The Love Bites and Love Bites Junior Respectful Relationships Education programs are for students aged between 11 and 17 years.
Love Bites has also been adapted so it can be delivered in out-of-school settings, such as alternative school programs, school support units, Juvenile Justice programs and youth holiday programs.
NAPCAN continues to partner with communities to advocate, promote and actively develop programs, community engagement and evaluation frameworks to increase our knowledge on the prevention of relationship violence, child abuse and neglect.
NAPCAN’s suite of Respectful Relationships Education Programs aim to deliver effective programs, as measured by the emerging best practice criteria for respectful relationships education.
These include:
Love Bites was originally created as a one day format to be delivered to class room size groups. After continued evaluations and updates, the program has evolved to include a multi-session option, which is considered best practice. The multi-session option comes with lesson plans and can be tailored to suit your own community.
The Love Bites program should not be delivered to large groups or whole year groups, as it is an interactive program that has a focus on the voices of the young people, and large groups reduce the opportunity to be heard and to have important conversations.
A lot of people ask us about the name ‘Love Bites’. The history is that the Love Bites program was developed in 2004 in response to community concerns about unhealthy relationships within high school environments on the mid-north coast of NSW.
The name was developed in consultation with young people at the time and has stayed with the program ever since. As Love Bites has been continually reviewed, feedback about the name from young people has remained largely positive; it seems to help young people to feel that the program is for them (and informed by them), and that Love Bites is an opportunity for frank and honest conversations.
Our training is best attended by those who work with young people and are comfortable in working with content in relation to consent, sexual assault and relationship violence. Because our program can be delivered in schools and out-of-school settings, this means we have a variety of people who choose to attend; anyone from teachers, school counsellors/nurses, youth workers, child protection services, police, health workers etc.
It is best for people to attend that have the capacity to deliver the program directly to young people, however we also have people choose to attend for their own professional development.
In regards to qualifications required, there is no criteria to attend, however when delivering in schools there would be a requirement and responsibility set by the schools on who they allow to deliver the program e.g. a valid Working With Children Check etc.
The Love Bites facilitator training is an interactive experience where you’ll start the day learning the history and theory behind the program, whilst providing the opportunity to reflect on your own thinking/biases and feelings around sex and relationships.
The training also includes an interactive experience where you take part in the activities that are delivered to young people so you can see how the program is run. This interactive experience prepares you for the conversations that are had in the program as well as how best to support the young people and manage any challenges.
To become a Love Bites facilitator, you do need to attend the training from start to finish.
The whole program is delivered over the training days and as such, missing a day would mean missing important information.
