FAQs

The SARE Centre is a Canadian non-profit that facilitates the implementation of the Flip the Script with EAAA™ program. We provide Train-the-Trainer workshops to train women leaders at universities and community organizations to hire, train, & supervise facilitators to deliver the program in their own universities and communities. The SARE Centre's goal is to make the original Flip the Script with EAAA™ program widely accessible to women-identified university students now, and, in time, make adapted versions available to girls (14-17) and trans university students. 

Flip the Script with EAAA™ is a 12-hour, small-group, evidence-based educational program designed specifically for self-identified women in their early years of university/college. The program is based on theory, research evidence, and best practices to empower women to trust themselves and be better prepared to resist acquaintance sexual assault. With funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Ontario Women’s Health Council, the program was developed, revised, and evaluated by Dr. Charlene Senn at the University of Windsor over a ten-year period.

Flip the Script with EAAA™ is the only program available that has been evaluated in a clinical trial and shown to significantly reduce the incidence of rape and other forms of sexual assault with sustained effects for at least two years. It also reduces self-blame if a sexual assault is experienced. It is one critical piece of a comprehensive strategy to address the high incidence of rape and other forms of sexual violence on our campuses.

Program Facilitators are expert near peers. To run the program with maximum effectiveness it must be delivered by two (2) highly trained, self-identified women, preferably under 30 years of age. Facilitator training guidance and support is provided to staff from institutions/organizations who attend the Train-the-Trainer workshop. To become a Program Facilitator, interested persons need to be hired by a post-secondary institution or grassroots organization that is delivering or interested in delivering the Flip the Script with EAAA™ Program in their region. The SARE Centre does not currently hire or train facilitators.

To become a Flip the Script with EAAA™ Program Facilitator you must be trained and supervised by a qualified Campus/Community Trainer in your local community who has completed the EAAA Train-the-Trainer workshop.

The Program Facilitator Training is an intensive nine (9) day course, which includes a full two-day Wen-Do Women’s (empowerment) Self Defence workshop with an additional day of individualized training on how to safely teach the defensive strategies covered in the ACT Unit of the Flip the Script with EAAA™ program.

Campus/Community Trainers are self-identified women (of any age) who have successfully completed the Flip the Script with EAAA™ Train-the-Trainer workshop and mandatory webinars. In some circumstances where the Campus Trainer would be perceived as a near peer to participants, they may choose to take on a hybrid role and act as a Program Facilitator. This requires attendance at the additional intensive self-defence training day (Day 7) offered by the SARE Centre as part of the Train-the-Trainer workshop week.

To become a Campus/Community Trainer for Flip the Script with EAAA™, you must first register for and complete the Train-the-Trainer workshop (and associated webinars), which is offered by the SARE Centre at least once annually (usually in May). This timing positions new Trainers to train Program Facilitators for the next academic semester. See our Training Workshop page for registration information.

No. Campus/Community Trainers are qualified to hire, train, & supervise Flip the Script with EAAA™  Program Facilitators to deliver the full program on their own campuses or in their communities. Only our SARE Centre Lead Trainers are qualified to train Campus/Community Trainers. For visual representations EAAA training structure, see our Training Model.

Find out when our next Train-the-Trainer workshop is scheduled in Windsor, Ontario (10 minutes across the Canada/U.S. border from Detroit, Michigan). A Train-the-Trainer workshop can be offered in your city or region if you are able to organize a group of between 8 and 16 women from your regional institutions. Contact us to obtain a quote for training in your city, or to look for qualified Campus/Community Trainers in your area, at a nearby university, college, or community organization.

Most campus led self-defence programs are focused almost entirely on “stranger” assaults and do not prepare women for resisting attacks from the men they know. These programs have often not been evaluated and when they have, are not effective in reducing sexual violence experienced by women.

Flip the Script with EAAA™ includes two hours (2) of empowerment self-defence (based on Wen-Do Women’s Self Defence) with ten (10) additional hours of education to provide women with knowledge, skills and help them overcome emotional barriers to resistance against acquaintances). Wen-Do’s approach is trauma informed and fully acknowledges the realities of violence against women and girls. The Flip the Script with EAAA™ program also includes emancipatory sexuality education focused on women’s sexual desires, values, and sexual rights.

Implementing an evidence-based program to your campus requires staffing and associated resources. The program itself is provided to Campus/Community Trainers and their institutions on a cost-recovery basis. To assess the resources you would need, see this overview provided by Blueprints For Youth Development. For an estimate of the staff hours involved and other requirements for implementation see this questionnaire.

