By Sarah Rae

Battlefords woman bringing consent culture to kids

May 16, 2016 | 5:00 PM

Sexual assault intervention doesn’t just need to be in reaction to violence, which is why the Battlefords and Area Sexual Assault Centre provides preventative education programs.

Blaire Koop, a crisis counsellor at the centre, thinks people should start understanding consent from a young age.

The centre provides programs for kids as young as in kindergarten, to introduce them to the idea of boundaries and what is appropriate.

“They can start going ‘okay this is my body, not your body’ or ‘you are not necessarily a bad person but you have to have permission,’” she said.

Koop recently started an educational program for Grade 12 students about entering university and the workplace. She said the program educates students about rape, emphasizing consent and that rape by an acquaintance is much more likely than a stranger.

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“(It helps students) realize we’re not all trying to be rapists and be bad people, that it happens because we all have misconceptions and we’re just trying to fix that,” Koop said.

She added a lot of what they’re saying in the program isn’t completely new to the students, they just may have not thought about it consciously before. She said she’s seen a positive response from students, who are realizing they have more responsibility for themselves and to stand up for their boundaries.

May 16 to 20 is Sexual Assault Awareness Week in Saskatchewan, a provincially declared week to raise awareness about sexual violence, support survivors, and bring attention to the organizations supporting them.

One of the most pertinent misconceptions they’re trying to dispute at the sexual assault centre is people often think they’re at fault, Koop said.

“If they seem to themselves to have been suggestive in any way, then they think they’ve brought it on and it’s like ‘well I’m not going to go to somewhere like the sexual assault centre or the police or anything because I’m at fault,’” she said.

Koop said she doesn’t see the conversation around sexual violence changing a lot, but the younger generations are becoming more aware of consent. She said she and her coworkers are trying to change attitudes by doing prevention programs and by spreading awareness that places like the sexual assault centre aren’t scary.

“It’s kind of overwhelming to think there’s that many people that are affected either directly or indirectly by sexual assault so we’re doing an awesome thing here,” she said.

Koop just recently finished her psychology degree and started at the sexual assault centre in February. She wanted to do crisis counselling and said this job is the best way to help others.

Apart from her counselling, she said she’s just trying to get out there as much as possible and spread awareness.

“I just really care about people and if someone has to suffer in silence because either they’re scared or they just don’t know where to go, that just doesn’t seem like something we should just keep being okay with. If we can do something we should do something,” she said.

Sarah.rae@jpbg.ca

@sarahjeanrae