Students Teach Peers to Expect Respect

Shira Barron’s favorite part about being involved in Expect Respect is when she’s approached by a student who realizes, because of the play and discussion Barron helps organize at area high schools, that they or someone close to them is in an unhealthy relationship.

“They know something’s wrong,” Barron said, “but don’t necessarily tell anyone until they’re exposed to it [Expect Respect].”

Barron, a senior at is a leader on the advisory board of Expect Respect, a program run by the Jewish Family Services Association (JFSA) to teach high school freshmen about abusive relationships.

“We can go out and start with the younger generation,” said JFSA spokesperson Becky Rocker. “Our goal is to really break that cycle where teens who have grown up with abusive parents won’t continue to abuse.”

The JFSA has used the program, which includes a play followed by peer-run small discussion groups, for 10 years. But in 2010, Ohio House Bill 19 passed, requiring students in public schools to complete healthy relationship curriculum and making Expect Respect more in demand.

This year’s cast is in the process of taping the performance, which the JFSA hopes to sell to the schools farther from Cleveland’s eastern suburbs that the students in Expect Respect do not have the time to travel to during the school day.

The abuse Barron and her peers teach the teens about is more than just physical. “Abuse can be emotional, physical, sexual, verbal or financial,” Barron said. But, she added, financial abuse is much more common among adults. Abuse in teen relationships is most commonly emotional, sexual or both, she said.

And abuse is less obvious than it is commonly portrayed. “We teach a section of warning signs: if someone wants to know where you are at all times, or is saying things in front of others that you don’t necessarily want them to,” said Barron.

In addition to picking up the knowledge about healthy relationships she has in the three years she has been involved in Expect Respect, Barron said it has sparked her enthusiasm about the issue. She will be attending the University of Michigan next year, and hopes to bring the program to the college level. She also hopes to stay involved with the JFSA well after high school.

“I really like going to different schools and seeing the impact on people,” Barron added. “Because sometimes they realize they’re in an abusive relationship, or they know someone who is.”

Expect Respect will host a free and open-to-the-public seminar for families with teens at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 8 at the Mandel Building, Jewish Federation of Cleveland, 25701 Science Park Drive in Beachwood.

Visit Expect Respect's webpage for teen dating abuse warning signs and additional resources.