Below we offer a few of our many resources for sexual assault prevention to use in the classroom, in your family, in your organization or workplace, or in your community. Prevention is ALWAYS our focus!
1. Safe@School is a project in joint partnership between COPA and the Ontario Teacher’s Federation. There are four Professional Learning Modules on the Safe@School website that all contain information about creating safe and inclusive classrooms and schools. Some pages that are particularly relevant to learning more about sexual assault and prevention are:
Understanding Sexism, Racism and Homophobia
Social Factors of Vulnerability
The story of Dima
Self-Defense - Listen to Kai tell her story about why self-defense is important! (see video below!)
From our learning module called Youth Empowerment, a film about two young people who are actively working toward a culture of consent: The Power of Consent.
2. Respect for You and Me is a provincial sexual assault prevention initiative developed by COPA and funded by the Ontario Ministry of Education. As part of this project, COPA developed 3 new guides with definitions of sexual assault, rape culture and consent, and information about how to prevent sexual assault.
The guide for students also explains how to develop healthy relationships, supportive friendships, resilience, and be an advocate for peers experiencing sexual assault.
The parent’s guide describes how parents and caregivers can support children and youth empowerment, reinforce resilience, and offer collective support to young people.
The educator’s guide includes information about how educators can build empowerment, model resilience, use intervention strategies and work with communities to create a culture of consent and establish healthy relationships.
3. COPA offers a variety of educational programs and workshops for educators, students, and parents. At COPA we believe that early prevention education is key to ensuring safe, strong and free children and youth, and that teaching children about their rights is the first step in protecting them from abuse.
Over 170,000 children and youth in Ontario have participated in one or more of our workshops to learn about their rights. All our workshops are based on COPA’s unique and effective strategies to address vulnerability and prevent sexual assault.
Two of the many programs that offer early prevention education are:
CAPP - for elementary school children, addressing stranger assault and known adult assault, among other issues.
Courage 7 & 8 and Courage High School - with themes that include peer aggression, known adult aggression, self-esteem, rights, responsibilities, and consent. Girls receive a self-defense course and boys participate in discussions regarding consent, rights, and responsibilities.
4. Cyberbullying, Sexual assault and Consent: COPA’s online cyberbullying resource addresses the problem of online sexual assault and offers real strategies and tools for helping young people protect themselves online. This article about sexual assault and consent is excerpted from the website. For more information, support and real-life scenarios, please visit: https://cyberbullying.safeatschool.ca/
Meet Kai! She’s a student who participated in Courage 7&8, COPA’s whole-school violence prevention education program for intermediate level students (with workshops for parents and caregivers, and school staff). In this interview, Kai tells us about learning self-defense techniques and trusting her instincts.
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