Program educating Nebraskans during Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month

NORFOLK, Neb. - February encompasses National Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, an issue affecting young Nebraskans. 

"Teens themselves across the board, in the state of Nebraska, 1-in-3 females and 1-in-6 males can be touched by this topic," said Donna Wolff, Prevention Specialist for the Youth Crisis Intervention Center (YCIC) in Winnebago.

YCIC is working through virtual presentations to educate people. 

"We really want to get awareness out there," said Wolff. "'What exactly is the definition of teen dating violence?', 'what does that look like?', 'what is a healthy and unhealthy relationship?'"

Wolff says it's important for teens to be aware of where they can get help. 

"They need to know that there are local resources no matter where they live," Wolff said.

Although the pandemic has been a time of isolation, Wolff says she wants her message to be the opposite.

"Our youth need to know that you don't need to struggle with this alone," Wolff said. "That you're not alone if this has happened to you. There is help available and you do need to talk about it because it can be very traumatizing and we don't need people walking around with trauma."

Nationally, around nine percent of high school students reported relationship violence in the past year; that's 1.5 million teens, according to the CDC.

The harsh statistics is what Wolff says she wants to bring awareness to.

"The more awareness you can bring to the topic, I don't want to say normalize it, but you really want to let people know that this is happening a lot more often than what people realize."

For more information on YCIC and upcoming events click HERE.