Programs to Prevent
The Shelter’s staff is working to end family violence so that you, your family, friends and co-workers never have to experience abuse.
Our focus is on primary prevention initiatives – creative programs and services that help you develop the skills to prevent abuse from ever occurring in your life:
- Community and Professional Training: This program offers domestic violence training to the public, as well as professional groups and individuals, aimed to increase awareness and offer a seamless web of support, to ultimately eliminate domestic violence incidents.
- Delta Project: This program seeks to decrease intimate partner violence (IPV) risk factors to strengthen the economic supports of families in the rural community of Immokalee through the improvement of paid leave benefit policies in the workplace.
- Domestic Violence Course at Florida Gulf Coast University: This three-credit course is offered during the fall semester. With the ability to reach over 13,000 students, the course is facilitated by staff and members of the Domestic Violence Taskforce’s.
- Domestic Violence in the Workplace: a program targeting human resource representatives, or their counterparts at smaller companies, to help make them aware of the effects of domestic violence on business and employees. Download our Florida brochure or National brochure to learn more.
- Domestic Violence Task Force: The Task Force is comprised of staff, attorneys and representatives from area hospitals, local law enforcement agencies, Collier County Public Schools, local community organizations, Florida Gulf Coast University, Legal Aid, David Lawrence Center, Department of Children & Families, among many other agencies to collaborate on a comprehensive plan to prevail over domestic violence in our community.
- Expect Respect: a school-based program for middle and high school students promoting safe and healthy relationships while encouraging students to share what they learn with friends and family.
- ‘Gentle’men Against Domestic Violence®: A gathering of like-minded Gentle’men dedicated to supporting the Raising Gentlemen program and breaking the cycle of abuse.
- Hands Are for Helping Not for Hurting: This program educates community partners and raises awareness surrounding domestic violence, shifts mindsets and alters behaviors that initiate a long-term process to reduce the likelihood that anyone will become a victim or a perpetrator by creating conditions that make violence less likely to occur.
- Healthy Friendships: provides middle school students with basic relationship values that assist them in developing healthy friendships and a healthy self-image during middle school.
- Healthy Relationships: teens and adults exploring the components of healthy relationships to ensure their own relationships remain violence-free.
- Primary Prevention Train the Trainer: This initiative enlists the strength of individuals and organizations outside The Shelter to inspire social change using a train the trainer approach for prevention programming.
- Raising Gentle’men: The overall goal of Raising Gentle’men (RG) is to promote gender equality and to end violence in society. The RG curriculum helps boys to replace stereotypical ideas of men as controlling, aggressive and gaining power through violence, with the idea that men can be gentle, compassionate, and kind without risking their identities.
- Youth Advisory Council: The Shelter’s Youth Advisory Council includes youth representatives from across Collier County, ages 14-18. They inspire social change by providing education, direction, and advocacy to broaden awareness and increase prevention of unhealthy relationships. FULL BROCHURE
For more information, please call 239.775.3862; TTY 239.775.4265.
