Castle Hill RSL Group Helps Empower Teenagers to Make Respectful Decisions

Is it ok to know where your partner is and what they are doing at all times? How do you know if someone is giving consent?

These are just some of the scenarios playing out in a program that teaches teenagers the importance of respectful relationships.

The Castle Hill RSL Group (CHRG), in collaboration with the National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN), play a pivotal role in helping to deliver the Love Bites program into local high schools.

The program is facilitated by officers from the Castle Hill Police Local Area Command, who empower adolescents aged 13 to 18 with the knowledge and skills needed to navigate complex societal challenges.

“CHRG is incredibly proud of the work we have done with the Hills Local Area Command and more specifically, Senior Constable Ethan West and Tara Gleig,” says CHRG Group Chief Operating Officer Andy Abey.

“We recognised that we are in a unique position to provide information and resources to engage, inform and influence better outcomes for teenagers.

“And we started with offering NAPCAN’s Love Bites training for local police and civilians to enable them to get into classrooms and deliver the content in a supported environment.”

To date, CHRG has provided around $50,000 in funding, through cash and in-king support, which has helped to train more than 100 facilitators from the Hills, Hawkesbury, Hornsby and Paramatta local area commands.

These facilitators have in turn delivered the Love Bites program in schools to around 1000 students since its inception.

“Is it OK for me to text or call my partner and know where they are all the time? How do we feel about that?” asked a police officer facilitator at a recent school visit, with students highly engaged in brainstorming their responses.

“It taught us how to notice abusive relationships and check if what you’re in is really good for you or not,” said one student after completing the scenario.

“This program was really helpful in helping us understand how to give consent, understand consent and so on,” said another.

“It also gives you people to talk with if you’re stuck in an abusive relationship.”

CHRG is now working with NAPCAN to identify other programs and partnerships to be able to reach more students to do their part in helping to bring an end to domestic violence.

“Clubs are in a unique position to bring so many stakeholders together for a common purpose,” says Andy.

“And that’s exactly what’s required if we want to see the dial shift. The community must work together on the rollout of education programs to create enough groundswell in order to gain momentum for change.”