Trinity launches consent education tools and website
Posted on: 15 September 2021
Trinity College Dublin has today launched the Together Consent Outreach Programme, offering a new set of student-focused consent workshops and a trauma-informed policy document to all third level institutions across the country.
Launched on campus by Labour TD Ivana Bacik, the programme features a bespoke website, offering information about consent, positive sexual experiences, supports for survivors of sexual violence, trauma-informed approaches for staff and educational information and training for students, staff and other institutions.
This programme is the culmination of five years of voluntary work by the staff and students of Trinity. These consent educational tools can operate in line with the new Speak Out reporting tool and are in line with the new national Framework for Consent in Higher Education (2020).
Trinity’s first consent workshop was held in 2016 with 7 attendees and has grown and developed its offering to three workshops and modules, which around 1,000 staff and students avail of each year.
The launch comprises:
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support videos made by Dublin based animator Keith Kavanagh, and with the support of Trinity Trust. These videos offer a new approach to beginning conversations around consent and will be offered to all staff and students in Trinity and are now licensed and available online to anyone who wishes to access them as a resource.
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A Trauma-informed Approach Document, that creates an easily accessible understanding for both staff and students of this perspective when applying it to policy, procedure and decision-making processes within 3rd level institutions.
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Three consent and sexual violence workshops’ curricula. These workshops have been created over several years with expert clinical input, focus groups, and hundreds of workshops all feeding into what is a fun, effective, and accessible classes. This launch means that the workshops will be available to run in any educational institution in Ireland via an open access agreement.
National progress in this area has meant that there has been a surge in interest and resources surrounding the battle against sexual violence in Higher Education in Ireland.
The Higher Education Authority has developed “Speak Out”, which will cover the anonymous reporting of all forms of abuse and/or discrimination within each institution. It is a tool for both staff and students and will be launched nationally in October.
For further information, please contact:
Ruth McMahon, Sexual Consent and Disclosure TCD Student Counselling
Aoife Grimes, Research Assistance for Sexual Consent, Education and Sexual Violence Prevention.