GRANTS PASS – Mayor Roy Lindsay has proclaimed February to be Teen Dating Violence Action Month in the City of Grants Pass. Lindsay presented the formal proclamation to a group of students from the Women’s Crisis Support Team (WCST) WINGS Positive Youth Development and Violence Prevention program at the Grants Pass city council meeting, Feb. 5.
Lindsay read the proclamation aloud, which called upon the citizens of Grants Pass to join in observance of month as an opportunity to work with young people “to develop and implement policies, protocols and education about healthy relationships and relationship skills.”
Accepting the proclamation on behalf of the WINGS group was Jane Marsh, who provided some stats from the Centers for Disease Control which revealed that one in three teens faces some sort of abuse from dating violence. March said statistics show that only one in three of those teens ever reports the violence.
“We hope to shed light on this subject so that teens know they are not alone,” said Marsh who was joined by Rayna Polanco, Courtney Kallai, Isabella Perez, Olivia Dimmick, Taylor Hurliman, and Jazmine Westerman.
There are more than 12 WINGS teams at seven different area schools. The students accepting the proclamation represented an action team composed of students from Grants Pass High School and North Valley High School.
Marsh said teens who experience violence in dating relationships are more likely to be depressed, experience eating disorders, do poorly in school, engage in unhealthy behaviors such as drug and alcohol use, and think about or attempt suicide.
Education and awareness are the keys to preventing violence and abuse, she said.
“I hope we can all play a part in ending this vicious cycle,” said Marsh.
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