CASSY presentation provides information about dating violence

Dating violence affect one in every three women and one in every four men, according to Melanie Sperling, the Bay Area coordinator of the One Love Foundation. People from ages 16 to 24 have a three times greater risk of having an abusive relationship than those in other age groups.

Considering how common dating violence is, CASSY went to teacher Hana Chen’s AP Government/Economic classes on Nov. 4 to evoke a discussion about a movie called “Escalation,” a 90-minute drama film created by the One Love Foundation and dedicated to Yeardley Love, a senior from the University of Virginia who was struck to death by her abusive boyfriend in 2010.

In one scene, the protagonist’s boyfriend, Chase, dragged the protagonist, Paige, by the neck across the quad for only talking to a group of friends, one of whom was male.

As that scene continued in Chen’s seventh-period Economics class, senior Simrun Buttar felt shocked. The couple had only been in a relationship for a couple of weeks. Such an overreaction caught Buttar’s attention, opening her eyes to how quickly a normal relationship can become unhealthy.

“The film was definitely really powerful, as it showed me how it is up to us to recognize these signs of a potentially dangerous relationship before anything else could go wrong,” Buttar said.

After students watched the movie, CASSY counselor Kim Cousens presented discussion questions about how the students felt about the movie and how it influenced their views of dating violence.

The One Love Foundation was first founded in 2010 by Love’s family after they found that abusive relationships can be prevented through understanding patterns and behaviors of relationships. Sperling said that the foundation’s main goal is to educate students through the creation of “Escalation.”

“We want to engage people’s hearts and minds in the movie and gear their minds to have a conversation about relationship abuse in a way that people can connect with,” Sterling said. “We see this workshop as a catalyst for a larger movement at college.”

The curriculum targets juniors and seniors in high school, in the time before they are about to head off to college. Originally, Cousens wanted to participate in this training because she felt that it is important for students to understand this information in order to protect and help others.

“Educating students on noticing whether a relationship is healthy or not healthy — and what to do if relationship isn't healthy — is a really critical skill for students to learn early,” Cousens said.

So far, Cousens has given the dating violence presentation to Chen’s classes. She hopes to visit more classrooms to spread this knowledge to students.

“I really believe that one of the things that CASSY can do here at Saratoga High is to provide a continuum of support so that we are helping students who may have crises,” Cousens said. “They'll be able to know how they can use their resources to prevent violence through the Escalation presentation.”