your school for Good-Touch/Bad-Touch®.

Mentors In Violence Prevention (MVP) Program - For Middle and High School Youth

The MVP Program was founded in 1993 at Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society in Boston, MA. This model works with youth in the middle and high school years to focus on creative "bystander" approaches to preventing gender violence and bullying. The MVP model has been implemented in a variety of academic, community, and other educational settings across the United States and is effective in working with varied and diverse populations. MVP is facilitated in a mixed-gender setting, with the boys and girls separating at various times throughout the sessions to work in boy-only and girl-only groups. The female-only group focuses on young women not as victims or potential targets of abuse, but as empowered bystanders and supportive friends. The male-only group focuses on young men not as perpetrators or potential perpetrators, but as empowered bystanders who can confront abusive peers.

The MVP Program usually runs once per week for six to 12 weeks. For more information about how Sexual Trauma Services of the Midlands facilitates the MVP program or to schedule a presentation, contact STSM's Community Education Director via email or by calling 803-790-8208.

Youth Violence Prevention Program (YVPP) - For Middle and High School Youth

Statistics show that from 1991-2003 more than half of all victims of rape in South Carolina were middle- and high school-aged youth (Against their Will: Sexual Violence in SC, June 2005). Dating violence is also a harsh reality that many youth face.

In response to these and other issues that youth face, STSM developed the Youth Violence Prevention Program (YVPP). This program is for middle and high school-aged youth. Utilizing the principals of effective prevention programming, this 6 lesson curriculum covers a wide range of topics geared toward reducing risk and preventing sexual and relationship violence. Trained facilitators use interactive activities, videos, songs, discussion, and lectures to teach youth about gender violence in the media, healthy boundary-setting and communication, on-line safety, dating violence, sexual harassment and sexual assault.

Each lesson lasts approximately an hour to 1 ½ hours and lessons are usually scheduled once/week.

Contact STSM's Community Education Director via email or call 803-790-8208 to schedule a presentation.