Centacare Catholic Family Services and Port Adelaide Football Club will work together for another three years to influence young men about respectful relationships and help stop violence against women.

Centacare will fund the Power to End Violence Against Women (PEVAW) program until 2019 in order to reach more male school students across the state.

This year, more than 20 schools and 1500 boys in Year 10 will participate in the program aimed at shaping stronger values and helping young men make informed choices to prevent abusive behaviours.

The PEVAW initiative is in response to the shocking prevalence of violence against women and teaches young men that domestic violence is a choice.

“It’s early days but if we are seeing changes just in the way students are communicating with the facilitators and engaging, that gives us great hope as to what changes the future has in store for these boys as they grow into men,’’ said Pauline Connelly, Assistant Director, Centacare.

“In many families, children don’t have the opportunity to be offered another way of thinking about relationships. Some grow up learning violence is a form of communication and getting what you want.

“If they are in a controlling family, they learn that to control someone else is how you get what you want. Through this program, they are learning that having a respectful relationship is a way two people can both get what they want.’’

Ross Wait, Senior Youth Programs Manager, said through the program, past and current Port Adelaide players were “encouraging young people to be agents of change in the community’’.

“If they experience violence or domestic violence, they will have the necessary tools to confront the issue and the program will empower them to make a change in the community,’’ he said.

“Year 10 is an appropriate age to be discussing respectful relationships as young men are starting to form relationships in their own lives and realise how important it is to be interacting with those people in a respectful way.’’

WATCH THE POWER TO END VIOLENCE VIDEO HERE

http://www.portadelaidefc.com.au/video/2016-06-22/ptv-power-to-end-violence