AIP 500 · Practitioners
Prevention Program Design & Delivery
Learn to choose the right threat and audience, design a calm 45-minute session, run a tabletop exercise, measure honestly, and handle consent and reporting duties.
What you will be able to do
- Choose one threat and one audience, and justify the choice with evidence you can cite.
- Design a 45-minute session with clear objectives that avoids fear tactics and shame.
- Respond calmly and correctly when a participant discloses harm during or after a session.
- Facilitate a tabletop exercise that finds real gaps without blaming people.
- Measure results with pre and post checks and report them without inflated claims.
- Apply consent, data-minimization, minors’ privacy and mandated-reporting rules to your setting.
1 Module 1 of 5 · 35 min
Needs assessment: pick one threat, one audience
- Describe why a session built for “everyone, about everything” usually fails.
- Use a short needs assessment to select one threat and one audience.
- Cite public, sourced evidence for the choice and name what you do not know.
Prevention works when it is specific. A session for ninth graders about financial sextortion teaches something different than a session for hotel housekeepers about labor trafficking indicators. Start by deciding who needs to do what differently, then build backward.
- Name the audience precisely: role, age, setting, and what they already know.
- Name the behavior you want to change: for example, “tell a trusted adult within a day” or “report through the hotel’s channel instead of confronting a guest.”
- Collect what is already known: public data, local requests, staff or school concerns, and your own incident logs if you keep them.
- Grade your sources. Use the source-grading habits from AIP 100 and the playbook on grading sources.
- Pick one threat. Write one sentence: “We will help [audience] do [behavior] when [situation].”
- List what you do not know and how you would find out.
| Question to ask | Where answers may come from | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| What are people already worried about? | Short conversations with staff, parents, counselors | Loud voices are not the same as common problems |
| What does public data say? | NCMEC, the National Human Trafficking Hotline, the Threat Atlas | Report counts are not victim counts |
| What can this audience actually do? | Their role, policies, and authority | Do not teach actions they cannot take |
| What have they already had? | Past assemblies, trainings, handbooks | Repeating old content wastes trust |
One threat, one audience
If a request covers everything, narrow it. Offer a first session on the single most useful topic and a plan for later sessions.
A middle school principal asks you for “one assembly on internet safety, trafficking, bullying, and drugs” for all students in sixth through eighth grade, in 30 minutes.
What do you say and propose?
Show the debrief
Thank the principal, then narrow. Ask what staff are seeing and what students need to do differently. Propose one 30-minute session on one threat for one grade band, such as what to do when an online stranger asks for a photo, with a short staff handout that covers the rest and points to further sessions. Say plainly that covering everything in 30 minutes teaches nothing.
Knowledge check
2 Module 2 of 5 · 45 min
Designing a 45-minute session
- Write two or three observable learning objectives for a session.
- Build a timed run of show that balances information, practice and questions.
- Apply trauma-aware, no-fear-tactics delivery.
- Respond to a disclosure made during or after a session.
Good sessions are rehearsed, short and practical. People remember what they practice, not what they are told. Frightening images and statistics shut people down and can retraumatize someone in the room.
| Minutes | Segment | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 0–5 | Welcome and ground rules | Name the topic, say it is okay to step out, say who to talk to afterward, state any reporting limits |
| 5–15 | One clear idea | Explain the threat pattern in plain words, with one short example and no graphic detail |
| 15–30 | Practice | Pair or small-group scenario: what would you say or do next? |
| 30–38 | Skills and scripts | The exact words to use and who to tell. Hand out one printed card |
| 38–43 | Questions | Take questions, including anonymous written ones |
| 43–45 | Close and next step | Restate the one action. Point to /get-help and a named trusted adult |
- Warn briefly before sensitive content and offer a way to step out without explanation.
- Use plain words. Never describe images or acts.
- Say children and teens targeted online are victims, never at fault.
- Give every participant a clear next step, not just a worry.
- Have an adult from the school or organization present who knows the students or staff.
- Don’t use shock videos, graphic stories, or “this could be your child” stunts.
- Don’t single out or ask participants to share personal experiences.
- Don’t promise secrecy. Explain limits up front.
