Through a brief classroom-based child protection education series, the overarching goal of the Deceptions program is to increase adolescents’ awareness about the issues of creating safe and healthy relationships, internet safety, and skills to avoid sexual coercion including child sex trafficking. The age-appropriate and engaging classroom sessions include video, discussion, processing activities, interaction, and skill-development. In class curriculum covers:

• To help adolescents to be able to recognize and respond to internet dangers and potentially dangerous situations.
• To provide youth with practical safety techniques applicable to manipulative situations.
• To educate and empower adolescents to recognize and guard against grooming tactics.
• To raise awareness of the potential risks of becoming victimized and to create an understanding among students that anyone could be a potential target (vs. only those considered to be at-risk adolescents).
• To provide practical refusal skills and boundary setting strategies.
• To speak with trusted adults, including their parents/guardians, if there are concerns about situations, groups, or individuals

NWFS’ Deceptions Program is committed to being responsive to the needs of the communities we serve through continually improving our program, utilizing feedback from schools and student, hiring staff that represent the communities we serve, and discussing the unique intersections that student identities have with the issues they are receiving education on.

For more information:

Amy Simmons (asimmons@nwfs.org) or 503.546.6377