Jae’vion decided to approach his friend and tell him that the relationship was unhealthy and offer support if he wanted to end it.

“I was thinking that this can’t be right,” Jae’vion said.

While the experience of Jae’vion’s friend wasn’t violent, city leaders want teens to be able to recognize unhealthy patterns before they turn into something more dangerous.

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Like Jae’vion, teenagers in the nation’s capital are learning how to identify signs of unhealthy relationships and dating violence as part of a program spearheaded by the D.C. attorney general’s office that aims to decrease incidents of assault in the city.

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One in 10 D.C. high school students reported experiencing physical dating violence last year, according to a survey conducted by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education. And 5 percent of students reported experiencing sexual dating violence.

Last week, prosecutors led dozens of students, including Jae’vion, in sessions about consent and how to recognize the characteristics of emotionally and physically abusive relationships. They also trained students from schools throughout the city to intervene when they believe their friends are in unhealthy relationships.

“Our goal is to stop civil protection orders [restraining orders] and unhealthy relationships altogether,” said D.C. Assistant Attorney General Tonya Turner, who prosecutes domestic violence cases. “The way to do that is to get in there early and prevent them altogether.”

The #RelationshipGoals event at a community space in Southeast Washington came as the Trump administration finalizes regulations to determine how K-12 and college campuses are required to handle sexual assault allegations, including dating violence.

But the proposed regulations — which are expected to be finalized in the coming weeks — are already drawing criticism, with advocates for survivors of sexual assault saying the administration relies on a definition of sexual harassment that is too narrow.

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“These new provisions for people who are experiencing emotional abuse, isolationism, it’s going to make it really hard for them to access help,” said Andrea Gleaves, strategic partnerships manager at DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence, who helped moderate a panel at the event. “It’s going to have a chilling effect.”

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has said the new rules would restore balance in a system that, in her view, had been skewed in favor of the accusers. She said her approach would provide clarity and fairness for victims and those accused of wrong­doing.

During the sessions, students labeled hypothetical dating scenarios as abusive, healthy or unhealthy. They identified situations as being either consensual physical contact or assault. And some student panelists and young residents shared their experiences of unhealthy relationships and abuse.

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Raven Goodwine — a 25-year-old employee at a D.C. attorney general’s anti-violence program called Cure the Streets — told students about an abusive relationship that began when she was a teen. She said her boyfriend controlled her, at one point pushing her out of a moving vehicle after he grew suspicious when he saw her reject a phone call from a friend.

Goodwine said she didn’t know how to model a healthy relationship and suspects many teenagers now don’t either.

“If anyone needs to talk, I will talk to them,” she said. “I didn’t know it was abuse until I learned what a real, healthy relationship should be.”

Valencia Green, 16, and Briana Johnson, 15, were trained at last week’s session to educate their classmates about identifying signs of potentially abusive relationships. They said they learned that abusive relationships can be complicated and that it is not enough to simply tell their friends to break up with their partners.

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They realize they must be supportive and patient and have empathy for their friends, who may still have feelings for their abusive partners.

And, they said, they learned to establish boundaries in their own relationships.