Alleghany High School guidance counselor Winkie Clifton (left) presents certificates to Jacob Loggins (next to Clifton), Amanda Dollar and Tim Sizemore representing the completion of their training as TEEN Advocates during the Prom Promise assembly at the school May 1. The presentation marked the introduction of the program and its first three participants to the public.

New program is training teens to assist their peers

A new program — apparently the first of its kind in the state — trains teenagers to assist others of their age group in finding help with their problems.

Those problems can range from verbal squabbles with friends or relatives to substance abuse to sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) or dealing with violence.

The TEEN Advocates initiative is an outgrowth of DANA (Domestic Abuse is Not Acceptable). As Lee Cornett, program coordinator for DANA services with the Alleghany Partnership for Children explained, while DANA assists victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, it also attempts to reduce the number of victims. "We're going to attempt that through education and early intervention. That's how we came up with the TEEN Advocates idea....If anyone watches TV, they know teen stress and teen violence is on the rise."

TEEN stands for Teens Encouraging, Empowering and Nurturing (students). Cornett had considered and looked into the idea. She hoped to find a similar program to use as a guideline. However, she said, "In my research I have not been able to find another program in the state like ours. I found teen theatrical groups and peer (mediation) groups, but I have not found another teen advocate group....

"There were none out there, so we made our own and started from the ground up."

Understanding the Need

At the invitation of Alleghany High School, in February Cornett talked to a couple of classes there about healthy dating relationships. She asked the teenagers if they knew someone who had been in an abusive relationship; 18 of the 23 students raised their hands. "All my thoughts of a TEEN advocate group that had been on the back burner — I knew that needed to happen sooner than I anticipated. We went ahead and made that a priority. That's how it came about."

Definitions of abuse can include verbal and emotional forms as well as physical violence. Cornett cited research from the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, which found that rates of dating violence among teens ranged from 9 percent to 65 percent, depending on whether threats and emotional or verbal aggression were included. With emotional and verbal hostility the most common, those forms would tend toward the 65 percent end of the scale, she said, while 9 percent would represent actual physical attacks.

About 95 percent of reported abuse victims are female.

According to FBI statistics, Cornett added, one in three women is raped. The average age of a rape victim is between 15 and 25. Acquaintance and date rapes account for 85 percent of sexual assaults; that is, only 15 percent of rapes are by someone who is a stranger to the victim.

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