Mates & Dates is a healthy relationships programme for secondary school students. It’s designed to help prevent sexual and dating violence by teaching young people relationship skills and behaviours to carry with them throughout their lives. It’s about all kinds of relationships, including friends and family.
Key Results
The evaluation of the Mates & Dates pilot told us what worked and what we need to improve.
Key strengths:
- Mates & Dates meets best practice standards with its focus on developing and practising new skills and its use of age appropriate materials
- Students, facilitators and teachers were largely positive about Mates & Dates
- At the end of the programme students showed increased knowledge and improved attitudes and behaviours towards rape, recognising high risk situations and seeking help.
We are now improving Mates & Dates by:
- redesigning content to make sure it is relevant to young people in New Zealand
- developing content to meet the needs of Maori, Pasifika and people with disabilities
- partnering with schools and teachers to make sure Mates & Dates is well understood and supported by school communities.