Day 3 D Activities from Topic 7 Helpseeking

Day 3 D: Activities from Topic 7: Help-seeking and peer support skills Connect with Respect: Addressing school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV)

Reflections and highlights How did the activities we did yesterday help us meet our objectives? ✏�What was useful? �� What got you thinking?

Game: Fishy numbers OR Mind the baby relay

Session objectives • To introduce teachers to the rationale, content and instructional strategies used in activities from Topic 7: Help-seeking and peer support skills. • To equip teachers to teach help-seeking skills.

Understanding the approach • It is important that students are aware of a range of situations when they should seek help from another person • Students should also be able to identify a range of helpseeking sources (e. g. peers and teachers) • Talking about help-seeking normalises it • Peer support skills are useful so that students can support others in times of need • Learning and practicing help-seeking strategies builds confidence in students who can positively respond in situations in which they experience or witness genderbased violence in the future

Game: Musical mixings

Activities in Topic 7 Activities in this Topic: Activities that we will sample: Activity 1: When and if to seek help Activity 2: Where to go for help Activity 3: Overcoming resistance to help-seeking Activity 4: Messages of support Activities from the program have been modified in some instances to be relevant to teachers ✓

Why teach peer-support & helpseeking? • Help-seeking behaviour of children and young people is fundamental to their mental health and wellbeing • Encouraging and fostering help-seeking behaviours through school-based programs is one way to improve their self-respect, mental health and wellbeing

Help-seeking Patterns • Young people can find it hard to ask adults for help • Help-seeking patterns are often ‘gendered’ with females seeking help more readily than males • It can be those who in most need who are least likely to seek help • People can be afraid to report violence in case it makes the problem worse • People who have been the target of violence may feel it must have been their fault in some way and so they can feel ashamed or guilty and this can be a barrier to help-seeking • People can find it hard to report sexual violence because they feel a sense of shame or blame (Rickwood et al. 2005; Kuhl, Horlick & Morrisey 1997)

Common Barriers to Help-seeking Lack of trust in others Fear of burdening others Fear that situation will become worse if known Shame Embarrassment Guilt Believing one should cope on one’s own Lack of knowledge about support services available • Inaccessible services • Lack of culturally appropriate services • • (Rickwood et al. 2005)

Failure to help seek after sexual abuse • Both males and females say they do not seek help following sexual violence because they do not realise that what they have experienced is a problem – it is accepted as a normal part of life • (Division of Violence Prevention et al. , 2009; Swaziland UNICEF et al. , 2007; ZIMSTAT et al. , 2013). • Chiroro et al. , (2006) measured the nature and prevalence of sexual abuse in female high school and college students in Zimbabwe. • 41% of students had experienced sexual abuse prior to 16 years of age. • 93% of these cases were perpetrated by a family member or someone known to the victim.

Zimbabwe: reasons for not seeking services for incident/s of sexual violence (ZIMSTAT et al. , 2013) • Reason Females 13 -24 Males 13 -24 Afraid of getting into trouble Embarrassed for self or family Did not want abuser to get into trouble 25. 0% 18. 7% 23. 8% 8. 9% 20. 2% 0. 0% Too far to services Afraid of being abandoned Did not think it was a problem Could not afford transport Could not afford service fee Did not need/ want services Other reason 8. 9% 0. 4% 31. 6% 0. 7% 0. 0% 9. 1% 10. 3% 0. 0% 71. 7% 0. 0% 9. 3% 9. 5%

Swaziland: Reasons for not reporting sexual violence by females aged 13 -18 [CATEGORY NAME] [PERCENTAGE] I was scared I was going to be abandoned 27% I didn’t think I would be believed 14% [CATEGORY NAME] [PERCENTAGE] I wasn’t aware that it was abuse 28% Indicator: Reasons for not reporting incidents of sexual violence defined as ‘primary reason for not reporting sexual violence among those who did not report, aged 13 -18, when the incident occurred’ Source: (Swaziland UNICEF & CDC, 2007)

Swaziland: Reasons for not reporting sexual violence by females aged 18 -24 [CATEGORY NAME] [PERCENTAGE] [CATEGORY NAME] [PERCENTAGE] Indicator: Reasons for not reporting incidents of sexual violence defined as ‘primary reason for not reporting sexual violence among those who did not report, aged 18 -24, when the incident occurred’ Source: (Swaziland UNICEF & CDC, 2007)

Tanzania: Reasons for not reporting sexual violence by females aged 13 -24 Reason Female Male Fear of abandonment or separation Did not want to embarrass their family Did not know who to tell Did not think people would believe them Did not view it as a problem Believed it was no one else’s business Thought they were strong enough to deal with it them self 33. 8% 9. 3% 7. 3% 6. 6% 4. 6% 9. 3% 6. 0% 17. 8% No data 13. 3% 28. 0% 15. 1% 14. 2% Not wanting to get the perpetrator in 7. 3% trouble 12. 5% Threats by the perpetrator No data 0. 6% Indicator: Reasons for not reporting incidents of sexual violence defined as ‘reasons given for not telling anyone about experiences of sexual violence, as reported by 13 -24 year olds who experience childhood sexual violence and did not disclose Source (Division of Violence Prevention et al. , 2009)

What if a student asks you for help? ***See the introductory notes for help with this. Things a teacher can say • It is good that you told me about this • It should not be happening to you • You do not deserve this • It is not your fault when someone is violent • It can be hard to talk about, but can you tell me more about what has been happening • I want to help • We need to work out how to get you the right kind of help • The school wants to get this kind of behaviour stopped • Can you tell me some more about what has been happening? • Thank-you for telling me this. I appreciate it can take courage to tell someone this. Now we need to work out who else needs to know to help keep you safe, and who else needs to know to help to get this behaviour stopped.

