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Heather was a sophomore in high school when she met Richard. When they first started dating, Richard was kind, charming and adoring. He was also very attractive and popular. After about six months, Richard started to be abusive toward Heather, telling her where she could go and who she could and couldn’t hang out with. Luckily, Heather was able to talk with her family about what was going on and decided to end the relationship with their support. It was when she tried to break up with Richard that things got really bad. Richard told her that she could never leave him, he followed her around school and constantly called her at home. Once, during the process, he caught her alone and sexually assaulted her. Heather then got a restraining order against Richard and went to the administration of her school. It was during this time that Heather got in touch with SPAN and became a part of a teen group. The administration at Heather’s school did not support her in trying to keep Richard away from her. Heather, with the help of SPAN, was able to get the school to honor the restraining order. It was during this time that Heather went through an extensive educational process with SPAN and began to see the abuse that had been committed against her more clearly. Heather now presents to other students about abuse and how to recognize it. She uses her experience and the knowledge she gained through her training at SPAN to help prevent violence in other young people’s lives.