Real Talk: Recognizing and speaking out against dating violence topic of Saturday, June 29 workshop at Semmes Clinic

  

Image Courtesy CDC

MOBILE, Alabama – A Real Talk outreach event for teenagers, young adolescents and parents is planned from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 29, at the Semmes Clinic, 3810 Wulff Road E., to offer education and meaningful information on how to recognize and speak out against dating violence.

Translation services will be provided.  The event is free and open to the public.

The focus of the Real Talk session, said Mobile County Health Department clinical administrator Steven Murray, is to educate and help empower teens to speak-out against dating violence, to more easily recognize the signs, and how to seek protection, if necessary.

Teen dating violence is defined as the physical, sexual, or psychological/emotional violence within a dating relationship, as well as stalking, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It can occur in person or electronically and may happen between a current or former dating partner.

Adolescents and adults are often unaware that teens experience dating violence, health data shows. In a nationwide survey, 9.4 percent of high school students reported being hit, slapped, or physically hurt on purpose by a boyfriend or girlfriend in the 12 months prior to the survey. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey).

An estimated 1 in 5 women and nearly 1 in 7 men who ever experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner, first experienced some form of partner violence between the ages of 11 and 17, according to the same CDC report.

The Saturday Real Talk event also will include an educational session on teen pregnancy prevention from a trained family planning staff member. The Real Talk outreach is being presented in affiliation with the Mobile County Health Department’s Teen Center, a community resource for young mother’s between the ages of 10 and 19.