- Don’t blame behavior such as sending an image. Blame the person who exploits.
Setting the ground rules
“We are going to talk about something serious. Some of you may know someone it has happened to, and that is okay.”
“You can step out at any time. You do not need to explain.”
“If you tell an adult here that someone is being hurt, they may need to get help for that person, and I will tell you that honestly before you decide what to share.”
If someone discloses after the session
“Thank you for telling me. I’m glad you did. It is not your fault.”
“I want to make sure the right person can help. Let’s talk to [named adult] together.”
“I will not leave you to handle this alone.”
After your session on online enticement, a student waits until the room empties and says quietly, “Something like that happened to my friend, and maybe me.”
What do you do in the next five minutes?
Show the debrief
Stay calm and thank them. Do not ask for details or promise secrecy. Say you want to bring in the trusted adult already agreed for the session and do so together, keeping the student with you. Write down their exact words and the time. The school’s designated staff member handles reporting under the law and policy. Offer the student 988 or Childhelp information only if they are in distress, and never leave them alone.
Knowledge check
3 Module 3 of 5 · 40 min
Facilitating a tabletop exercise
- Explain what a tabletop exercise is for and what it is not for.
- Run a tabletop with roles, injects and a blameless debrief.
- Turn findings into a short list of owned fixes.
A tabletop exercise is a guided conversation about a realistic incident. Nobody does anything for real. The goal is to find gaps in the plan before a real incident does. It tests the plan and the system, not the people.
- Set the purpose in one sentence: “We are testing our plan, not each other.”
- Choose a scenario that fits the group. Use the school or family tabletop playbooks as starting points.
- Assign roles and name a scribe who writes down gaps.
- Release the scenario in stages. Each stage is an inject: new information that changes the picture.
- After each inject ask: Who does what? With what authority? Using what contact list? What would we say?
- Stop at the planned time. Run a 10-minute debrief using the after-action questions.
- Within one week, send a one-page list of gaps, each with an owner and a date.
- Keep injects realistic and calm, never gory.
- Praise good questions.
- Capture gaps in the plan’s words: unclear owner, missing number, no template.
- Close with owned fixes.
- Don’t grade or rank people.
- Don’t let one voice dominate.
- Don’t simulate offenders or illegal content.
- Don’t end without assigned fixes.
Handling blame during the debrief
“Let’s look at what the plan allowed, not who did what. What would have made the right step easier?”
During a school tabletop, a vice principal says, “If the teacher had reported sooner, none of this would have happened,” and the teacher in the room goes quiet.
How do you respond as facilitator?
Show the debrief
Redirect to the system. Say that exercises look at the plan, not at individuals, and ask what in the plan would make the right step obvious: Was there a clear reporting contact? Was the timing rule known? Record the gaps. Check in privately with the teacher afterward. If blame continues, pause and restate the ground rules.
Knowledge check
4 Module 4 of 5 · 30 min
Measuring what matters, honestly
- Design a short pre and post check tied to your objectives.
- Separate what you can claim from what you cannot.
- Report results without inflating them.
You cannot count children protected, and you should never claim to. You can measure whether participants learned what you taught and whether they say they would act. Report that, and say what it does not show.
| You can honestly report | You cannot honestly claim |
|---|---|
| Number of people who attended | Number of children protected |
| Change between pre and post check on the skills you taught | That the session prevented any specific crime |
| Participants who named a trusted adult and a reporting step | That participants will behave this way later |
| Follow-up (30 days) answers from those who responded | That non-responders learned the same |
| Feedback comments, quoted with permission | Testimonials you wrote or paraphrased |
- Write three to five questions tied to your objectives. Use scenarios, not definitions.
- Give the same questions before and after. Keep them anonymous.
- Record the number of responses and the number who completed both.
- Report both the average change and the number who did not improve.
- Write one paragraph on limits: sample size, who answered, what you did not test.
- Use the results to change the next session, and say what you changed.
No number is better than a made-up number
If you do not have data, say so. Never round up, invent a percentage, or imply an outcome you did not measure.
A potential funder asks you to put “children protected” on your annual report. Your numbers are 120 attendees and a pre and post check that 78 completed.
