Department of Family Services

CONTACT INFORMATION: Monday–Friday 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
703-324-7500 TTY 711
12011 Government Center Parkway, Pennino Building
Fairfax, VA 22035
Michael A. Becketts
Director

The HYPE (Healthy Youth Prevention Education) Project

exit website button circle SAFETY ALERT – If you are in danger, call or text 911.


This youth-focused, 8-session (each session is 90 minutes) prevention curriculum teaches participants about dating and sexual violence prevention. Through hands-on activities, multimedia, role-play exercises, and facilitated discussions, teens will have opportunities to examine various elements of relationships and develop skills to identify and replicate healthy dynamics in interpersonal interactions. Topics are also available as standalone workshops.

teen couple huggingSessions

Session 1: Teen Dating Violence
Provides an overview of teen dating violence that explores the red flags of an abusive relationship and how teens can identify them. 

Session 2: Why Do People Stay/Bystander Intervention
Offers information about the dynamics of dating violence, including how it begins and changes over time, barriers to leaving an abusive relationship, and how to be a helpful bystander.

Session 3: Healthy Sexuality & Sexual Violence
Teaches the different elements of healthy sexuality, enables participants to identify the key elements of giving and receiving consent, and breaks down the cultural and social factors of sexual violence.

Session 4: Gender Exploring Masculinity & Femininity
Explores different gender stereotypes and their impacts on individuals and their relationships.

Session 5: Relationship Values
Reflects on participants’ life values and the values they seek in a relationship. By the end of this workshop, participants will clearly understand their personal “deal breakers” in a relationship. 

Session 6: Self-Esteem & Jealousy
Focuses on the importance of self-esteem in a relationship and how to build and maintain a healthy self-image. Also explores the role of jealousy by differentiating between jealous thoughts, feelings, and actions, and how it impacts self-esteem. 

Session 7: Communication
Emphasizes the importance of healthy communication in a relationship. Teaches strategies to communicate clearly by creating and role-playing through a variety of scenarios and the differences in aggressive, passive, passive-aggressive, and assertive behaviors.

Session 8: Review Game
Uses a Jeopardy-style trivia game to test participants’ knowledge on what they have learned throughout the sessions.

For more information or to request a HYPE session, please submit a “Speaks” request or contact Debra Miller, Domestic and Sexual Violence Services Youth Education and Outreach Specialist. 

Interested in a similar program for Spanish speakers? You’re in luck! Reach out to Nora Nieto, Domestic and Sexual Violence Services Youth Prevention Specialist, to learn about the PILAS ( Proyecto de prevención e Información Lidereando Adolescentes Saludables) curriculum, which can be facilitated in Spanish and has cultural relevance for Hispanic youth. 

To learn about the other presentations and workshops Domestic and Sexual Violence Services offers and to make a “Speaks” request, visit Outreach and Education.

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Fairfax Virtual Assistant