Tarzana : Group Targets Abuse in Teen Relationships

Valley Women’s Center Inc., an alcohol treatment program for women and their families, has launched a project to combat violence in romantic relationships among teenagers.

The Tarzana-based agency has hired Laura Perkins, a specialist in preventing teenage violence, to educate area high school students about the risks. In talks to students, Perkins tries to help girls and boys recognize when they are in violent or potentially violent relationships and to seek help.

In the spring, she said, she will return to the schools to set up educational and support groups for at-risk teens.

“We teach them how to build a support system that’s kind of a combination of family and friends, or a counselor,” Perkins said.

The program, which was launched in October, also tries to get boys to take responsibility for their actions. “We try to let them know what’s OK and what’s not,” she said.

To date, the agency has given talks at three schools and arrangements are being made to visit three more, said Carolee Newman, a spokeswoman for the Women’s Center. “We would like more schools to invite us in,” Newman said.

For the past three years, Perkins has worked at the Valley Trauma Center in Northridge, a rape crisis center. She was hired by the Women’s Center in October with a grant from the California Wellness Foundation.