Azelene is an engaging presenter. Throughout Azelene’s school sessions, she draws lived experience as a teenager.
In her lived experience presentations and workshops, she talks about key concepts and theory around dyslexia, trauma, fear, abuse, neglect, addiction, self-love and respect and connects them to her lived experience.
She explains things in a simple manner however in-depth and presents her speech to the audience with a passion you can feel in the room.
All presentations conclude with an open question time, where the audience has the opportunity, and are encouraged, to ask questions that will assist them to further understand intimate partner violence.
Building Respectful Relationships
Respectful relationships are a crucial part of adolescent development and individual growth. Through friendships, teens are able to empathize with others, experience both feelings of independence and dependence within a relationship, trust others, and communicate more easily in times of conflict. Major elements of healthy teenage relationships emphasized in the program are respect, trust, mutual intimacy, caring and empathy, communication, and self-awareness/self-worth.
Goals
Participants will:
- Learn to define aspects of healthy relationships
- Learn skills that promote healthy relationships
- Develop enhanced self-awareness and self-worth
Content
- Respect and Trust: Having confidence in someone else’s honesty and intentions and valuing this person.
- Mutual Intimacy: Sharing so that each person feels both close to the other and good about oneself.
- Empathy vs Sympathy: Builds connection and being able to relate to how someone might be feeling.
- Values and believes: Values refer to principles or standards of behaviour. Believes refer to conviction or acceptance that something exists or is true, especially without proof.
- Communication: Being able to express feelings or thoughts to the other person and being able to talk about misunderstandings, differences, and arguments.
- Self-awareness and self-worth: Getting to know oneself, how one feels about things, and feeling good about oneself.
- How my relationships affect my life: Quality relationships can help us to live longer and happier lives with fewer mental health problem.
Abuse is Not Love
Dating and relationship violence is a major problem for many teenagers today. The consequences of relationship violence for teenagers are serious and include sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, emotional problems, and even death. Dating violence includes physical, emotional/ mental, verbal, and sexual abuse. This program can be used to introduce adolescents to the concepts of dating violence, to help them recognize
abusive relationships, and to learn how to obtain help for themselves and peers.
Goals
- Participants will:
Become familiar with the concepts of dating violence - Know how to recognize abusive relationships
- Understand the various contexts in which teen dating violence can occur
- Learn how to obtain help for themselves and peers
Content
- Statistics: Learning more about the current FDV statistics in Australia.
- Understanding abuse: Breaking all forms of abuse down and looking at each of their indicators.
- Warning Signs of an Abusive Person: Being able to identify an abusive person is part of the early education.
- Social and cultural norms: How does society influence our behaviour, attitudes and thinking.
- The cycle of abuse: Identifying warning signs.
- Why do People stay in an abusive relationship: Every situation is different? Identifying why people stay is important towards making a change.
- Understanding boundaries: Understanding your own boundaries are important toward setting up boundaries for others.
- Healthy boundaries: How do we set up healthy boundaries and say NO respectfully.
- Dealing with break ups: If you’ve decided to end a relationship, it is a good idea to be prepared for your partner’s reaction as well as your own feelings.
- Safety Plan: If your partner has been violent in the past, chances are very good it will happen again – even if your partner promised it wouldn’t happen again. For your own safety it is important to have control over how you prepare for their response to the breakup.
Coercion is NOT Consent
Studies show one in three Australian women (34.2%) have experienced physical and/or sexual violence perpetrated by a man since the age of 15. There are substantial disputes as to what sorts of behaviour constitute coercion and thereby undermine consent. Teaching kids about the skills of consent can help reduce sexual coercion, harassment, and even assault. By teaching kids about consent, we: Help them learn how to express what they want and don’t want. Give them tools to express their limits.
Goals
The outcome of this program is for students to learn strategies for seeking, giving or denying consent and rehearse how to communicate their intentions effectively and respectfully to others.
Content
- What is coercion: Teaching the key concept of the practice of persuading someone to do something by using force or threats.
- What is consent: Communication, honesty and respect is key when it comes to sex and sexual relationships.
- Consent and the law: Understanding the law around consent is important.
- Case Study: It is all around us.
- Signs of coercive control: Identifying warning signs.
- 3 Kinds of Love: According to one theory there are three different kinds of love. It is important to identify whether you have experienced that kind of love. If not, what would you do if you are in one of these love relationships: Romantic Love, Nurturing Love, Addictive Love?
- Power and control wheel: Understanding the Power and Control Wheel.
- Your relationship bill of rights: It is important to know what your rights are in your relationship and what right you want in your relationship. Also recognise and respect that all other people are entitled to the same rights as you.
- Should I stay or should I go: The decision to end a difficult relationship, or to stay and keep trying to make it better, is always a hard one. The purpose here is to help you figure out what is the best move for you.
- Healthy boundaries: How do we set up healthy boundaries and say NO respectfully.
Local and international schools Azelene presented for includes but is not limited to:
- Santa Maria College
- St Marks
- Aranmore Catholic College
- Helena College
- La Salle College
- LJBC
- Penrhos College
- Peter Moyes
- Swan Valley ACS
- John Septimus Roe
- John Wollaston ACS
- Henderson College
- Mandurah Catholic College
- Lavalla Catholic College
- Fitzroy High School
- Notre Dame College
- Berry Street School
- Eden College
- Traf High School
- Mandurah Catholic College
- Oxford Falls Grammar
- Birdwood High school
- Macksville High School
- Emmanuel Christiaan College
- Bishop Druitt College
- Mount Lilydale Mercy College
- Narara Valley High School
- Circular Head Christian School
- St Marys Coptic Orthodox
- Youth Futures Community School
- Austin cove Baptist Collage
- Durbanville
- Yanchep Secondary College
- Killester College
- St Peters Lutheran College
- Bentleigh Secondary College
- Shearwater College
- Seton Catholic College
- Eltham College
- Craigmore High School
- Duncraig Senior High School
- Paralowie R12 School
- Keira Hight School
- Divine Mercy College
- Scots College
- Balcatta High School
- Mater Dei College
- Hennessy Catholic College
- Warragul Regional college
- John Curtin Collage