What do you write?
Show the debrief
Write what you know: 120 people attended, 78 completed both checks, and the share who moved from a wrong to a correct answer on the key scenarios. State the limits plainly. Decline the phrase “children protected” and explain that you can show learning, not outcomes for individual children. A trustworthy funder values that honesty.
Knowledge check
5 Module 5 of 5 · 35 min
Governance: consent, privacy and reporting duties
- Apply consent and data-minimization rules to a session and its records.
- Protect minors’ privacy in materials, photos and follow-up.
- Explain how mandated reporting works in your setting and who to ask.
Prevention work touches children, sensitive topics and sometimes disclosures. Good governance protects participants and protects you.
- Get written permission from the school or organization and agree who will be present.
- For minors, follow the school’s or organization’s parental-notice or consent practice.
- Collect the least information you need. Anonymous checks are better than named ones.
- Do not photograph or record minors without written permission, and avoid it by default.
- Never store personal details of a child or a disclosure in your own notes, email or cloud storage. Hand the information to the designated adult and keep only what your policy requires.
- Decide in advance who reports a disclosure and how. Write it down.
Reporting duties depend on your role. In Nevada, employees and volunteers of public and private schools are mandated reporters under NRS 432B.220: they must report to an agency that provides child welfare services or to a law enforcement agency as soon as reasonably practicable and not later than 24 hours after they know or have reasonable cause to believe a child has been abused or neglected. Good-faith reporters have protection from civil and criminal liability under NRS 432B.160.
Do not assume you are exempt
A visiting presenter may or may not have a legal duty. Do not guess. Before the session, ask the school or organization how disclosures are handled, agree who reports, and confirm your own obligations with the organization’s counsel.
| Situation | Right move |
|---|---|
| A student discloses to you | Stay with them, do not promise secrecy, bring in the designated adult, write down their exact words, follow the agreed reporting steps |
| You are asked to keep records of attendees | Keep only what is needed, store securely, delete when no longer needed |
| A parent asks what a student said | Do not share; refer to the school’s designated adult |
| You want to use a student story in a report | Do not. Use general, anonymized, composite examples only, clearly labeled |
You are an outside trainer. During a break, a staff member tells you quietly that she suspects a student is being abused at home and asks whether she should “wait until she is sure.”
What do you say?
Show the debrief
Do not advise waiting. Explain that school employees in Nevada have a duty under NRS 432B.220 to report when they know or have reasonable cause to believe a child has been abused, and the limit is 24 hours. Help her reach the school’s designated contact and the reporting agency, suggest she write down facts and times, and do not investigate. Note that you cannot give legal advice and encourage her to confirm details with district counsel.
Knowledge check
★ Capstone
A complete session plan and facilitator guide
The capstone is how you show you can do the work, not just answer questions. It produces something real that you keep.
- Write the one-sentence goal: audience, behavior, and situation.
- Cite at least two public, sourced references and one thing you do not know.
- Produce a 45-minute run-of-show table with timings, scripts and one practice scenario.
- Write a facilitator guide covering ground rules, handling a disclosure, who the designated adult is, and who reports.
- Write a five-question pre and post check and a short honest reporting template with a limits paragraph.
How it is reviewed
- Goal names one audience and one observable behavior.
- No fear tactics, graphic detail or blame of children appears anywhere.
- The disclosure procedure names a person and a step, and does not promise secrecy.
- Assessment questions are scenario-based with plausible wrong answers.
- Claims in the reporting template match what the checks can actually show.
- Privacy and consent steps are specific and minimal.
Pass every module check at 80% or better, finish the capstone, then follow the steps on the credentials page to request your certificate.
Counts toward
Companion playbooks
- Run a 45-minute tabletop exercise for your school
- A 20-minute “what would we do?” family drill
- Blameless after-action review
- Listening to a child who tells you something hard
- When a student tells you: the educator disclosure playbook
AIP Academy courses are awareness and skills training. They are not legal, medical or clinical advice, and an AIP certificate is not a license, state or professional accreditation, CLE credit, or a promise of employment. In an emergency call 911.
Safety is built before the crisis
Pick your part and see it through. Prevention works when people follow through.