Last summer a dedicated group of faculty met and reshaped our CAST (Child Advocacy Studies) mission by placing greater focus on helping students prevent, identify and intervene when abuse is evident. During fall semester, a CAST faculty member developed a new mandated reporting training module. Our students wonder how to handle abuse reporting; they want to be comfortable enough to speak up when they know something is not right. This month our new student teachers took the online training before they headed into the classroom. After this trial, the module will become available to other departments, such as nursing and social work, because many of our students will take on roles in which they will be mandated reporters. Eventually access to the module will be extended to WSU employees, other MnSCU schools, public employees, and non-profit organizations, empowering a wide spectrum of people to respond effectively to abuse.