Learn more about the Flip the Script with EAAA™ curriculum  and the evidence of its effectiveness from our website.

1. If you can, gather others on your campus to join you in this effort.
2. Contact the President of your University, the Board of Governors, the VP Academic/ Provost, a Dean of Student Affairs, or your Sexual Assault Prevention or Title IX Office. Make a convincing case by providing them with this overview as well as link to the available rigorous scientific evidence that the program reduces the sexual violence women students experience as well as having many other benefits.
3. Contact us at info@sarecentre.org for more information or to arrange a Flip the Script with EAAA™ program presentation at your university (or virtually).

The cost of the specialized program materials is modest (currently $750 for each kit – April 2023) as the SARE Centre is a non-profit and provides it (and replacement materials) and the mandatory Train-the-Trainer workshop (currently $3200 per staff member – April 2023) on a cost recovery basis. Costs for implementation of Flip the Script with EAAA™ program in your setting will vary based on factors such as staffing costs and other resources available at your organization as well as your implementation decisions. Blueprints For Youth Development has consulted with us to provide an example of the costs of start-up and first year of implementation.

The Flip the Script with EAAA™ program was originally designed for self-identified women in university/college who are the largest group of students on campus at elevated risk of experiencing sexual assault. The program is inclusive of heterosexual, bisexual, lesbian, asexual and trans women while focusing on the sexual assaults committed by men (who represent 98% of the perpetrators against women regardless of sexual identity). This program accomplishes a great deal but is only one piece of a comprehensive prevention plan.

We care about sexual violence committed against all persons. Some victims of sexual assault are male-identified. Transgender individuals experience unacceptably high levels of sexual violence —again committed primarily by men. Research shows that “universal prevention” (that is, trying to reach everyone with a single prevention tool), tends to have very limited effects so we do not do that. The research foundation for an adaptation of Flip the Script with EAAA™ for trans university students has completed but it will be several years before this adaptation has been evaluated and will be available (see adaptations here). We are open to collaborating with others who are interested in leading the development of adaptations of EAAA for other communities and audiences.

While over the past several decades many researchers have focused on finding ways to reduce boys’ and men's perpetration behaviour, few programs have achieved positive results (see the Centre for Disease Control's summary of this research). Currently, the best evidence for changing men's behaviour is through general bystander education (e.g., Bringing in the Bystander) to create an environment less tolerant of dangerous men and/or potentially dangerous situations. A particular type of enhanced men-only bystander programming has shown promise for short-term reductions in sexual violence perpetration (i.e., Alan Berkowitz' Men's Program or Laura Salazar's Real Consent). Research continues.

Unfortunately, widespread social change will take time, and the benefits of providing students with the tools to intervene when they see problematic situations developing or in progress, have limits, as most assaults occur with no bystanders present.

Flip the Script with EAAA™ holds perpetrators completely accountable and solely responsible for their behaviours and actions. It makes clear that there is NO risk of sexual assault in any situation unless there is someone present who is willing to be sexually coercive. We know these strategies work because the program is proven to decrease young women's belief in rape myths including woman-blaming explanations for assault. These healthy changes in attitudes are maintained for at least two years.

A French adaptation of the program for francophone women university students was completed in 2022 and evaluation is ongoing. This work, Programme de résistance à l’agression sexuelle Version bonnifiée d’Évaluer, Reconnaître, Agir (BÉRA), is based on a collaboration with researchers in Quebec and Nova Scotia led by Isabelle Daigneault (University of Montreal). It is not available yet outside of this research context. 

An adaptation for younger girls who have not yet graduated from high school (Adolescent -EAAA) has been created. “The Girls Resist Project” is an evaluation of this program in three regions of Ontario. The research is funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada (led by Drs. Sara Crann & Charlene Senn; University of Windsor). Making this program widely available is a high priority for us once effectiveness has been confirmed (expected 2025/26). Visit https://girlsresist.ca/ for participation information.

Men’s project - - In parallel to the SARE Centre’s work, Dr. Alan Berkowitz, Sarah Deatherage-Rauzin, and Dr. Lindsay Orchowski, are seeking funding to evaluate a program that is theoretically and empirically sound and follows the 12-hour small group format of EAAA, provides knowledge and skills for male-identified university students. It includes bystander and social norms education, self-defence, and emancipatory sexual education among other content. Contact Dr. Berkowitz for more information.