Northwest Missouri State University’s Wellness Services is continuing its work this spring to train the University community on violence prevention methods with a new approach that focuses on dialogue to prevent uncomfortable situations.

The Engage training encompasses a variety of violence prevention scenarios that students may face, including alcohol and substance use, discrimination and mental health. The Engage program focuses on people’s comfortability and safety when responding to various levels of situations.

“We are very excited to continue implementing this program to help make the campus community a safer place,” Northwest Wellness Educator Isabelle Talkington, said. “It can be very difficult for students to speak up when they see a potentially harmful situation happening, but we want to help empower all students to become more comfortable engaging with these situations.”

Northwest transitioned its violence prevention training model last fall from Green Dot program, a sexual assault and domestic violence prevention program adopted by Northwest in 2015, to the Engage model, which has been adopted by other state organizations and focuses on dialogue to prevent potentially harmful situations.

Wellness Services is offering four training sessions this spring at the J.W. Jones Student Union that are open to all students and employees to learn about the Engage model. The training schedule is:

• 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, in the Student Union Boardroom
• 3 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, in the Student Union Tower View Room
• 5 p.m. Monday, March 20, in the Student Union Boardroom
• 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 18, in Student Union Meeting Room A

Students and employees interested in Engage program training should register by clicking this link. An online training module also is accessible at www.mopiptraining.org/engage/.

For more information about Engage, to become a training facilitator or to schedule a training session, contact Talkington at 660.562.1060 or istewart@nwmissouri.edu.