Gabby Petito's Death Prompts Nassau County To Expand 'Safe Dates Initiative' To Help Young People's Relationships
ELMONT, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- There is a new push on Long Island to teach young people how to have healthy relationships.
Officials say the focus recently on Gabby Petito's death makes it timely and essential, CBS2's Carolyn Gusoff reported Thursday.
Petito's disappearance has sparked a national conversation about abusive relationships. While we don't know all the facts behind her death, we know there was tension, a police stop, and, later, a strangulation.
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Now, Nassau County officials cite the case and the heightened awareness in expanding its "Safe Dates Initiative," which teaches kids the difference between healthy and abusive.
"Behavior such as excessive jealousy, threats, accusations, humiliation," crime victims' advocate Jeanine Diehl-Paulson said.
The county is urging every school district to sign up for the free four-session program. So far, only 20% take part, including Elmont, which is expanding it to the middle school.
"Kids need to know how to get out of uncomfortable situations and resources they can use to do that, but also, it hopefully doesn't put kids in that position to begin with, where it teaches kids how to be respectful," said Kevin Dougherty, principal of Elmont Memorial High School.
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The program is taught by The Safe Center LI and domestic abuse victims like Liz Osowiecki, who has "No means no" tattooed on her arm.
"Being obsessive and stalking your partner, and pretending that you're the only two people in the world, it doesn't feel so bad until you realize that it's a red flag and that you have lost all your friends and that this person does control you," Osowiecki said.
They use dramatizations to teach teens that controlling relationships can escalate to violence.
"One in 4 adolescents experience verbal, physical, emotional or sexual abuse from a dating partner," Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said.
Abusive dating is often cyclical, meaning victims witnessed violence in their homes, but that isn't always the case.
"You don't necessarily have to come from a family with history of domestic violence to fall victim to it, so that's why programs like this become really critical," said Nassau County Social Services Commissioner Nancy Nunziata.
Like so many things, experts believe early intervention is the best prevention, and that middle school is the right time to begin having these conversations at home, and in school.
Nassau County is hosting a virtual event on Nov. 19 at 6 p.m. for parents, students and educators to learn more about the Safe Dates Initiative.
Victims can call the Safe Center's 24-hour hotline at 516-542-0404.
