The Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act Sexual Assault Resistance Education Program (EAAA) is a free 12-hour sexual assault resistance education program for young women. EAAA is taught over the course of two weekend days, or four evening sessions. The program will run from 11:00 am to 5:30 pm each day.
This program is currently on hold due to the pandemic.
The traditional script around sexual assault blames the victim and perpetuates a common belief that there is little that women can do to protect themselves. This program ‘flips that script’. A victim is never at fault for sexual assault, and women can learn skills to enhance their safety.[1]
The first session, Assess, is geared towards recognizing characteristics in the environment and in other people that increase the likelihood of sexual assault. Acknowledge explores personal beliefs which create emotional barriers to resistance. Act teaches verbal and physical strategies that can effectively deter perpetrators.
What you do not see in the EAAA acronym, is the letters R and S, but our final session is devoted to just that: relationships and sexuality! This program does not focus solely on situations that are unhealthy or unsafe, but also on feeling confident and comfortable in knowing what you desire and deserve in a healthy relationship, sexual or otherwise. This is the ‘Enhanced’ component of EAAA.
While this seems daunting, students who have taken the program talk about how fun it is! Part of the best-practices of this program is that it is taught in small groups by women graduate students. The new EAAA team at Carleton is made up of three fantastic women: Holly Smith, Ashlee Riedler, and Emily Hammond. Holly is in her Bachelor of Social Work, Emily is in the Masters of Women’s and Gender Studies, and Ashlee is the Bachelor of Global and International Studies. EAAA is facilitated in pairs, and we are lucky to have three facilitators in order to share the program as often as possible.
On a weekend session, Assess and Acknowledge are taught consecutively on day one, while Act and Relationships & Sexuality are taught on the second day. Over the course of 4-weekday evenings, each session is taught individually.
Lunch will be provided over the weekend sessions as they are full-day sessions, while snacks will be available over evening sessions.
LGBTQ+ friendly.
If you have additional questions please email eaaa@carleton.ca
If you would like additional information about the EAAA program and it’s origins, we encourage you to visit the Sexual Assault Resistance Education (SARE) website.
1] Thanks to Florida Atlantic University for allowing us to use the ‘flip the script’ concept.