The International Center for Assault Prevention (ICAP) is a training center which empowers communities worldwide to help keep their children safe from peer assault (bullying), abduction and known adult assault. Local community members are trained as facilitators in ICAP curricula and then they in turn provide this training to their local schools and community groups.
All ICAP programs utilize a three-pronged approach to prevention education: training of staff, parents and children. ICAP curricula strategies include self assertion, peer support, effective communication and reporting skills. ICAP programs are presented with a view of assault as a violation of basic human rights and that all people and their children deserve to be Safe, Strong and Free.
Adult workshops precede the children’s programming. They include staff in-service trainings and parent workshops. They cover the prevention and empowerment strategies given in the children’s workshops and offer suggestions for the most effective ways to support those strategies at home, school and in the community.
Teacher/Staff In-service
Staff In-service is a 1 ½-2 hour in-service given by CAP facilitators for all staff persons involved in a school. The training includes an:
- overview of assault with current statistics on abuse.
- addresses the questions of who is abusing children and why.
- gives the identifying indicators/symptoms often seen in abused children.
- introduces skills of communicating with children who might be abused.
- covers specific state law regarding reporting of abuse and neglect.
- detailed explanation of the classroom workshop.
Parent Program
Parent Workshop is a 1 ½- 2 hour program which includes similar information for:
- presents statistics and some common misconceptions about abuse.
- reviews reporting laws and ways to identify abused children.
- provides materials to use at home with children.
- offers community resources available to those who need help.
- detailed explanation of the classroom workshop.
Student Workshops
The three empowerment skills taught in each workshop are:
- self-assertiveness
- peer support
- telling a trusted adult
Student workshops address situations in which a child’s personal rights are violated. The workshops focus on peer assault, stranger abduction, and assault by a known adult. Through guided group discussions, narratives and role plays, the students learn strategies to protect themselves and stay safe, strong, and free.
