LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Teen dating isn't always warm and loving. Sometimes it can be abusive and violent. That's one reason why the YMCA is providing a program that addresses healthy relationship skills.

The YMCA's Love Notes program starts in the Teen Tech Center at the Republic Bank Foundation YMCA. It's a nationwide, evidence-based program for teens and young adults. The goal is to give them the tools they need to improve and maintain long-term, healthy relationships.

According to the CDC, teen dating violence is common. The agency said about 1 in 12 teens experienced physical dating violence, and about 1 in 12 experienced sexual dating violence while in high school.

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Evangeline Ndayiziga (WDRB photo) 

"Sometimes it can be really hard to talk to an adult about that type of stuff, especially if it's personal," Evangeline Ndayiziga said. "And, in Love Notes, they teach about having a trusted adult. I think that's really important."

Evangeline Ndayiziga is a senior at Central High School. She completed the Love Notes program.

"It should be an experience all teens should have," she said.

Now, she's passing that love down as a peer facilitator.

"I've had my fair share of childhood trauma," she said. "So, I think just knowing that when going into relationships, people might have childhood trauma that could affect them or not affect them and it could affect them later, if it doesn't affect them now."

In addition to childhood trauma, the lessons cover domestic violence and dating violence red flags, STDs, HIV, teen pregnancy, consent and more.

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Kelley Luckett, senior director of the YMCA Love Notes program. (WDRB photo)

"Really, we see a lot of times what unhealthy relationships can do to families, do to teens, what it can do to just people. And so, if we are being proactive, and we're like, 'Hey, this is how you build a healthy relationship,' then that is really, really important," Kelley Luckett, senior director of the Love Notes program, said.

Ndayiziga said that's especially important for Central High School students to keep in mind.

"It's a historically Black high school, not a lot of, in the Black community, that's not really talked about, relationships aren't really talked about. You kind of just go through them. And, that's not just romance. It could just be friendships, and especially family as well. So, I'd say be open to talking about it with people around you and adults as well," she said.

The Love Notes program is for those between 14 and 24 years old. It's a free resource and they do not need to be a YMCA member to participate. For registration information about the program, click here. 

"It's not just about, like, having them have a Y membership, but also about having them connections in the community so that they can continue to have healthy relationships and healthy mentors," Luckett said.

There are three YMCA Love Notes program peer facilitators in Louisville, including Ndayiziga. She said there are a lot of different activities that can be more helpful than learning from a textbook.

"It's less of a lesson and more of a discussion," she said. "There was a thing called ELMO, which means 'Enough let's move on.' And so, I brought in a teddy bear and I named it Elmo. And basically, if I needed someone to speak up who hasn't been speaking the whole class, I'd give them a teddy bear and they'd get to talk. Or someone who was talking a little bit too much, I can have the teddy bear and they would calm it down a bit. Also, we have the green marbles and red marbles, which is for healthy and unhealthy relationships," Ndayiziga said.

Luckett said the program is about 10 years old. In the last year, she said, her branch office has helped more than 800 teens and young adults.

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