Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape (PCAR)
(Now branded Respect Together)

Location

Harrisburg, PA

Situation

The mission of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape (PCAR) is to work to eliminate all forms of sexual violence and to advocate for the rights and needs of victims of sexual assault. PCAR has been a partner with Soteria Solutions for many years, leveraging Bringing in the Bystander® High School Prevention Program (BITB High School) to achieve its mission. PCAR helps secure state funding to enable sexual assault services centers throughout Pennsylvania to purchase the BITB High School program, training high school students on bystander intervention skills.

When the BITB licenses were up for renewal, PCAR’s Prevention & Evaluation Coordinator, Mallory Michel, sought to host a train-the-trainer session designed for PCAR and prevention educators from the sexual assault services centers in the state. She spearheaded the effort, working closely with two of Soteria Solution’s lead trainers to customize the training to meet the audience’s unique needs.

Soteria Solutions

• Bringing in the Bystander High School
• Hosted Training

The trainers, Caroline Leyva and Kate Rohdenburg, developed and facilitated the Bringing in the Bystander High School train-the-trainer session. Seventeen community center leaders and PCAR representatives attended the two-day training which was live via Zoom.

Pennsylvania centers represented at the training included Aware Inc., Centre Safe, Pittsburgh Action Against Rape, SPHS C.A.R.E Center S.T.T.A.R.S Program, Safe Berks, Sexual Assault Resource and Counseling Center (SARCC), Women’s Center of Beaver County and Women’s Resource Center of Scranton, PA.

The attendees work with high school leaders to integrate the BITB high school program into student-focused initiatives targeting sexual assault and violence prevention. The BITB program sets the standard for bystander intervention training as it incorporates a community of responsibility model where all community members have a role as active bystanders in ending sexual assault and relationship violence.

The training focused on helping the sexual assault services center attendees understand how to facilitate the training so high school students learn how to identify risky behavior, how to increase empathy for someone who has experienced assault or violence and learn skills on how to safely and effectively intervene as a proactive bystander.

Given this training was dedicated to PCAR and its sexual assault services centers prevention educators, the training addressed the unique challenges that prevention educators in the sexual assault services centers face in building relationships with influencers and decision makers within each high school to achieve buy-in and support for BITB. Over the two days, the trainers shared ideas of how to build relationships with the high schools to achieve common goals.

Results

The train-the-trainer event for PCAR and its sexual assault services center partners achieved its goals. Through a hosted training program, the attendees benefitted from two training days to network, share information and learn from each other. The benefits included furthering the cohesiveness of future facilitators, excited and organized to implement BITB High School throughout the state of Pennsylvania.

Additionally, attendees have an increased comfort level in how best to facilitate scenarios and activities to help high school students identify behaviors and build skills; increasing their ability and willingness to intervene safely and effectively.

Feedback from attendees of the train-the-trainer event included:
“The hosts shared great examples and responses, and they were very engaging and interesting. It was also nice to have the small group time to network.”
and
“It was relaxed, and the trainers met the group where we were. No pressure, easy to follow, interesting presentation. Thank you!”

Survey results from the attendees were positive with 100% of the respondents agreeing that the BITB curriculum would be useful to their work.