What if a teacher suspects a student has experienced violence but they have not asked for help? Have a private conversation to open the topic. Things a teacher can say: • Many young people experience harassment, violence or negative treatment by others. Is this happening to your friends or classmates at all? • Is it ever happening to you? • What sorts of things have been happening? • Where is this happening? • How often is this happening? • Who is involved? • How is it affecting you? • I am really sorry this is happening to you. It should not be happening. I want to work with you to make a plan to get this stopped. I think we also need (…. . ) to help us with this.

Topic 7, Activity 1: When and if to seek help Learning objectives In this activity students will: • Consider when reporting or help-seeking is warranted in response to school-related gender-based violence

Topic 7, Activity 2: Where to go for help Learning objectives In this activity students will: • Identify a range of people from whom students can seek support if experiencing or observing genderbased violence • Identify a range of people who students can support in their everyday lives so as to contribute to the reduction of gender-based violence

Topic 7, Activity 2: Where to go for help • • • With a partner, take turns to draw around each others hands. On each finger of one hand, identify one person you could approach for help if faced with a challenge or you are feeling down. Try to think of at least one person from your family and one person from another setting (work, school etc) On each finger of the other hand write the name to stand for a person that they can or would like to give help or support to.

Topic 7, Activity 3: Overcoming resistance to help-seeking Learning objectives In this activity students will: • Explore barriers to reporting and help-seeking in situations involving gender-based violence

Topic 7, Activity 3: Overcoming resistance to help-seeking As you prepare your script, consider: 1. Work with your group to prepare a script to show help -seeking in response to your scenario (help-seeking by target or peers) 2. Bring your script to life in a role-play • Who = Who is in the scene? (e. g. two friends and their teacher) • Where = Where will the scene take place? (e. g. outside the teacher’s office) • When = When will the scene take place? (e. g. after school) • What = What will the scene be about? (e. g. telling the teacher that they are worried about their friend who has been the target of gender-based violence) • How = How will the characters play the scene? (e. g. how the students will tell the teacher)

This activity helps students to learn that: • Sometimes seeking help can be hard because of the fear of being judged, rejected or blamed, or the fear that you will not be believed. • In the face of these fears it takes courage to seek help. • We can use assertiveness skills and ‘I’ statements as part of a help-seeking conversation.

Key messages • There are many barriers to disclosure or reporting of violence • Help-seeking skills and norms can be taught • Peers can assist each other to start on a helpseeking pathway • If you encourage students to ask for help, expect more disclosures to happen in the school, and prepare to respond appropriately

Take a look at the Classroom Program • Have a look at Topic 7 activities in your copies of the classroom program • How confident are you to deliver these learning activities?

Teacher-student relationships & help-seeking • Students are more likely to seek help from those teachers they can trust, and who they find to be friendly and non-judgmental Positive relationships with teachers play a protective role for students (Cahill & Coffey 2013, Mazzer & Rickwood 2013, Rickwood et al. 2005, Rughani, Deane, & Wilson 2011)

How is the training going for you? How have we moved? Where do we need to get to?

References Cahill, H. and Coffey, J. (2013) 'Young people and the Learning Partnerships program', Youth Studies Australia, 32(4). Chiroro, P. , Viki, T. G. , Frodi, A. , Muromo, T. , & Tsigah, A. (2006). Nature and prevalence of childhood sexual abuse among high school girls and college students in Zimbabwe. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 16(1), 17 -26. Division of Violence Prevention, National Centre for Injury Prevention and Control, United Nations Children’s Fund and U. S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, & Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences. (2009). Violence Against Children in Tanzania Findings form a National Survey 2009, Summary Report on the Prevalence of Sexual, Physical and Emotional Violence, Context of Sexual Violence, and Health and Behavioural Consequences of Violence Experienced in Childhood. Dar es Salaam: UNICEF. Mazzar, K. and Rickwood, D. (2013) Teachers' role breadth and perceived efficacy in supporting student mental health, Canberra: University of Canberra. Rickwood, D. , Deane, F. P. , Coralie, J. W. and Ciarrochi, J. (2005) 'Young people’s help-seeking for mental health problems', Australian e-Journal for the Advancement of Mental Health (Ae. JAMH), 4(3), 1 -34. Rughani, J. , Deane, F. P. and Wilson, C. J. (2011) 'Rural adolescents' help-seeking intentions for emotional problems: The influence of perceived benefits and stoicism', Australian Journal of Rural Health, 19(2), 64 -69. Swaziland United Nations Children's Fund, & the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2007). A National Study on Violence Against Children and Young Women in Swaziland: Swaziland UNICEF, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. The Violence Against Children Survey (VACS) reports on reasons why adolescents do not seek services, and why adolescents fail to report following an incident of sexual violence (Division of Violence Prevention et al. , 2009; Swaziland UNICEF et al. , 2007; ZIMSTAT et al. , 2013). Data is available for Zimbabwe (Table 1 above) Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency, United Nations Children’s Fund, & Collaborating Centre for Operational Research and Evaluation. (2013). National Baseline Survey on Life Experiences of Adolescents, 2011. Harare: ZIMSTAT.