CEDAR CITY — Canyon Creek Services hosted a “Chalk About Love” event for Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month Friday afternoon in front of the Cedar City Library.
February is dedicated to bringing awareness to teen dating violence, and community members were invited to draw or write with chalk about healthy relationships during the event.
Awareness and Prevention Director Roxy Burkhart said the event helps demonstrate that preventing violence in relationships is possible.
“It directly ties into Canyon Creek’s mission of communities free of domestic violence and sexual assault because we’re out here showing that prevention is possible, and relationship violence is preventable through respect, communication, and happy and healthy, loving relationships,” she said.
Staff Member Kaleigh Bronson said of the 757 individuals that CCS provided services for in 2019, 175 were children.
“We take that responsibility very seriously,” Bronson said. “The statistics are really baffling on how many teens think its okay to physically hurt their partner or don’t understand what consent is; it’s really problematic and it needs to change.”
Bronson added the event is part of the nonprofit’s effort to educate on healthy relationships.
“We work really hard to educate our community about healthy relationships and consent and boundaries, communication,” she said. “This is a way for us to raise awareness and a fun way to get people out of the office.”
CCS offers a variety of services for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. For more information, visit canyoncreekservices.org or call 435-867-9411.
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