Photo By Noriko Kudo | Teens in attendance at a teen dating violence awareness event listen to guest speaker...... read more read more
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CAMP ZAMA, Japan – A seminar offered to teens here was meant to raise their awareness of the issue of dating violence among their age group and introduce them to various on-base resources, one of the event’s organizers said.
Held Feb. 15 at the Camp Zama Youth Center, the event hosted a number of guest speakers that included a Family Advocacy Program specialist, an Army Community Service specialist and other subject-matter experts.
Darren Powell, the FAP specialist, spoke to the audience about how to recognize what teen dating violence is, and Lucinda Ward from ACS led a discussion about “Avoiding Thinking Traps.” The intent of these talks was to help the teens gain a better understanding of what a healthy dating relationship looks like.
William Birdsall, an assistant with the Child and Youth Program who helped organize the event, also facilitated a teen-led discussion by the Keystone Board in the second half of the event. During this portion, Keystone board members randomly picked a topic from a list of questions the teens had submitted beforehand. Doing it this way, the teens could freely and safely discuss the topic in a private setting.
“It was an amazing turnout,” Birdsall said of the approximately 35 teens who attended. “I believe that a lot of the teens were open to the information and [to] having a truthful conversation.”
Alec Carter, a senior at Zama Middle High School, said the event helped him and the others in attendance to better understand the different types of dating violence, and to prepare them if they are ever put in such a situation.
The teen-led portion of the seminar was most interesting for Carter, he said, because he was able to see how his peers think about certain topics and issues in comparison to him. It showed him he and his peers are more alike than they are different, he said.
“The event was beneficial because it taught us about the various forms teen dating violence comes in,” said Carter. “It also [hopefully] helped those who may be going through it to be able to get their feelings off their chest.”
The seminar also allowed him and his peers to feel more comfortable by allowing them to talk to each other and know they aren’t the only ones who might be dealing with a particular issue, Carter said.
Likewise, Birdsall said that during the seminar, he and some of the other Youth Center staff were able to share their experiences with the teens. This helped them connect with each other and build trust by allowing them to talk about how they had some of the same experiences when they were younger, and they were able to learn and get stronger from them.
“I would like all the teens to know that they don’t have to go through [things] alone when they are struggling, and to know there is help and someone to talk to if they need it,” Birdsall said.
| Date Taken: | 02.23.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 02.23.2022 23:37 |
| Story ID: | 415181 |
| Location: | ZAMA, KANAGAWA, JP |
| Web Views: | 29 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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