Victim Services of Durham Region presents

Youth Violence Prevention Symposium

Join us in Empowering and engaging Youth to stay safe!

Since 2020, our school-based Violence Prevention Symposium for Grades 7, 8 and 9 has been held annually in February. Initially focusing on Anti-Human Trafficking, the Symposium has now expanded to meet the needs of youth based on trends that we are seeing.

Our aim is to protect and empower young people by providing engaging education on issues related to human trafficking, consent, healthy relationships, sextortion, teen dating violence, gang awareness, cyber safety and more. Youth will learn about vulnerabilities and risk factors through a series of activities and presentations. Guest speakers have included spoken word artists, survivor stories, Indigenous knowledge keepers, and more. Our goal is to equip youth with the critical knowledge and tools they need to support them in navigating the complex realities that come with being a young person, especially in today’s rapidly changing online world. In doing so, we will simultaneously be working to reduce youth experiences of violence and exploitation.

In partnership with Schools and Educators this interactive event will engage youth using online modules, games and videos to enhance learning in a safe setting. Youth will also be provided with information on where to seek support both on the day of the event, as well as in future.

Youth knowledge has increased from 35 – 97% as a result of our prevention programming and the number of youth educated has increased by over 300% since our first symposium in 2020. In 2023 Victim Services of Durham Region received 48 disclosures as a result of education provided during the symposium.

Join us in Empowering and engaging Youth to stay safe!

Youth Testimonials

I learned lots about how to keep myself and others safe.

It gave a lot of information to kids like me and my friends!

I learnt A LOT, thank you for letting me have the opportunity to listen to some wonderful speakers, I wish to have more days like these learning more about Youth Symposium.

The Youth Symposium was fun and very informative, I enjoyed it!

Thank you for educating us on important topics.

It went really well and I'm glad everyone got to learn so they can be a lot safer and know what to look out for, so thank you for taking the time to teach us all.

It really went well and there was a lot of information that I've learned that was great to know. So that if anything happens in the future we would be able to see it or know what to do before things goes wrong.

The Youth Symposium went really well. The information that was provided was extremely helpful, and I'm really happy that we got to talk and listen about all these topics.

I learned so much more than I thought would and now I know to be more careful and what to look for in uncomfortable situations.

It went really well! I enjoyed doing it with my friends and learning more about what’s going on in my community. 😄

This event is very important and everyone deserves to listen to this amazing event.

Educator Testimonials

I think speakers spoke confidently, and students were able to engage in the material in an appropriate and mature way.

Great resources that I will use in my Health programming. Very relevant information.

The students learned some very important information about luring and human trafficking. They were not aware of how it is conducted.

My students learned a lot and had good questions.

Well organized. Easy to put my day together. Lots to pick and choose from to make sure it was appropriate content for my class. Lots of materials to use as follow up over the next week or so.

The speakers were all knowledgeable and explained themselves well and I liked that there were options and we could go at our own pace throughout the day.

This was a wonderful symposium with a variety of speakers and virtual presentation styles to keep students engaged.

It was full of great information for this age group.

Our students engaged well with the material and shared many insightful and aware activities.

The presenters in the videos were very knowledgeable about the topics they were speaking about. Real life experiences really resonate with the students and myself.

Open dialogue about tough topics with the kids and helped them realize the risks and red flags, really great online portion for cyber safety.

Very informative - hearing from survivors was very impactful and educational.

So glad this opportunity was provided. I think anything included that explained human trafficking as it is seen in their own communities to people around their age is the best tool to prepare them.

Contact us

Victim Services of Durham Region
605 Rossland Rd. E., Box 911 Whitby ON L1N 0B8
(905) 721-4226
1 (888) 579-1520 ext. 3400
victimservices@drps.ca

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