Prevention Education Workshops
The Aurora Center offers prevention education workshops which address sexual assault, relationship violence, stalking, and sexual harassment. Our “Power of Respect” curriculum offers a series of comprehensive workshops that utilize a variety of prevention approaches and are designed for everyone.
Request a Workshop
Please allow at least 3 weeks of advance notice.
Workshop Learning Outcomes
- Building empathy for survivors and a foundational understanding of sexual violence
- Discovering how intersectional identities and other forms of oppression are linked to gender-based violence
- Learning skills for bystander intervention and supporting survivors
- Exploring culture change to promote peer accountability and violence prevention
- Building respectful communities and relationships
- Re-imagining social environments to be safer and more equitable
- Expanding skills and strategies of self-empowerment, self-care, and self-advocacy to reduce risk
Workshop Details
- Facilitated by trained, confidential Aurora prevention educators (trained volunteers and/or Aurora staff members)
- Content can be customized to your audience if time permits.
- Free for students, staff, and faculty at the University of Minnesota
- Available to external groups for a fee, based on capacity.
- Informed by research in public health, social work, psychology, sociology, and anti-oppression.
Workshop Offerings
Intro Workshops:
Aurora Center Overview (for students) - Brief overview (15-30 min)
- Definitions of sexual misconduct
- Tips for supporting survivors
- Introduction to the Aurora Center and its confidential services
| Aurora Center Overview (for employees) - Brief overview (30 min)
- Definitions of sexual misconduct (particularly sexual harassment)
- Information on mandatory reporting responsibilities for non-confidential University employees
- Introduction to the Aurora Center and its confidential services
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Consent and Sexual Violence - Affirmative consent definitions & key indicators
- Power dynamics
- Coercion
- Impact of alcohol
- Sexual respect
| Bystander Intervention - Barriers to intervention
- Intervention strategies
- 5 D's
- Tips for de-escalation
- Navigating scenarios
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Healthy Relationships - Consent in relationships
- Dynamics of relationship violence
- Healthy/unhealthy/abusive relationships
- Power, control, coercion, & warning signs
- Supporting a friend in an abusive relationship
| Supporting Survivors - Active listening
- Trauma responses to gender-based violence
- Barriers to disclosure and reporting
- How to respond to disclosures
- Self-care as a support person
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Fraternity New Member Seminar - Sexual violence workshops created specifically for Greek chapters and councils as part of their new member trainings
- Barriers for men to reporting and seeking help
- Consent, coercion, and alcohol
- Power dynamics & Handling rejection
- Bystander intervention & having tough conversations about concern for our friends
| Sorority New Member Seminar - Sexual violence workshops created specifically for Greek chapters and councils as part of their new member trainings
- Consent, coercion, and alcohol
- Challenging harmful gendered norms that may contribute to sexual violence
- Self-empowerment, sexual goals, and sexual respect
- Skills for supporting survivors & bystander intervention
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Advanced Workshops:
Introduction to Rape Culture - Defining rape culture
- Impacts of gender-based violence on minoritized populations
- Power dynamics and violence as a tool for oppression
- Addressing rape culture myths
- Barriers to reporting and seeking help
| Authentic Masculinities - Healthy masculinities
- Supporting male survivors
- Challenging harmful gendered norms that may contribute to sexual violence
- Rolling with rejection
- Bystander intervention and accountability in male communities
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Intersections of Race and Sexual Violence - Unique barriers to accessing resources or reporting for people of color
- Intersectionality
- Power dynamics and violence as a tool for oppression
- Impacts of gender-based violence on minoritized populations
- Supporting survivors
| Intersections of Gender, Sexuality and Sexual Violence - Myths about sexual violence and the queer community
- Impacts of gender-based violence on minoritized populations
- Unique barriers to accessing resources or reporting for queer folks
- Power dynamics and violence as a tool for oppression
- Healthy relationship dynamics
- Supporting survivors
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B.E.S.T. Party Model - Explores how parties can be designed to be safer and more equitable
- Social environment shaping
- Values, interconnection, and community-building
| Empowerment Self-Defense - Self-defense as: Self-care, self-empowerment, self-advocacy
- Variety of strategies for emotional & physical safety, active resistance, de-escalation of situations and conflicts
- Identifies core values & preferences
- Body and spatial awareness, emotional regulation, verbal & physical boundaries, assertiveness
- Reduces rates of sexual violence, self-blame, guilt, and shame
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