Vashon’s DoVE Project identifies domestic violence as the island’s second most critical community issue. The organization’s website indicates that DoVE’s goal is to create a safe island “where each islander is free within their relationships to make their own decisions, to be free from fear, free from trauma, and able to be healthy and happy, living to their full potential each and every day.”

DoVE offers multiple services from legal help to counseling, but recently the organization stepped up its presence in the island’s schools. The effort to reach Vashon’s most emotionally fragile, young adult and teen population is a crucial step in the right direction. Vashon High School principal Danny Rock said this week that as students enter into their initial relationships, “we want healthy practices to be there from the start.”

According to the domestic violence advocacy group Love is Respect, nearly 1.5 million high school students nationwide experience physical abuse from a dating partner in a single year; one in three adolescents in the U.S. is a victim of physical, sexual, emotional or verbal abuse from a dating partner; one in 10 high school students has been purposefully hit, slapped or physically hurt by a boyfriend or girlfriend, and the severity of intimate partner violence is often greater in cases where the pattern of abuse was established in adolescence.

DoVE has adapted the Washington State Coalition on Domestic Violence’s Love Like This campaign into a curriculum for use in schools, including discussions about friendships for younger students. The organization is the first in the state to do so and can serve as an example for school districts in other areas.

The DoVE Project’s decision to bring the conversation about healthy relationships and communication to the island’s young people is a move that may not only prevent domestic violence and sexual abuse, but help build a stronger and more respectful community. By learning at a young age that violence is not acceptable and communication is the way to solve problems, teens can be the driving force of change and teach others the correct and respectful ways to deal with arguments or differences, especially in relationships.