Have you ever wondered who we are, and what types of child abuse prevention programs we offer? Wonder no more! Our organization has two different teams. One provides the public with educational prevention programs, and the other provides home visitation programs. This post explains what we do on the education side of things!
Educating Children
First and foremost, we educate children through school presentations across the state. Due to the delicate nature of our subject, our Education Team is trained to provide informative presentations and create safe spaces to ask questions.
Our child abuse prevention presentations are evidence-informed, age-appropriate, and taught in a classroom with visual aids, videos, and other interactive activities. The programs are approved by the Utah State Board of Education and the Department of Human Services. Children are taught to:
- Recognize the signs of of abuse
- Listen to their “uh-oh feeling”
- Resist by saying no
- Report abuse by talking to trusted adults
Each child leaves our presentations with a personal safety plan of who to talk to and how to talk to them.
Educating Adults
Another way we prevent child abuse is by educating adults, specifically school personnel. Our education specialists also train and mentor school professionals to become on-campus prevention specialists for the schools they serve. School personnel learn how to deliver PCAU’s curricula to their students. They also understand how to receive a disclosure of child abuse and how to report abuse to DCFS. The on-campus specialists help create safe schools where principals and faculty members know how to handle disclosures of abuse. The on-campus specialist also knows how to connect families and children to support and resources.
On top of prevention specialist training, we also provide the state-mandated training for Utah’s K-12 educators, administration, and staff. In fact, approximately 28,000 educators complete the training annually!
Finally, our Education Team teaches adults! This may include parents, foster parents, daycare workers, coaches, teachers, religious leaders, and many other adults who interact with children. We teach adults how to recognize signs of abuse and how to report them. We also teach them how to prevent abuse from happening in their circles of influence. Additionally, our team runs all of our social media platforms! If you aren’t already, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Schedule Us Today
To sum up, our prevention efforts are one of a kind. We want to reach as many students as possible. To schedule a presentation in your child’s school or in your community, click here, or email Emily Sparks at esparks@pcautah.org. Help us prevent child abuse, Utah!