Speaking to the NJ Senate about the SAFE DATING LAW S2114!

     What an incredible day I had yesterday on Monday, January 31, 2011!  I had the opportunity to testify to the New Jersey Senate Education Committee about S2114 the SAFE DATING LAW.  After I spoke, S2114 passed UNANIMOUSLY.  What a great day for NJ!
     The Safe Dating Law S2114/A2920 will require all public middle schools and high schools to add SAFE DATING to their annual health curriculum and to establish a dating abuse policy for the district.  Liz Claiborne and Love is Not Abuse http://www.loveisnotabuse.com/ have developed a FREE curriculum and a FREE online staff training for schools to use that is topnotch.    
     I proposed this new law to local NJ legislators last May 2010 after Yeardley Love was brutally murdered by her boyfriend at the University of Virginia.  30% of girls and women who are murdered in this country are killed by their boyfriends, husbands or exes according to the FBI.
     Liz Claiborne did a study in 2009 finding that 1 in 3 teens will be in an abusive dating relationship before the end of high school.  Dating abuse has definitely become a national health crisis and sadly it eventually turns into domestic violence, which costs our federal government over 8 billion dollars every single year.
     For the last 10 years of my counseling career, I have specialized in Safe Dating Education, dating abuse, and date rape counseling.  I have also written 3 books on Safe Dating - 7 Secrets for Girls, Teen Talk for Parents, and Safe Dating for College Women, which are a MUST-READ for all girls & parents and available at http://www.buybooksontheweb.com/ or in local bookstores. 
     I have found through my specialized counseling work that most kids do not even know when they are being abused or being abusive because it has slowly become the societal norm.  Unfortunately, kids are starting to date in 4th and 5th grades (which is very DANGEROUS) and digital technology has escalated the amounts of abuse I am seeing at my counseling center Express Yourself Today http://www.expressyourselftoday.com/ .  The SAFE DATING LAW will quickly change this lack of knowledge about unhealthy relationships for the better. 
     I started educating about dating abuse because I wanted to be PROACTIVE instead of reactive.  I travel across the country educating kids, parents, and school officials about the importance of Safe Dating.  The goal of the SAFE DATING LAW is to stop dating violence before it even begins.  There is nothing more important in life than learning how to have a healthy relationship with yourself, your family, friends, and intimate partners.  Relationships are the foundation of our lives. 
     S2114/A2920 the SAFE DATING LAW is definitely a win-win for New Jersey and I believe it will motivate and set the standard for the rest of our country to educate and protect all children from the dangers of dating abuse!
In your Safety,
Dari Dyrness-Olsen
http://www.safedatingcoach.com/