Important conversation: Sojourner Family Peace Center youth summit educates teens on healthy dating habits

MILWAUKEE -- Navigating the teenage years can be difficult. That is, in part, why adolescents are more at risk compared to other age groups when it comes to intimate partner abuse. In an effort to promote healthy relationships, the Sojourner Family Peace Center held a workshop for Milwaukee Public Schools students on Thursday, March 16th.

Sojourner holds these healthy dating youth summits up to eight times a year. Each time around 100 students participate. The focus of Thursday's summit was the evolving role of technology in relationships.

Studies show one in three teenagers will experience some form of abuse from an intimate partner.

"It can be anything from name calling to sexual abuse, pushing, shoving," said Carmen Pitre, Sojourner Family Peace Center president and CEO.

Pitre said education is key.

"If you grow up in a world that you don't have good role models helping you understand what healthy behavior is, you might not be able to identify it in your life," Pitre said.

During Thursday's healthy dating youth summit, experts in violence prevention spoke with middle school aged students from MPS about how technology can make young relationships that much more confusing, and sometimes dangerous.

"We're now seeing a lot more accessibility to cameras and recording equipment. We're seeing a huge rise in sexting," said Lynn Gahagan with Children's Hospital.

Gahagan teaches students that it's illegal to coerce a partner to send nude photos, or even threaten to share explicit photos of a partner with others online.

"We live in a world where something can be posted and never removed or posted and shared 1,000 times before it's removed," Gahagan said.

MPS social workers said the goal was to change students' attitudes and behavior before it's too late.

"You can tell they were second guessing their social media usage and their own digital footprint that they're putting out there," said Robert Gates, Milwaukee Public Schools social worker.

Experts at the summit also shared some tips for parents. They said some of the warning signs that your teen may be in an abusive relationship include constant text messages from a partner trying to keep tabs on him or her, or if your teen spends a lot of alone time in their room on their phone or the internet.