Love Doesn’t Shove strives to facilitate and guide an interactive dialogue within school systems to help students consciously identify what is acceptable — and unacceptable — in the context of a healthy relationship.

Opening the line of communication serves a number of purposes:

1. Lets students know that relationships are safe to talk and ask questions about.

2. Assures students that their voices and experiences matter.

3. Provides an opportunity for students to become aware of and understand their own experiences, as well as the experiences of others (which is often therapeutic).

4. Encourages students to cognitively make the right choices moving forward in the relationships that they build — not just with a romantic partner, but anyone with whom they surround themselves.

The open conversation is intended to meet students where they are with the questions and comments they may have about relationships, all while pointing them back to behaviors that constitute “healthy.”