0:00:00.0 Mo Lewis: Welcome to Resource on the Go, a podcast from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, on understanding, responding to and preventing sexual abuse and assault. I'm Mo Lewis, the prevention specialist at NSVRC. And on today's episode, I am joined by three colleagues in Seattle, Washington, to hear about how they've created online consent lessons to be used in schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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0:00:39.1 ML: So hi, this is Mo. I'm at NSVRC, and today I'm talking with Azure, Monica and Rebecca, who recently created these consent lessons for Seattle Public Schools. And I'm just wondering if you can all introduce yourselves real quick.

0:00:52.0 Rebecca Milliman: My name is Rebecca Milliman, I use she/her pronouns, and we are all working together at the Harborview Abuse and Trauma Center and doing some really exciting work with the Seattle Public Schools.

0:01:07.0 Monica Schell: Hi, I'm Monica Schell, currently using she/her pronouns. I work underneath Rebecca at the Harborview Abuse and Trauma Center. I'm currently getting my master's in social work at U-Dub right now, which is the University of Washington, if you're not from here. [chuckle] And my practicum or internship is through Harborview.

0:01:29.4 Azure: Hi, my name is Azure, I use he/him pronouns, and I'm also working under Rebecca. And I've actually been working with Rebecca for the last few years because she was working with my high school, and I was part of the Sexual Assault Awareness Club, and Rebecca was a mentor for us and an adult figure that we had to talk with and work with, which was really great.

0:01:54.8 ML: Thank you. And I feel like I should also say that I know all of you, so this is a real treat for me to get to be doing the podcast with you and get to ask you all these questions and stuff. So Rebecca and I have known each other for over 10 years, [chuckle] which I feel like is a pretty long time. We both did sexual violence prevention work in the King County area, which is near Seattle, and it's where all of you are now. And then Monica and I were part of a prevention project together many years ago, which is so cool now that you're at U-Dub and that we're working together again. We helped create the 100 Conversations toolkit, and we did a bunch of presentations together, and we just worked together for a long time. And then Azure and I actually work together on a participatory action research project right now in the King County area called Mapping Preventions.

0:02:49.0 ML: So yeah, thanks so much for being here. This is really fun. I'm really curious about the stuff that you're doing. So I want to talk to you because I know that Washington State recently passed this law and it led to you creating these consent lessons, and so I'm just wondering if you could tell me more about the law and how you got here.

0:03:12.4 RM: Yes, absolutely, this is Rebecca. And yes, the current project that we're working on, that Monica, Azure, and I are working on with Seattle Public Schools stems from a new state law that was recently passed, and it is now codified into law in the revised code of Washington, and it's called the Comprehensive Sexual Health Education Law. And this is really exciting because my work, my career has been focused on sexual assault prevention, and I truly believe that comprehensive sexual health education is one of the most important strategies, if not the most important strategy to prevent sexual violence. And what this law basically requires now is that all public schools need to be teaching comprehensive sexual health by the 2022-23 school year, so a couple of years from now, everyone in K-12 will be receiving comprehensive sexual health education. Now, parents still have the right to opt their children out if they prefer. And we did already have another law called the Healthy Youth Act that said if you're doing sexual health education, it has to be medically accurate, it has to be inclusive of all people and families, but now we have the requirement that school districts, for example, cannot opt out.

0:04:32.8 RM: We all work in Seattle, and Seattle Public Schools actually has been doing comprehensive sexual health education for many, many years. In fact, I went through [chuckle] sexual health education even as an elementary school student in the same school district. However, I have to give a lot of credit to Seattle Public Schools for wanting to do more and wanting to do better. There's always room for improvement, there's always room to enhance what you're doing, and this law specifically even says that we need to be better incorporating topics like affirmative consent, for example, into the education we do with students. And so maybe that's been happening at some levels, but certainly, it has not been happening at all grade levels. So we're really excited that all three of us get to help guide the school district. In fact, all three of us are alumni [chuckle] from the school district too, so it's really full circle that we now get to assist them to really provide this critical education for young people.

0:05:35.2 ML: Okay, that is really cool. That's really great that this law has passed and it's so exciting, and I like the things that you're saying about how there's this opportunity to improve things and make things better. And so I'm wondering if you can tell me a little bit more about these lessons that you created. I know I got to see them recently and they're just really cool, and maybe you could tell me a little more about who they were made for, how you made them, and a little bit more about what they're about.

