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Mentors in Violence Prevention

 

Mentors in Violence Prevention
(MVP)

What is it?

The Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) programme is delivered by Merseyside Youth Association (in association with Merseyside Police) and funded by the Merseyside Violence Reduction Partnership (VRP). The MVP uses a bystander approach to explore gender-based violence and bullying behaviour through a peer education model that can be sustained within the school setting and wider learning community.

We now have 18 fully trained peer mentors in year 10 delivering the violence prevention and anti-bullying programme to year 8 students during Personal Development lessons. The MVP programme began in America and has been implemented in the American armed forces, recognised supports associations (such as the NBA), before going worldwide, working with the Australian Army and more recently being implemented in schools in Glasgow and now here at the Blue Coat School!

Why is it important?

The project provides psycho-social education on the development of healthy relationships that will support their learning within a safe and nurturing environment. The programme enables a platform to discuss a range of situations and behaviours which many of our young people are dealing with in schools and in their communities on a regular basis through:

Raising awareness about the potential harm of some of these situations

Challenge thinking in a constructive and non-judgemental way

Open dialogue which encourages young people to consider responsibility for themselves and their peers. MVP creates safe spaces to discuss a variety of issues and allows participants to identify with the healthy attitudes within the group

Inspiring leadership to promote healthy and safe learning environments. MVP sessions seek to provide participants with the knowledge and safe options to help them support others and/or challenge situations they are unhappy about.