Baton Rouge’s Sexual Trauma Awareness & Response Center is working to not only offer support in the wake of violence, but prevent sexual violence altogether by creating a safe space for conversations about healthy sexuality through workshops that explore the topic and open the floor to further understanding. With two workshops under her belt already, STAR vice president Rebecca Marchiafava is looking forward to another chance to raise awareness and share ideas with people throughout the community.

“Our society really doesn’t teach healthy sexuality,” explains Marchiafava. “This is likely the first time participants will have a conversation like this, even though they are adults.”

As Marchiafava notes, sexual violence does not affect one isolated group, but rather, the entire community. And while the topic is sensitive, she stresses that it is important to open up the topic to all ages in order to make known what is healthy and what isn’t.

“The goal of the workshop is to offer education and engaging conversation,” says Marchiafava, who has hosted two prior workshops in this series. “We want to explore the concept of healthy sexuality so we can prevent the perpetuation of violence and give parents better ways to communicate with their children. However, while we are giving information, we encourage attendees to share different ideas in order to explore deeper topics.”

The next workshop in the Sexual Violence Prevention series is open to adults and will take place on Wednesday, March 28, from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. at STAR headquarters on Corporate Boulevard.

“We are focusing on adults for these workshops, but we have partnered with schools to bring similar conversations to youths,” says Marchifava. “The past two workshops have had such positive feedback and great attendance, we are looking forward to hosting another and continuing with these in the future.”

Marchiafava says conversations like this are vital to bringing an end to sexual violence by making known what a healthy relationships consists of, and exposing toxic behaviors, attitudes and acts that would otherwise fall into the unreported background.

“Overall, I think these workshops are really helpful for parents who want to know how to engage in conversations about this with their children, especially amidst recent media coverage,” explains Marchiafava. “This offers them the chance to learn new information, converse with other parents and feel more comfortable with the topic.”

To sign up for the Healthy Sexuality Workshop on March 28, visit the event page here. And to learn more about STAR and its mission, visit star.ngo.