Dear Educators,
We are Grace Lim and Lydia Doerr, seniors at IHS and LACS. This summer we interned at the Advocacy Center of Tompkins County thanks to the United Way’s Stephen E. Garner Summers of Service program. During our internship, we created the ‘I Support Survivors Educator Toolkit’ for high school faculty and staff to learn how to better support survivors of sexual and relationship violence, as well as how to stand against this violence within the school environment. Students need adults who support them and who are trying to combat sexual violence in schools because the problem is active and needs to be addressed.
The purpose of this toolkit is to:
Equip you with best practices for responding to student disclosures of sexual violence and/or harassment
Encourage and assist you in cultivating classroom environments that are survivor-friendly and combat cultures of sexual violence
Visually identify -through means of displayed signage- a network of supportive adults within a school community who are dedicated to survivors’ wellbeing
We believe it’s important for educators to know how to support survivors and how to demonstrate that support, not just with the included signage, but also with learned skills. While we hope to see these 'I Support Survivors' stickers throughout our schools, if you do not feel ready to display the sticker in your room or office, that is okay! We would rather you take the time to learn and put the sticker up once you feel prepared to offer support. As you read through the resources in this packet, we ask that you think about what you can do as an educator to help support your students and stand against sexual violence -both in your classroom, and in your everyday life.
We really appreciate your willingness to learn, and utilize this resource we’ve created!
Sincerely,
Grace Lim and Lydia Doerr