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Prevention Programs

River City has a variety of educational programs available to create awareness of family violence and to create efforts to prevent family violence in our community. 
If you/your group would like a presentation on family violence or the mission of River City, please contact us.

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The Love Doesn't Hurt presentation is a 30-45 minute long program that discusses topics that children of this age may be seeing around them.

​After the presentation the students are asked to draw a picture based on our discussion and we help them with ideas.  The actual drawing can be done at school or at home, whichever works best for your school.  A panel of judges selects the contest winners. We will announce the deadline after scheduling the presentations so everyone has an opportunity to participate. 

Congratulations to Addison Naslund of Beadle Elementary School who won the
​2018 Love Doesn't Hurt Poster Contest!!

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​Success Story: I can't tell you how many times that students have shared during the presentation or, in private, after the presentation that they have stayed in a shelter, their mother is currently in an abusive relationship, they have a family member that has utilized our agency, or somehow their life has been impacted by domestic violence.  I always try to validate that they must have felt safe in shelter, to share another bracelet for their family member, to validate that their family member did the right thing to seek assistance  or to encourage them to share our information with their loved one.  So many of the victims coming to our agency's door for help began their cycle of abuse when they were just teenagers.  The River City Domestic Violence Center's goal is to prevent incidents of abuse by providing education.

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​River City Domestic Violence Center provides presentations regarding teen dating and healthy relationships to area 8th graders. This program offers teens insight on how to honestly assess the health of relationships, particularly romantic relationships and platonic friendships, and then presents concrete steps to help teens end unhealthy relationships. Students will learn to define and identify examples of healthy relationships, understand the red flags that may indicate an unhealthy relationship and learn tactics for ending an unhealthy relationship.  The presentation includes both interactive activities and a 16 minute video in which real teens share their experiences covering a broad spectrum of unhealthy relationships from a once good friendship that has gone bad, to a romantic relationship that has become abusive. ​​

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Success Story: I want to share a short story that happened last spring after I had given presentations to area middle-school students.  The presentation “Break the Cycle” addresses dating violence, healthy/unhealthy relationships, and an overview of our services.  One evening in May, I received a call from an area deputy sheriff that was looking for a safe place for a mother and her two children.  They had been victims in a domestic violence incident.  As they pulled up to our shelter, the middle-school aged son assured his mother and sibling that things would be alright….that this woman (me) had talked to his school.  He trusted that we were a safe place after hearing the presentation and this brought comfort to his family. 
This wasn’t the primary purpose of my presentation, but an added bonus  - one that was a huge benefit to the family.  

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