“Heather’s Closet” produces a teen dating violence awareness month PSA

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Fort Wayne’s NBC) - An organization in The Fort is producing a PSA to spread awareness about teen dating violence.

The month of February is teen dating violence awareness month. It’s an issue being combatted across the country. Closer to home, an organization was started to educate teens on this issue. The organization is called Heather’s Closet and was started by Joni Khun at Bishop Luers High School. In Allen County, it’s the first of its kind.

In 2007, Heather Norris lost her life at the hands of an abusive boyfriend. A few years later, the organization was formed to educate teens about dating violence.

On Monday, some students with the high school produced a short PSA to showcase a lot of the red flags that teens may not notice. DeOsha Smith, a moderator for Heather’s Closet, says she is part of the organization because of a personal experience and she wanted to help educate.

“One night a young lady came to me, and we were just talking and she was just telling her experience with her boyfriend at the time and said ‘well yea he said to do x,y, and z if I loved him and I did and it kind of struck home with me.”

According to Loveisrespect.org, one in three teens in the U.S. will experience physical, sexual, or emotional abuse from someone they’re in a relationship with before they become adults.

In April of 2010, Governor Mitch Daniels signed Senate Enrolled Act 316, also named Heather’s Law. The law requires the Indiana Department of Education, in collaboration with organizations that have expertise in dating violence, domestic violence, and sexual abuse, to develop or identify model dating violence educational materials, and model dating violence response and reporting policies.

Jeff Stanski, who runs the male aspect of Heather’s Closet called Lockerroom Leaders says this program has come a long way and there is more to come.

“One of the biggest problems is people not speaking up and this really teaches you and shows you, when and how to speak up and that can be really difficult.”

Khun says the PSA should be filmed by the end of the month and it will be sent out to schools across the state and country. The video will also be shown at Cinderella Day which is slated for March 26.

To learn more about the organization and how you can get involved, click here.

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