Be Safe! Prevention Programme

Summary

Be Safe! is a personal safety programme for children aged 5 to 9 years. Through positive, non-threatening, simple key messages and child-friendly learning resources. Be Safe! introduces young people to the concepts of: children's right; safe and supportive friendships; adult's responsibility to protect children from harm; privacy and simple and effective Personal Safety Rules.

Type of intervention

Classroom setting

Target groups, level of prevention and subgroups

  • Children and Young People (Victims) | Primary prevention | Young Children (0-5 years), Children (6-11 years) | Male and female | Classroom setting | English, French

Target population

Children aged 5-9 years old.

Delivery organisation

Canadian Red Cross, RespectED: Violence & Abuse Prevention.

Mode and context of delivery

This programme is designed to be delivered in schools and other learning environments.

Level/nature of staff expertise required

Be Safe! is designed to be delivered by educators and community practitioners with a background in education or child development. To be certified as a Be Safe! Prevention Educator, individuals can take the Be Safe! Training for Educators from the Canadian Red Cross in either an online or face-to-face format. Be Safe! Training for Educators includes the 4-hour Prevention in Motion online course, plus the 3-hour Be Safe! Training for Educators course. Please see www.redcross.ca/BeSafe for more information.

Intensity/extent of engagement with target group(s)

A series of 8 lessons can be delivered to children during regularly scheduled classroom sessions, recommended to occur over the period of approximately 6 months. Be Safe! Prevention Educators can choose to spend more or less time as needed on the eight lessons that comprise the Be Safe! kit.

Description of intervention

Be Safe! is a personal safety programme for children aged 5 to 9 years, with a focus on preventing child sexual abuse. Through positive, non-threatening, simple key messages and child-friendly learning resources, Be Safe! introduces young children to the concepts of:

  • Children's rights
  • Safe and supportive friendships
  • Adult's responsibility to protect children from harm
  • Privacy and safe and unsafe touching
  • Simple and effective Personal Safety Rules: Say "NO!" GO! Get away. TELL! Tell someone you trust. Keep on telling until someone helps you.

Designed to be delivered in schools and other learning environments, Be Safe! provides children with the knowledge and skills to:

  • Recognise sexual abuse and situations that may lead to sexual abuse
  • Understand body ownership – "my body is mine" – and that they have a right to stay safe and be protected from sexual abuse
  • Increase prevention knowledge and skills in order to stay safe
  • Increase awareness of helping individuals, organisations and communities.

To use Be Safe! the school must purchase the Be Safe! kit which includes:

  • Simple, detailed guidelines for educators
  • Colourful, age-appropriate learning resources for children (lesson cards; Trusty the Be Safe! Mascot puppet; the children’s book Your Body is Yours!; posters; stickers; music)
  • Information for parents
  • Templates and tools to help schools communicate with parents and assist administrators to implement Be Safe!

The training for educators is an essential part of the Be Safe! Programme.

Evaluations

For evaluation inquiries, please contact the Canadian Red Cross directly (see contact details below).

References

Contact details

Website: http://www.redcross.ca/ViolencePrevention
Email: RespectED@redcross.ca
Phone: 1-855-886-2648

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INFORMATION CORRECT AT NOVEMBER 2020

RATING: Pioneering

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