TTS YEAR TWO: BOUNDARIES AND BULLYING / TELLING SOMEONE YOU TRUST
Teaching children/young people to set appropriate boundaries and to tell an adult they trust when
something or someone is making them feel uncomfortable puts them in the center and helps them to protect
themselves from all kinds of unsafe situations.
Child Sexual Abuse
Physical Abuse
Harassment
Bullying
Cyber-Bullying
Psychological Abuse
2012 – 2013 Children/Youth Training
Dear Teaching Touching Safety® Leadership Trainers,
We are in Year Two of the VIRTUS® Teaching Touching Safety® Program which
includes:


Lesson 3: Boundaries
Lesson 4: Telling Someone You Trust
Because of increase of “bullying” and “cyber-bullying” in schools and society today, the
following additional materials have been added for your consideration:

“Bullying” and “Cyber-Bullying” materials
to help supplement this Year Two’s Teaching Touching Safety® Lesson Plans.
©2012 Joan Vienna, Safeguard the Children
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Step One: Review the Year Two: Lessons 3 & 4 for Your Grade Level
Please review the Teaching Touching Safety® Lesson Plan for Year Two: Lessons 3 & 4
found in your “Teaching Touching Safety® Leadership Manual” or under your “Educator
Tab” on VIRTUS® Online. Going through the lesson plans provides you with the
foundations the children/young people need to learn to help protect themselves from child
sexual abuse.
In addition, “Bullying” and “Cyber-Bullying” components are being added to the
materials that will help address this serious area of boundary violations. As a resource I
emailed the K – 6th Grade and 7th – 12th Grade Parent Handout which should also be
reviewed by the adults who are being trained to teach the children/youth at your site. In
addition we are offering a free booklet called “Bullying in the Schools” to help you
better understand the problem. (See Attached Order Form)
After you have reviewed the materials there are some ideas, outlines and resources that I
have listed to help you make your planning easier.
Don’t forget to review and prepare the TTS Activities you plan to use with your classes.
Step Two: Review the Following Lesson Suggestions and Resources
Lesson Suggestions and Resources for Grades K-3:
The “What Tadoo” DVD, from J. Gary Mitchell, works perfectly for this year’s lesson.
(See Attached Resource Information). The DVD starts out with showing Thaddeus’
boundaries being violated and he is bullied by an older classmate. Thaddeus is
threatened by this classmate because he is bigger and also because the bully threatens him
that something will happen to him or that his mother will not love him if he tells.
As Professor Von Karp teaches Thaddeus how to protect himself from harm in a number
of situations, Thaddeus learns to use his voice to set appropriate boundaries in a number
of situations.
The DVD is focused on safe and unsafe adults but does not overlook the peer who is also
exhibiting power over him. Through Profession Von Karp’s lessons, Thaddeus finally
gains the confidence to tell his secret to two safe adults, his uncle and his mother.
He has learned to set boundaries and to be safe and that is the point of both Lesson 2 and
Lesson 3, which it nicely integrates the bullying while clearly demonstrating that child
sexual abuse is different from bullying.
(Parent Handout K – 6th Grade: Protecting God’s Children for Adults “Bullying” Bulletin
should also be reviewed by teachers in preparation for the class.)
©2012 Joan Vienna, Safeguard the Children
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Lesson Suggestions and Resources for Grades 4th - 6th:
The “Time To Tell” DVD, from J. Gary Mitchell, also works well with Teaching
Touching Safety®, Year Two: Lesson 3: Boundaries/Lesson 4: Telling Someone You
Trust and has the “Bullying” Component. (See attached Resource Information) This
DVD also begins by seven year old Juliana being bullied by her eleven year old brother
Alex who is being sexually abused by his coach.
In the DVD, as the bullying from her brother esculates, Juliana learns to set boundaries
and makes a pledge to protect herself. The DVD also demonstrates how a bully can have
more serious problems that he or she is acting out.
In the DVD it also stresses who safe adults might be that a child can go to for help. As
Juliana gets the courage to tell her mother that she is being bullied by her brother, she
also gives Alex the courage to tell their mother what is happening.
This DVD is also timely due to the recent public focus on the Penn State coaches’ childabuse scandals within that have emerged. The DVD also shows Alex back in sports with
“safe” coaches.
Lesson Suggestions and Resources for Grades 7th - 9th:
After reviewing the Teaching Touching Safety® Year Two: Lessons 3 & 4, I would the suggest
you look at the “Relationship Safety Workshop”, Adapted by Katie Zeigler, Consultant for Youth
Ministry for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles . She has developed an outline based on the
Teaching Touching Safety materials for Year Two that is focused on Jr. High and High School
age youth. (See TTS Leadership Training Manual or email: jvienna@la-archdiocese.org
By using Katie’s outline and integrating the St. Monica’s Confirmation Boundaries/Bullying –
“Bullying Exercise” into her outline, you will have the complete outline to use. You will have
most of the components. For adding: “Telling Someone You Trust” use some of the components
from Teaching Touching Safety® Outline Year Two: Lesson 4: Identifying Safe Adults
Note: When using the St. Monica’s Confirmation Boundaries/Bullying outline do not use the
“Date and Acquaintance Rape” segment for the younger teen students. This should be used for
Confirmation age students.
Lesson Suggestions and Resources for Grades 9th – 12th:
Teaching Touching Safety® Lesson Plans for Year Two has a good outline for this grade
level and can be found in your TTS Leadership Training Manual or under your
“Educator” tab on VIRTUS Online. It can be adapted for Grades 9th – 10th. (Parent
Handout Grades 7th – 12th: “Cyber-Bullying: Protecting Young People from Technology
Dangers”, should also be reviewed by teachers in preparation for the class.)
For the older students in 11th – 12th Grade, a great new resource is the St. Monica
Confirmation Boundaries and Bullying session presented to their Confirmation class this
past year. It addresses the topics of boundaries and bullying in a very through manner
and includes an in-depth look at Date and Acquaintance Rape which has become such a
societal problem in the world today. (For outline email: jvienna@la-archdiocese.org. The
©2012 Joan Vienna, Safeguard the Children
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outline uses the Boy Scout DVD, a live testimony from a victim, handouts and resources.
(See Attached Resource Information)
When using these materials it is important to be aware of the following definitions from
St. Monica’s Boundaries/Bullying Outline:
Bullying – Overpowering, threat of physical harm or damage to reputation (can
be in person, or written, via internet, cell phone texting, etc.)
Sexual harassment – Unwanted gestures of a sexual nature that violate a
person’s boundaries
Sexual assault – Forced or coerced sex with a person without their consent,
violates a person, can cause trauma or unwanted pregnancy
Boundaries – The limits that define one person as separate from another or from
others. Boundaries promote and preserve personal integrity. Boundaries give each
person a clear sense of “self” and a framework for how to function in relation to
others. Boundaries bring order to our lives and empower each of us to determine
how others will interact with us.
Unsafe touch – Harmful touches committed by an individual or group that
physically, sexually, or psychologically harms a child or young person. This touch
is often from people who either cannot or choose not to see the harm in their
actions.
Peer Pressure – The strong influence of a group—especially of young people—
on members of that group to behave as everyone else does.
©2012 Joan Vienna, Safeguard the Children
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