Primay Prevention is stopping sexual assault before it happens. To do this we must address attitudes and beliefs that contribute to the normalizing and acceptance of sexual violence. We must not only look at individual behaviors and beliefs, but at the belief systems of those that surround the individual, of the communities in which we live, in our institutions, the broader society, and the political system. This is known as the biopyschosocial model of existence.



Primary Prevention takes sexual assault prevention beyond intervention and risk reduction. Primary prevention involves addressing not only the behaviors and attitudes we want to end, but pushes the dialogue toward behaviors and attitudes we want to see. Ending sexual violence requires a holistic approach and that is what the Sexual Assault Prevention Program of Tri-County Mental Health and Counseling attempts to offer.