Teenagers in the Bay of Plenty are better equipped to deal with relationship issues and family harm thanks to a successful school-wide police intervention.
Students at a local high school are now actively seeking support for relationship and sexuality issues and have a clearer understanding of healthy relationships.
Sergeant Mike Owen, Officer in Charge of Youth Services in Bay of Plenty District, says former School Community Officer Senior Constable Sarah Mackenzie¡¯s engagement with the school and wider community is a shining example of a partnership to prevent harm and increase public safety.
¡°We stand to benefit from an improved relationship between students and Police, which helps us build trust and confidence and create new opportunities for engagement,¡± says Mike.
Sarah ¨C who has since left Police - worked with community and school leaders to identify that family harm was prevalent locally.
¡°Police data highlighted an average of 50 calls for service per month related to family harm,¡± says Sarah.
¡°Community leaders wanted to see change. School staff reported that student relationship issues were routinely interfering with learning and required support by the pastoral team.¡±
The school and Police agreed to a school-wide ¡®Loves-Me-Not¡¯ intervention, with the short-term goal of encouraging students to seek help and take action to promote healthy relationships within the school community.
¡°Longer-term, we aim to provide students at all levels with education about healthy, positive relationships,¡± says Sarah. ¡°We want the school community to reflect the goals of the wider community through education, modelling and action.¡±
Loves-Me-Not is a healthy relationships programme developed in partnership with the Sophie Elliott Foundation.
It includes a workshop implemented by Police, the school and local NGOs to encourage students to explore aspects of relationships ¨C identifying characteristics of successful relationships, and how they can be eroded through negative behaviour.
Sarah says Loves-Me-Not is far more than the one-day workshop people sometimes think it is.
The intent is that after the workshop, students will lead positive action to encourage safe relationships in their school and wider community ¨C as in the case of the Bay of Plenty school, where the students established an action group to champion activities to promote healthy relationships.
¡°We know that for real behaviour change to occur, Loves-Me-Not has to be integrated into a wider ¡®whole-school approach¡¯ in which the entire school community, systems and environment support the students¡¯ learning and foster genuine student-led action,¡± says Sarah.