About the Program
Our Mission:
Prevent Abuse Before It BEGINS.
Program Goals
Brave Boundaries research-based curriculum helps students in Pre-K – 6th grade learn to:
- Know that abuse is not a child’s fault
- Be able to identify healthy and unhealthy behaviors in adults, peers, and older children
- Be empowered to identify a trusted adult to tell about abuse, threats, bullying, or other types of violence
- Have awareness of personal boundaries and what behaviors are a violation of boundaries
- Recognize warning signals of concerning behaviors such as secret keeping, bribes, coercion, force, rule breaking, and normalization of abusive behaviors.
- Responsibility for own behaviors and respecting boundaries, along with self-regulation skills
Program Development
15 years of teaching school-based prevention education providing knowledge of effective curriculum and teaching methods
Meets the Centers for Disease Control standards for prevention education
Meets National Children’s Alliance, Indiana Department of Education and Knot Today standards for child sexual abuse prevention education
Meets national education standards
Infused with knowledge of education deficits, perpetrator dynamics and online solicitation examples from ongoing investigations at our nationally accredited child advocacy center
Based upon 28 independent research efforts reviewing prevention education methods, effective child learning and field observations.
Core Values
- Empowerment – Create a positive environment focused on developing healthy behaviors and relationships with others, while encouraging youth to speak up when situations become unsafe.
- Respect – Recognizes that each person deserves to be treated with kindness, empathy, and dignity, no matter who they are, how old or young, or the type of relationship. Respect is mutual and displays trust, safety, and positive regard.
- Safety – Protects the physical, emotional, and psychological well-being of all individuals, especially youth, as adults are responsible for their overall safety and well-being.
- Research-Informed – Using the most recent data and trends to help inform messaging that is relevant to today’s world.
Why Prevention Matters
As time has progressed, the knowledge of how perpetrators use relational tactics and “grooming” has stayed relatively the same, although predators now utilize technology-based communication in both contact and non-contact offenses. With the rise in technology, there has been an increase in the availability of sexually explicit content and the ease of creation of child sexual abuse images. These dynamics have facilitated perpetrators’ opportunity to commit sexual abuse offenses against children, in which they have easy access and at much younger ages. Due to these shifts in trends and awareness of child sexual abuse, a shift in the focus of messaging is even more important. The challenge remains to stay consistent within prevention messaging, while staying relevant during the place and time these crimes are committed.
Through continued service to child victims through investigations, Holly’s House collects data on the type of crime and demographics for both victim and perpetrator. Known perpetrators continue to be the constant for contact crimes of abuse, with 94% of perpetrators at Holly’s House listed as family members or close family friends. Our team analyzed this data, and we found significant shifts.
%
of alleged perpetrators are the mother’s romantic partners
%
of alleged perpetrators are children, age 17 and under
%
of alleged perpetrators are the mother’s romantic partners
%
of alleged perpetrators are children, age 17 and under
Meet Donna! She is the Assistant Director of Prevention.
Meet Maria! She is one of the three prevention educators on our team.