The History of Protective Behaviours (PB)
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Protective Behaviours (PB) was founded by Peg Flandreau West, a school social worker from Wisconsin in the US. Together with Joan Levy and Donna Fortin, she developed the program to help all people recognise when they feel unsafe and to explore how to respond to it.
In 1985 the program came to Australia, then to Western Australia in 1990. In Perth, it was Andrea Musulin and Justine O’Malley who further developed the program and ensured that it spread throughout Western Australia. In 2009 I found myself in a small coffee shop in Port Elizabeth with a group of 10 people who had heard about Protective Behaviours and wanted to know more about it. |
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"PB is probably the best frontline responses to child abuse I have come across. Not only does it equip the parent, guardian and child with practical tools, but provides the necessary hindsight, insight and foresight to identify incidents of abuse, and threats to the safety of our children" Marcel van der Watt, University of South Africa
One of the people in that group was Marcel van der Watt, Head of Human Trafficking in the Eastern Cape at the
time. Marcel urged me to bring the program to SA. There was also a clinical psychologist who wanted to use
the program in her practice; a mother of children in Collegiate Junior wanted the program for their school. It was hard to believe that a short, informal chat about the program could result in the most overwhelmingly positive feedback.
We kicked 2010 off with a series of 2-hour information sessions which more than 200 people attended,
organised by Ruth Stewart in Port Elizabeth and Charlene Krige in Cape Town. This was followed up in 2011 with
Ruth Stewart organising the first Accredited Practitioner Training in South Africa.
In 2012 Marcel van der Watt, then working at the University of South Africa, was instrumental in organising
Protective Behaviours to be presented at the SAPSAC (SA Professional Society on the Abuse of Children)
conference in Pretoria.
2013 and 2014 saw Protective Behaviours spread to other cities in SA including Durban, Pretoria, Johannesburg,
Bloemfontein and East London. It was during this time that Hayley Walker, completed the
training in Gauteng and immediately started running the program in primary schools. Within one year, she had
PB in most of the primary schools in Benoni. To date, she has delivered the program to more than 5,000
children.
During 2015 it was Janice King in Cape Town who organised a series of workshops with a total of more than 120
Teachers, Psychologists and Social Workers becoming qualified Practitioners. Another 100 + professionals did
the training in other major cities in SA. To date, more than 3,000 professionals have done the training and are
delivering PB to groups of children on a regular basis, reaching more than 100,000 children.
In 2015 the first Train the Trainer workshop was offered with 12 practitioners becoming senior trainers. This
was also the year that negotiations began for the establishment of Protective Behaviours as a not-for-profit
organisation.
Protective Behaviours Southern Africa (PBSA) was formed in 2017, guided by a Board of Management, and
continues to grow in SA and surrounding countries like Namibia and Mozambique.
We are creating safer communities for our children to grow up in … it truly is an honour to be part of an
organisation who works towards every child’s right to feel safe at all times.
time. Marcel urged me to bring the program to SA. There was also a clinical psychologist who wanted to use
the program in her practice; a mother of children in Collegiate Junior wanted the program for their school. It was hard to believe that a short, informal chat about the program could result in the most overwhelmingly positive feedback.
We kicked 2010 off with a series of 2-hour information sessions which more than 200 people attended,
organised by Ruth Stewart in Port Elizabeth and Charlene Krige in Cape Town. This was followed up in 2011 with
Ruth Stewart organising the first Accredited Practitioner Training in South Africa.
In 2012 Marcel van der Watt, then working at the University of South Africa, was instrumental in organising
Protective Behaviours to be presented at the SAPSAC (SA Professional Society on the Abuse of Children)
conference in Pretoria.
2013 and 2014 saw Protective Behaviours spread to other cities in SA including Durban, Pretoria, Johannesburg,
Bloemfontein and East London. It was during this time that Hayley Walker, completed the
training in Gauteng and immediately started running the program in primary schools. Within one year, she had
PB in most of the primary schools in Benoni. To date, she has delivered the program to more than 5,000
children.
During 2015 it was Janice King in Cape Town who organised a series of workshops with a total of more than 120
Teachers, Psychologists and Social Workers becoming qualified Practitioners. Another 100 + professionals did
the training in other major cities in SA. To date, more than 3,000 professionals have done the training and are
delivering PB to groups of children on a regular basis, reaching more than 100,000 children.
In 2015 the first Train the Trainer workshop was offered with 12 practitioners becoming senior trainers. This
was also the year that negotiations began for the establishment of Protective Behaviours as a not-for-profit
organisation.
Protective Behaviours Southern Africa (PBSA) was formed in 2017, guided by a Board of Management, and
continues to grow in SA and surrounding countries like Namibia and Mozambique.
We are creating safer communities for our children to grow up in … it truly is an honour to be part of an
organisation who works towards every child’s right to feel safe at all times.