For Educators & Schools

What is Abuse?

Abuse is when someone hurts another person’s body or feelings on purpose, in a very serious way.

Overview of Curriculum Topics

Recognizing types of abuse and children’s rights to safety

Abuse is never the child’s fault

Identifying healthy and unhealthy behaviors in adults, peers, and older children

Telling a trusted adult about abuse, threats, bullying, or other types of violence

Awareness of personal boundaries and what behaviors are a violation of boundaries

Recognizing warning signals of concerning behaviors such as secret keeping, bribery, coercion, force, rule-breaking, and normalization of abusive behaviors

Responsibility for own behaviors and respecting boundaries

Promote empowerment, coping and self-regulation skills

Brave Boundaries: Pre-K through 6th Grade Curriculum

Brave Boundaries is designed to provide age-appropriate, interactive education for students from Pre-K through 6th grade. Lessons at each grade level are tailored to match developmental understanding, using movement, discussion, and real-life scenarios to help students connect concepts to their everyday lives. The program’s language is carefully selected to ensure comprehension and long-term retention.

Scenario-Based, Realistic Learning

Scenarios are carefully selected to reflect current trends in both contact and non-contact abuse. Lessons provide examples involving peers, older children, teenagers, and adults, helping students recognize that unsafe behavior can come from a variety of sources. Students are also guided to consider how their own words and actions can affect others, fostering empathy, respect for boundaries, and accountability.

Empowering Students to AcT

From Kindergarten through 6th grade, students learn not only how to identify unsafe or unhealthy behaviors but also how to seek help. By upper elementary grades, they are equipped to recognize when their own behaviors or thoughts may be harmful, with guidance on accessing support for concerns such as bullying, suicidal ideation, self-harm, or initiating unsafe sexual behaviors.

Through its comprehensive, inclusive, and developmentally appropriate approach, Brave Boundaries equips students with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to protect themselves and others, both in person and online.

Developmentally Sequenced Learning

Instruction begins in Kindergarten with the core message that it is never okay for someone to hurt or abuse a child. In grades 1 through 6, this foundation is expanded to include the understanding that abuse is against the law. For younger students (K–2), lessons focus on identifying safe and unsafe behaviors, including boundaries regarding private parts. Older students (3rd–6th) learn about different types of abuse—physical, emotional, sexual, bullying, and neglect—as well as exploitation (financial, sexual, and coercion into harmful behaviors). Discussions also address self-harm and emphasize the importance of talking to a trusted adult when unsafe situations arise.

Integration of Online Safety

Recognizing the realities of both in-person and digital interactions, online safety is embedded throughout the curriculum. Students explore scenarios that highlight warning signs of unsafe behaviors across a range of relationships, including peers, siblings, neighbors, family members, and authority figures. Brave Boundaries stresses that most abuse is committed by someone known to the child and that safety awareness should extend beyond “stranger danger.” All examples are gender-neutral, underscoring that abuse can be initiated by any gender and that victims can be of any gender.

Cultural and Demographic Inclusivity

Brave Boundaries is adaptable for use in rural, suburban, and urban schools, including public, private, charter, and Catholic diocesan settings. Parent communication and student activity sheets (K–3) are available in Spanish and Haitian Creole, ensuring accessibility across diverse communities.

Delivery Options

Multiple Sessions: Pre-K thru 2nd grade are 2 sessions at 20-35 minutes each. 3rd through 6th grade are 2 sessions at 45-50 minutes each. Each program is consecutive days.
Regularly scheduled, annual for most
Repetition of concepts with content built based on age/developmental stages
Discussion, interactive visuals, movement, phrases, videos
Q & A opportunities
Parent take-home- information and activity sheet
Teacher information and evaluation
Student evaluation-knowledge-based only

Educator and Administrator Feedback

“This program gives students a voice!”

“Great use of examples!”

“I loved the movements!”

“This program deals with abuse in a clear and direct manner. It promoted many great classroom discussions.”

“The presenter was great at keeping the class focused and the discussion moving!”

“Presenter was patient!”

“The presenter was appropriate with all learning styles.”

“I’m grateful for the program, as many parents don’t know how to talk to their kids about this topic.”

“They discussed the many ways someone who intends to harm a child could reach them, including video games.”

“Information was presented in a delicate/comfortable way.”

“I appreciate how this program addresses the fact that it’s not always a stranger.”

“Loved the videos!”

“Educators teach who kids can trust and how to speak up!”

“This program empowers students without using fear tactics.”

“This program is perfectly age-appropriate.”

We asked our classroom teachers “What are the top 3 things you like about Brave Boundaries Curriculum?”

“It was easy for the kids to understand. They were engaged and not bored. Plenty of pause time to answer questions and discuss.”

“Educating our students on the dangers of social media, encouraging students to seek help and report abuse or predatory activity, the use of several videos during presentations”

“Professionalism of presenters, day 1 content, and convenience of virtual lessons”

“She was patient with the kids. She knew how to talk to them at their level. The curriculum was age appropriate.”

“1:1 Chromebook Interaction, the chat box, and the students enjoyed the interactive quizzes over the information. Our presenter gave them plenty of time to chat with her in the chat boxes/area and to ask questions.”

“I appreciate that they cover the topics in a professional manner. They allow kids the opportunity to participate by answering questions and placing them in real life scenarios. They integrated more information about technology safety this year, which is so prevalent amongst students now a days.”

“Content presented at student’s level, engaging for the students, only takes 2 days to present”

“I love the online learning, explanation of each unsafe item, and kids are free to message them (presenter)”

“It was shorter so it helped fit into our schedules easier, I like the motions and statements the kids repeat, it doesn’t go so in-depth that parents opt out but gives kids info to think about and hopefully build upon”