0:06:03.4 MS: I can take that and then Rebecca can correct me if I say anything wrong. But my understanding is that Seattle Public Schools wanted us to create consent lessons for sex ed this year. So lessons specifically about consent for fifth grade, sixth grade and eighth grade. And then each of us took one of those lessons, and then we were overachievers and decided to do a [chuckle] seventh grade lesson as well, weren't asked to do that, because we just wanted to. And so I ended up doing the fifth grade lesson. I believe, Rebecca, did you do the eighth grade lesson? 

0:06:41.9 RM: Yes.

0:06:43.4 MS: Okay, and then I think Azure did the sixth grade? 

0:06:47.9 Azure: Yes, that sounds right to me.

0:06:50.5 MS: And then we all collaborated on the seventh. But I believe Rebecca and Azure updated existing lessons, and then I wrote the fifth grade lesson from scratch, pretty much.

0:07:04.0 Azure: So yeah. One of the things we had to keep in mind when we were making the lessons is the difference in ages for different grades. And none of us have degrees in education, so we were able to at least get some advice from people who are educators about what reading level different grades are at, what language we should be using, and we tried to incorporate examples and videos that made sense for each of the different grades. And one thing that I was not... I wouldn't say concerned about, but I wanted to make sure that none of them felt like we were talking down to them, or we were being condescending or we were treating them younger than what they are, or [0:07:45.5] ____ less than what they do, 'cause I know I was that age not so long ago, and that was something I absolutely hated when I felt that adults thought little of me or thought that I didn't know things when it felt so obvious that I did.

0:08:03.6 ML: So one of the things I know about creating lessons for right now is that we are in the middle of this COVID-19 pandemic, and everybody is doing school at home. And so I know when we were talking about these, you mentioned that you made the lessons asynchronous. And I have to tell you, I only know what that word means because I have an eight-year-old niece who is doing school online, and she taught me what asynchronous means. And so I'm just wondering if you could let us know, well, first of all, what does asynchronous mean? And then why did you make the lessons to be used asynchronously? I know that students are having asynchronous days and they're also having days when they do get together all at the same time. So what made you choose to make the lessons this way? 

0:08:50.5 MS: I don't know the legal definition of asynchronous, [chuckle] don't quote me on this, but my understanding of it is is it's just online learning that's independent. You do it yourself, it's not a shared group thing that the teacher is going through. You do it yourself. I believe when we first started creating the lessons, I was under the impression that we were making these slides and that students would go through them themselves. And then I believe, Rebecca, please correct me, Seattle Public Schools told us to do it asynchronously, where it was an actual video with each of us talking in the video instead. I think we did that for a myriad of different reasons. One, it's just more digestible, [chuckle] especially since these are young kids that are online all day, and just their attention span alone, we wanted to make really short and sweet videos that got to the point of it. But also, there are nuances with adults talking about sexual health issues online with children. [chuckle] We wanted to make sure it was very straightforward, to the point, but also I believe Seattle Public Schools wanted us to do it that way as well.

0:10:11.6 Azure: Yeah, and I think one of the plus sides to that is these are sensitive topics and uncomfortable for a lot of students, and I think some of them that might have appreciated being able to do it on their own time, not with their classroom, not with their teachers, and yeah, make it feel more private.

0:10:30.0 ML: That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. And especially with the attention span thing, I feel like that is something that is affecting me a lot right now, so it really makes sense with the topic and the way that schools are right now, and the content as well. So yeah, thanks for that. It makes a lot of sense. One of the really cool things about these lessons is how they incorporate videos. Each one has a video that you watch and then think about and reflect on what was in the video. And so I'm just wondering why you decided to use and incorporate videos for these lessons.

0:11:06.8 Azure: Yeah. I think that videos are, one, a really great way to learn for a lot of people, and I think having a video in there makes it a bit more engaging. It's not that you're just clicking through slides the whole time, having to read through everything, and there's a point where you just get to sit and watch a video. And I know, at least for the lesson that I created, I had my video, and a lot of the other content that I included was based off of what we've covered in the video, so you had the video that gave an overview of it, and then the slides built off of it, asked some questions about it. And I like how that worked because it all felt very cohesive.

0:11:48.2 ML: I'm really curious about how this pandemic has changed the way that you do your work, not only how it's changed the way that we're thinking about learning and the way that lessons are created and used, but have there been any shifts to your work? And I'm wondering if there are any changes that you've had to make that you'll end up keeping once the pandemic's over.

0:12:12.3 RM: Yes. I think, obviously, during this pandemic, a lot of us have been working remotely, and particularly with this team here, first of all, I just feel extremely fortunate to work with Monica and Azure on this project, and I really feel like the three of us as a team, it's really important for us to support each other. We're talking about one aspect of this project today, but really, this is a really comprehensive project that will take place over a long period of time. And so the three of us meet really regularly, and we meet on Zoom now, where I think normally we would have met in-person, but I feel that it's important for us to stay connected, I would say probably more frequently than we would have if we were meeting in-person, just so we can be checking in and making sure that we support each other in all aspects of the project.

