When we think about preparing young people for the future, academics often come to mind first. But there’s another set of skills that can shape a student’s success just as much: understanding boundaries, communicating with confidence, respecting others, and building healthy relationships.

These are life skills that help students navigate friendships, family relationships, dating, school, future careers, and countless everyday interactions.

That’s why Clove Alliance partners with schools throughout Kankakee, Iroquois, and Ford Counties to provide age-appropriate prevention education. By teaching students how to recognize and respect personal boundaries, practice asking for and giving consent, and communicate confidently when boundaries are crossed, we’re helping create safer schools today while laying the foundation for healthier communities tomorrow.

Bradley Central Middle School is one place where these partnerships are making a meaningful difference.

Prevention Starts Before Harm Happens

At Clove Alliance, prevention is a core part of our mission. While we provide free counseling and advocacy services to survivors of sexual violence, we also believe it’s essential to equip young people with the knowledge and skills that can help prevent sexual harm before it happens.

Ashley Villarreal, Director of Community Engagement at Clove Alliance, says, “Preventing sexual violence starts with helping young people understand that their body belongs to them, that they have the right to set boundaries, and that honoring another person’s boundaries is just as important. It’s about respect, empathy, and communication…skills that last a lifetime.”

Our prevention education programs start with pre-school and primary school children learning age-appropriate body safety skills that help them recognize trusted adults, understand personal boundaries, and know what to do if they feel unsafe. As students grow, the curriculum evolves with them.

Bradley Central Middle School welcomes Clove Alliance annually and received our “Guide to Consent and Communication” program for the 2025-2026 school year. Students learned that consent is rooted in communication, mutual respect, and understanding personal boundaries. Interactive activities help students recognize healthy relationships, develop language to assert themselves when boundaries are crossed, and learn to respect the boundaries of others—both in person and online.

Middle School Is A Key Moment

For Courtney Nutter, School Counselor at Bradley Central, these conversations couldn’t come at a more important stage of development.

As a school counselor, Courtney provides individual counseling, facilitates social-emotional groups, helps students navigate conflict, and supports young people through life’s challenges. She sees firsthand how communication, boundaries, and healthy relationships influence every part of a student’s school experience—and eventually, adulthood.

As she puts it, “Knowing where your boundaries are and how to communicate creates a healthy foundation for life.”

“Knowing where your boundaries are and how to communicate creates a healthy foundation for life.”

— Courtney Nutter, School Counselor at Bradley Central Middle School

Those skills don’t simply help students avoid harmful situations. They help them become better friends, classmates, future coworkers, partners, and community members.

Bringing Prevention Education Into the Classroom

Each year, Clove Alliance educators visit more than 12,000students. Courtney sees the payoff firsthand for Bradley Central kids.

She says inviting community experts into the classroom hits different for students versus hearing the same information from school staff. The partnership also helps the school stay current on emerging issues like digital abuse, online boundaries, and evolving technology—topics that change fast.

Middle school students are growing up in a world where their online and offline lives are deeply intertwined. Social media, gaming, and digital communication have created new opportunities for connection, but have also introduced new challenges around peer pressure, privacy, and respectful behavior.

Courtney regularly sees students struggling to navigate these pressures while also balancing school, friendships, and their mental health. Clove Alliance programs give them practical tools to deal with difficult situations before they escalate and help them know where to turn for support.

Just as importantly, she says, “Partnering with Clove Alliance allows students to connect with community resources, for themselves or for people close to them,” for now or later in life.

Growing Confidence Through TruSelf Empowerment

In addition to annual classroom presentations, Bradley Central partners with Clove Alliance to offer TruSelf Empowerment, a six-week program designed for middle and high school girls.

The program has grown significantly since it first began at the school. What started with one group of sixth graders now includes sixth, seventh, and eighth-grade students, with six groups serving 58 students this past school year!

Courtney says one of the most rewarding parts of the program is watching students develop confidence over the course of six weeks. Students who are initially hesitant to participate gradually become more comfortable sharing their ideas, encouraging one another, and speaking up for themselves.

She has also seen participants carry those skills beyond the program by taking on leadership roles within the school and advocating for both themselves and their peers.

One lesson from TruSelf has especially stayed with her. Using the life cycle of a dragonfly, students learn that growth happens in stages and that it’s okay not to have everything figured out. It encourages students to accept who they are today while recognizing they are still growing into who they will become; a powerful reminder during the often uncertain middle school years.

Perhaps most importantly, Courtney has watched students build one another up.

“I see a lot of peer-to-peer encouragement in these groups. The activities invite students to build each other up in ways that may not come up in class.”

That support doesn’t end when the program does.

Students frequently ask to participate again, recommend the program to friends, and continue using the confidence they developed throughout the school year. Courtney describes it simply: “It’s ripples of influence.”

A Partnership That Strengthens Schools

Like many schools, Bradley Central has limited time and resources to address every challenge students face. Courtney says Clove Alliance fills an important gap by providing specialized prevention education while also serving as a trusted referral partner when students or families need additional support.

She believes having community organizations work alongside schools boosts both prevention efforts and student wellbeing.

“To have a community agency come in and deliver high-quality, meaningful, and impactful programming makes a real difference. It’s not just about compliance; Clove Alliance is committed to being a true partner in preventing child abuse.”

The impact is visible long after the presentations end.

Courtney has noticed students naturally using the language of consent, boundaries, and respect in everyday conversations with one another. Those seemingly small moments signal that students are putting what they’ve learned into practice, building habits that can benefit them throughout their lives.

Bringing Prevention Education to More Schools

Every student deserves the opportunity to learn about body safety and how to build healthy relationships, communicate respectfully, and recognize when boundaries have been crossed.

Clove Alliance partners with schools across Kankakee, Iroquois, and Ford Counties to provide evidence-informed, age-appropriate prevention education that fulfills Illinois’ Erin’s Law requirements while equipping students with practical life skills.

If you’re an educator or school administrator interested in bringing prevention education or the TruSelf Empowerment program to your students, we’d love to partner with you! You can fill out this interest form or email outreach@clovealliance.org.

If you’re a parent, consider asking your child’s school principal, social worker, or counselor whether prevention education is offered in your school. These conversations help equip students with skills they’ll use for the rest of their lives. And we always encourage caretakers to talk about these issues at home from an early age.

As Courtney reminds us, “Relationships are the foundation of everything. No matter who it is with, relationships directly impact quality of life, so we want to give students skills for healthy ones.” 

When schools and community organizations work together, students don’t just gain knowledge. They gain confidence, stronger communication skills, healthier relationships, and the support they need to thrive; today and well into the future.