ADHS joins the rest of the nation in recognizing April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). The goal is to raise public awareness about sexual violence and to help communities and individuals learn how they can prevent sexual violence. The theme of this year’s campaign is “It’s time … to get involved,” which highlights the important role bystanders can play in preventing sexual violence and how primary prevention strategies contribute to “environments where people are safe in their relationships, families, neighborhoods, schools, workplaces and communities.” To learn more about national SAAM activities and how individuals can make a difference, visit www.nsvrc.org/saam. We can all have a role in preventing sexual violence by learning and teaching non-violent conflict resolution skills, promoting bully-free environments and learning how to be an active bystander when you observe unacceptable activities/behavior.
Our Bureau of Women’s and Children’s Health has been funding projects that focus on the primary prevention of sexual violence for many years. Five agencies around the state provide primary prevention activities in their communities. One new key target of three of these programs is working with alcohol serving businesses to establish policies to make their establishments’ safer environments for patrons. The number one drug used to “facilitate rape” is alcohol. To see what events are happening around Arizona please visit our web site at: http://www.azrapeprevention.org/svpep_events
