Love Bites program to be expanded

A prevention and education program targeting domestic and family violence and sexual assault, already delivered to three schools in Canterbury-Bankstown, is to be expanded.

Love Bites, developed by National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN), has been delivered to more than 300 students, aged 15-17 years. The program, comprising interactive education and creative workshops, aims to:

Council’s Community Development Officer, Turkan Aksoy, is one of 16 newly-trained facilitators.

"Often, issues like violence and assault just aren’t talked about, so it’s important for me to help give our youth the tools they need to keep themselves safe and emotionally protected," Ms Aksoy said.

"I want to help empower them to take control of their own lives and establish healthy and loving relationships with everyone around them."

As a White Ribbon Day Ambassador, Mayor Khal Asfour said he was proud to support such a successful a program.

"The number of domestic violence-related assaults in our City has declined by more than 10 per cent over the last three years," Mayor Asfour said.

"While there’s more work to do, programs like these continue to make a real impact.

"It’s so important we show our children, at every opportunity, how we should behave and interact with our friends and family.

"In their evaluation forms, students are saying things like ‘everything about this program is amazing’, ‘keep up the great work’ and ‘we want the program to come back to our school’."

Love Bites, delivered by EIPP Mission Australia, supported by Council and funded by Bankstown Sports Club, is now expanding the program into a further three local schools.