Sexual violence prevention workshops to be held across campus

Students at the University of Glasgow and Glasgow Caledonian University have partnered with Rape Crisis Scotland to launch a training programme on preventing sexual violence.

A total of 25 students from both universities have recently taken part in five days of intensive training taught by Rape Crisis Scotland and shaped for and by students. This will enable them to deliver informative workshops to fellow students.

The first participants were contacted via email and individually interviewed by the SRC Vice-President for Student Support Erin Ross, one of the main organisers of the initiative, for the task of leading future workshops.

The schedule included sessions on consent, bystander intervention, challenging perceptions and procedures for reporting and accessing support. Scenarios were acted out to educate trainers on approaching sensitive situations such as intervening as a bystander without causing conflict and how to act if a trainee has been the victim of a sexual assault. The students were also taught about the law surrounding sexual violence.

The newly trained students will start delivering workshops to other students across campus, beginning with freshers’ helpers in early September. The workshops will then be held at student halls of residence.

The programme’s organisers hope to roll out the workshops so that eventually the majority of students at the University of Glasgow will have the knowledge be able to act confidently if such a situation were to arise.

Organisers hope the workshops will ultimately help to widen and normalise discussions on sexual violence.