0:13:01.7 RM: And I think bigger picture, in our field, it seems like a lot of my colleagues and experts across the country in this field do seem to be very concerned at the rates of sexual violence, child abuse, domestic violence, pretty certainly are going up really at much higher rates than before the pandemic. And obviously, that is extremely concerning and heartbreaking. And to think about particularly the young people that we normally work with in-person at home with no ability to have any break from home life, no respite, no outside influences. A lot of people, including us, are just stuck at home. But to think about young people, I feel like it's really important to not stop the work that prevention is just probably more important now than ever. And so it's given us that extra motivation to really be doing quality comprehensive prevention efforts and not waiting until they all come back in-person, but starting it now, even during remote learning.

0:14:08.8 Azure: One part of the project that we have decided to take on is, Rebecca and I were brainstorming and we wanted to create our own video series to ideally be used in classrooms, and it was gonna be on consent and by stern intervention. I knew from the start that I wanted it to include youth voice, and I wanted to be interviewing my peers 'cause I'm only 19, so interviewing people my age about their thoughts in these topics, but of course, we're in a pandemic, so getting to meet these people in-person and recording and all that wasn't safe for us, and we also didn't wanna put their safety at risk either. So we had to be creative with how we were gonna do this, so we're gonna be having them self-film at their house, we're gonna be on Zoom interviewing them. It's a lot different than how a video series would usually be produced, but I'm excited 'cause we got creative, we figured it out, and we didn't just decide that we couldn't do it. So I'm really glad that we're still making it happen.

0:15:12.3 ML: That sounds really cool. It sounds like it makes it really accessible, too, because people can just do it at their houses or wherever they're staying. That's exciting. So do you all have information about how it's going with people using these lessons? You made them for the school year and it is the school year right now. Have you gotten any feedback or have you heard how it's going? 

0:15:38.9 MS: I don't know that the videos have been used in classrooms yet, but Seattle Public Schools seem to really like the concept that we created, so that's really cool. They're using them for a basis of future lessons that they're gonna build off of. And I actually showed my video in one of my classes, and I got really great feedback from it. My professor wanted me to send it to her so she can watch it over and over. I had a classmate message me privately asking if they could show it to their siblings that live in different states that don't have the greatest sex ed curricula. So I don't think it's been used too much yet because we've just created them, but I'm really excited for the feedback we've gotten already. And hopefully they'll take off and will be used a lot, and not just in Washington.

0:16:32.1 ML: Okay, this sounds really great. And I think the thing that I always think about is when we talk about something that's really cool, like a lesson or something that's already been created, people are gonna ask me, "Oh my gosh, I would really like access to this. Is this something that I could have? Is this something that I could use in my work?" And so are these lessons that people would be able to access and use in the prevention work they're doing? 

0:16:57.0 RM: Absolutely, we are always open to sharing our content and resources, and maybe I can just send you links and you can put them in the show notes for the podcast.

0:17:06.7 ML: So I know you all are still working on the videos and those are not quite finished yet. Is that something that we could share as well? 

0:17:14.3 Azure: Yes, you're gonna have to wait a bit for the videos, but...

0:17:17.9 ML: We can wait.

0:17:19.5 Azure: Yes, you should wait for it, 'cause it's gonna be very exciting when they are done, but hopefully, they'll be posted on YouTube, they'll be highly accessible, 'cause this is content we want people to know about. It's not top secret, it shouldn't be top secret, and we were making it to share it and for people to learn from it.

0:17:36.8 ML: I really appreciate that. This is just really great. Yeah, I'm excited about it. I looked at the lessons, they're just really fantastic. And I love that you are making it accessible for people and that there's something that people can use right now, even with the way that school is different, that there are still lessons that people can access and use and learn about consent regardless of what grade that they're in. I love it. Thank you so much for talking with me about this. This is just really... I don't know, I said this before, but it was really special to me to get to talk with the three of you about this project that you all are working on. And I don't know, it's such an exciting time in terms of how the law was passed and the changes that are coming from that. And I don't know, it's just really great that the three of you are such a big part of it. Thanks for doing this. Thanks for talking to people. I will put more information in the show notes, and yeah, keep an eye out for the lessons and the videos.

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0:18:58.8 ML: Thanks for listening to this episode of Resource on the Go. For more resources and information about preventing sexual assault, visit our website at nsvrc.org. You can also get in touch with us by emailing resources@nsvrc.org.