Creating a non-violent relationship

Home: K to 12: For Teenagers: Going too far

Going Too Far is designed to help you make sense of violent and abusive relationships.

Many of us experience violence in some form in our everyday lives; it's taken for granted. Or are you one of the few young people who have never been hit, by parents, other kids, or teachers? Maybe you've never seen a playground fight, or had someone bully you.

Most people have, and most of us don't know how to deal with it. Chances are we come away from violent interactions feeling pretty awful whether we win or lose.

These booklets give you the chance to look at what happens when people have destructive relationships, and to show you that you can decide to have relationships without having to dominate or be victimised. There are exercises and stories included which are intended to challenge the way you think and encourage you to talk about your own ideas and experiences with your friends and classmates. It's important that you learn to listen to what they are saying too.

You don't have to worry about saying the right things, or having the right answers.

There aren't any. Everyone has different ideas. There are hundreds of theories about why people are violent, and what to do about it. If we already had all the right answers, we wouldn't have all this violence in our society and in our homes.

Standing Strong is for boys and girls. To avoid the readability problems associated with the use of him/her, he/she etc. the authors use the male gender in some parts and the female in others, in a fairly random manner.

The stories in this magazine are true. Only the names have been changed to protect the people involved. The girls and boys in the photographs are models and have not been sexually abused.

Sponsor

Department of Human Services

Disclaimer Copyright Updated: 3 Mar 2009