Our VOICE launches Shifting Boundaries curriculum in local schools, including bullying, sexual harassment and dating violence topics

From Our VOICE

Press release

Our VOICE, Buncombe County’s incorporated rape crisis and prevention center, proudly announces the implementation of Shifting Boundaries: Lessons on Relationships for Students in Middle School in area schools. Francine Delany New School For Children, The Franklin School of Innovation, Erwin Middle, ArtSpace, and the School-Age Program at Eliada Homes will be implementing Shifting Boundaries for their students. Our VOICE hopes to implement this curriculum across all Asheville City and Buncombe County schools. The curriculum is geared towards 6th and 7th grade middle school students.

Each of these schools recognizes the necessity for this evidence-based curriculum which addresses bullying, sexual harassment, and precursors to teen dating violence. Through Shifting Boundaries, Our VOICE is actively addressing and preventing these issues among the young people of Buncombe County. According to Erin Wolf, Rape Prevention Education Coordinator for Our VOICE, students will “learn about healthy boundaries—that they have a right to have their own and that they need to respect others’. Many students do not intend to be malicious, however, we see many boundary violations among our youth who are not given the skills to establish and reflect upon their own boundaries.”

The effectiveness of this curriculum lies in the classroom and building level interventions. In the classroom, students gain interpersonal skills and get the chance to practice setting and respecting boundaries with their peers. At the building level, students provide valuable information to school personnel regarding what spaces are free of bullying and harassment and in which spaces students have experienced either behavior. A Respecting Boundaries Agreement is also created with the assistance of school staff to ensure proper reporting procedures for boundary violations. This process has the students in mind; it allows students to reflect on their experience of having their boundaries crossed or of having crossed another student’s boundaries. By reflecting in a meaningful way and working with school counselors to create an effective response to the incident, The Respecting Boundaries Agreement has been shown to minimize further incidences of bullying and sexual harassment.

Our VOICE has been providing prevention education trainings and workshops in schools and throughout the community for over 30 years. For more information or if you would like Our VOICE to implement Shifting Boundaries at your child’s school, please contact Erin Wolf via email at erinw@ourvoicenc.org or call 828-252-0562.