"Escalation": A Tool to Combat Relationship Violence

The One Love Foundation’s “Escalation” workshop was designed to reduce abusive relationships among young people. The foundation was formed to honor Yeardley Love, a University of Virginia student athlete who was killed by her ex-boyfriend.

United Educators (UE) has previewed “Escalation” and strongly recommends it to higher education institutions and high schools. The workshop is available at no cost to colleges and schools that agree to have a trained facilitator lead students in discussion. It can help higher education institutions meet the requirement to train students about bystander intervention under the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (VAWA), also known as the Campus SaVE Act.

Educating high school and college students on this topic is crucial because statistics show that relationship violence among people in this age group is a serious national problem. One Love, for example, notes that one in three women will experience a violent relationship in her lifetime and the risk of relationship violence is three times higher for women ages 16-24. Similarly, 2020 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cites that nearly one in 11 female and one in 15 male high school students report having experienced physical dating violence in the last year. About one in nine female and one in 36 male high school students report having experienced sexual dating violence in the last year.

The 90-minute workshop features a powerful, well-made film that follows the ultimately tragic relationship of a college-age couple (Paige and Chase), along with a guided discussion of the film and pre- and post-workshop surveys. The film portrays early red flags demonstrated by Chase’s possessiveness of Paige and how — as multiple people failed to intervene despite their concerns about his behavior — their relationship eventually became violent. The thorough student discussion guide that accompanies the film contains general advice for facilitating the workshop and 20 suggested questions, with teaching points for each, to help the facilitator guide the students’ discussion.

To learn more about “Escalation” or to bring the workshop to your campus, click the “Contact Us Now” button at www.joinonelove.org or email escalation@joinonelove.org.