Resources for Community
- Dating Abuse Brochure
- WITS Manual
- Elijah's Kite Opera Resources
- A Guide for Healthy Dating Relationships Brochure
- Sexual Health Resource Cards
- Involving Youth in the Planning Process: Resources and Links
- HPV Awareness Video
- Eye of the Beholder Video
- Research Assistance
- Community Presentations
- It's A Teen's World Documentary Film
Dating Abuse Brochure
"How Can I Help?" is a brochure designed to draw attention to adolescent dating abuse. Developed by Dr. Elizabeth Banister and members of her research team as a result of findings from her CAHR research on adolescent girls' dating relationships, the brochure highlights some of girls' concerns about such relationships and offers practical advice for young women, counselors, teachers, parents and practitioners who work with youth to identify potential emotional or physical dating abuse and ways to deal with these issues.
Download First Nations brochure
Download general brochure (Alternative Version)
WITS Manual
WITS stands for "Walk away", "Ignore", "Talk" (use words not fists), and "Seek help." It is a simple way of conveying to children workable, developmentally appropriate, interpersonal negotiation strategies for handling conflicts with peers. This manual for the WITS Rock Solid Elementary Program contains written curriculum for classroom teachers and librarians, including early childhood literature and activities that can be used both to reinforce WITS messages and to teach to the learning outcomes required by elementary school curriculums in personal planning, language and visual arts, and drama. The manual also recommends commonly available children's books used to support the program.
Download the WITS Resource Manuals on the WITS website
Link to the Rock Solid Website here
Link to the WITS Website here
Elijah's Kite
Elijah's Kite, a children's opera by Canadian was created by James Rolfe, composer and Camyar Chai, librettist. It was performed for students in elementary and middle schools on southern Vancouver Island.
The opera is set in a playground full of kids, where nine-year old Elijah is lonely and frightened of Big Billy Brett, the school bully. Elijah brings his favourite kite to school and dreams of flying away. Elijah soon meets Miriam, the new girl in school, who's not afraid of Billy. But Miriam becomes a bully too and Elijah is once again on his own. By the end of the opera, the kids all learn how to turn something negative into something good, and discover that co-operation can make Elijah's kite fly.
The opera was created in consultation with PREVNet (Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network), an active network of Canadian researchers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and governments working together to promote safe and healthy relationships for all Canadian children and youth.
A study guide, developed by Katherine McKenney and Debra Pepler of York University in collaboration with Pat McCarthy, outlines classroom activities to animate discussion and build understanding about bullying, as well as about the role of arts and theatre in our lives. In addition, Pacific Opera Victoria worked in partnership with the Centre for Youth and Society to develop additional teacher training and classroom resources for the Elijah's Kite school tour.
Elijah's Kite Study Guide(1.5 mb PDF) (Developed through Tapestry New Opera Works and PrevNet)
Classroom Activities and Suggestions (210 KB PDF) (Developed by Centre for Youth and Society and Pacific Opera Victoria)
A Guide for Healthy Dating Relationships
The Healthy Youth Community Alliance for Health Research (CAHR) developed a brochure entitled, "Understanding Healthy Dating Relationships" to highlight the characteristics of healthy adolescent dating. The brochure is intended for teens, health practitioners and parents wanting more information and resources on how to foster healthy relationships. Developed by Dr. Elizabeth Banister and members of her research team as a result of findings from her CAHR research on adolescent girls' dating behaviours, the brochure highlights the components of healthy relationships and outlines teens’ rights in relationship. It poses questions for teens to assist them in evaluating their relationships and in making relationship choices.
The brochure focuses on practical advice for teens, counsellors, teachers, parents and practitioners on how to identify healthy dating behaviours and ways to develop these skills. Web resources related to healthy dating are included on the back of the brochure.
Sexual Health Resource Cards
Sexual health resource cards and post cards were generated during the recent pilot run of the Adolescent Girls' Mentorship program that took place at Stu Ate Lelum Secondary School (SLSS) near Ladysmith, BC. The cards are now being used as a resource at the school and at the Chemainus First Nation Health Clinic (Shell Beach Clinic) on the reserve.
Download the Sexual Health Postcard
Involving Youth in the Planning Process: Resources and Links
Involving youth is a vital but often forgotten about aspect of event planning. However, it is possible to teach youth to participate meaningfully in event planning, education and even treatment. Doing so helps youth achieve better outcomes, and likely helps the adults who work with youth get better results as well. Below are some links and resources for involving young people in the planning process. They will be available permanently under "Resources--Community" on our website.
Best Practices for Increasing Meaningful Youth Participation in Collaborative Team Planning (Children's Mental Health at Portland State University):
http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/PDF/pbAMP-YouthParticipationResearchSummary.pdf
Involving Youth in Planning for their Education, Treatment and Services (Children's Mental Health at Portland State University):
http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/PDF/pbAMPYouthParticipation.pdf
Conference and Events - Involving Young People in Planning:
http://www.kids.nsw.gov.au/kids/resources/participationkit/conferencesevents.cfm
Children's Participation in Events with Adults:
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/265900
Keepin' It Real - A Resource for Involving Young People:
http://www.myd.govt.nz/uploads/docs/0.7.6.3keepinitreal.pdf
HPV Awareness Video
In 2009, three students--Lauralyn Claderwood, Kaitlyn Christie and Emma Landles--in Bonnie Leadbeater's Women in Psychology class (Psyc 341) created a video on HPV awareness for their Social Action Project. The video presents important facts about the virus, stresses the need for more education, and argues that women and men should not have to pay substantial amounts to be vaccinated against this potentially fatal virus.
Eye of the Beholder Video
In 2009, students from Bonnie Leadbeater's Women in Psychology class created a video on University Students and Body Image. The video focuses on the role of media images on women's body image and highlights the importance of media education and body image interventions for university-aged women.
Research Assistance
The Counting on Research and Making Research Count program creates partnerships between the university and the community. Community organizations with a research project relating to youth health or well-being are matched with a UVic student who undertakes the project for course credit under the supervision of a Youth & Society faculty sponsor. Community research projects may take several forms -- e.g., literature review for a grant proposal, evaluation of services, development of education materials.
Community Presentations
Members of Youth & Society can provide presentations about child and adolescent health topics and research findings to community organizations interested in youth well-being.
