Books & Schools

The lesson

Home is supposed to be the safe place. For a lot of young people, it mostly is. For some, home is where the hard stuff happens — yelling that never stops, adults who drink or use drugs and change into different people, being hit or grabbed, being left alone too much, or a feeling in your stomach that something is just not right. If any of that sounds familiar: it is not your fault, and it is not your job to fix the adults. Your job is to be as safe as you can and to know exactly who you can go to.

What "safe" actually means

Safe does not mean perfect. Every family argues sometimes. Safe means:

• You are not being hit, hurt, or touched in ways that are wrong.
• You have food, a place to sleep, and someone who knows where you are.
• You are not scared all the time in your own home.
• When something goes wrong, there is an adult you can tell who will believe you.

If one of those is missing, that is a real problem — and it is an adult problem, not a kid problem. Telling someone about it is not "snitching." It is how the problem gets to the people whose actual job is fixing it.

Red flags at home — signs something is wrong

• An adult hurts you, or hurts someone else in the home, or threatens to.
• An adult touches you in a way that feels wrong, or asks you to keep secrets about touching. You never have to keep that kind of secret. Ever.
• Adults are often drunk or high and nobody steady is in charge.
• You are locked out, or left alone overnight when you are too young, or there is often no food.
• You feel afraid to go home.

Any one of these is enough reason to talk to a trusted adult. You do not have to wait until it gets worse.

Your trusted-adult map

A trusted adult is a grown-up who: listens to you, believes you, does not hurt you, and will actually do something to help. It can be a parent or grandparent, an aunt or uncle, a teacher, a school counselor or nurse, a coach, a faith leader, a friend's parent, or a police officer or firefighter.

Build your map now, before you need it. Pick three trusted adults — not one, three — because one person might not be reachable. For each one, know:

1. Their name and how to reach them (phone number memorized or written somewhere safe).
2. Where to find them if you cannot call (their classroom, workplace, house).
3. What you would say. You can practice the sentence: "I need to tell you something serious. I am not safe at home / something happened, and I need help."

If the first adult does not believe you or does nothing, tell the next one. Keep telling until someone acts. That is not being dramatic. That is how help works, and adults who work with kids are trained and required to act.

Asking for help when you cannot talk out loud

Sometimes it is not safe to make a phone call. You still have options:

• Text a trusted adult or a hotline (Crisis Text Line: HOME to 741741).
• Show someone a note you wrote.
• Tell a teacher or counselor at school, in person, where it is safe to talk.
• If there is an emergency and you call 911 but cannot speak, stay on the line — dispatchers are trained to respond, and in many places you can text 911 instead.

Your own quick safety plan (make it today)

1. Safe place: one place you can go fast — a neighbor's porch, a store, a library, a friend's house.
2. Safe person: your #1 trusted adult, memorized phone number.
3. Safe words: if you have a friend or relative you call often, agree on a code word that means "I need help, send an adult."
4. Essentials: if you ever have to leave fast — shoes by the door, phone charged when you can.

Words to know — Week 1

• Trusted adult — a grown-up who believes you, does not hurt you, and will act to help.
• Red flag — a warning sign that something is wrong or unsafe.
• Safety plan — a plan you make ahead of time: where to go, who to call, what to say.
• Mandated reporter — a professional (teacher, counselor, nurse, coach, and others) who is required by law to report it when a child may be abused or neglected. If you tell them, they must pass it to people who investigate and help. That is a good thing — it means your words carry weight.
• Neglect — when a child's basic needs (food, shelter, supervision, medical care) are not being met.

What would you do? — Week 1

The situation: Your friend Kayla has been quiet all week. At lunch she finally tells you her mom's boyfriend yells every night, and last night he threw a plate at the wall near her. She makes you promise not to tell anyone. She says, "It's fine, he didn't hit me."

Walk it through:

1. Believe her, and say so. "I believe you. That is not fine, and it is not your fault."
2. A promise to keep a dangerous secret is not a promise you have to keep. Secrets about someone getting hurt or scared at home are never secrets to keep. Telling is not betraying her — it is protecting her. A thrown plate today can be worse tomorrow.
3. Tell a trusted adult the same day. A teacher, counselor, or your own parent. Say exactly what she told you.
4. If she is in danger tonight, that is a 911 call — or tell an adult who will make it.
5. Stay her friend. She might be upset you told. Most kids, later, are glad someone did. Keep showing up.

The same steps work if the person in the situation is you.

What you earned / what's next — Week 1

✅ Week 1 complete (quiz score 80% or higher): You can now spot red flags at home, you have the idea of a trusted-adult map with three names on it, and you know how to ask for help out loud, by text, or silently.

What's next: Week 2 — Safe Online: strangers, fake friends, and pressure. The internet has trusted-adult problems of its own, and next week you learn to spot them before they get close.

The lesson

Online, people are not always who they say they are. An adult who wants to get close to a kid will almost never start with anything that looks dangerous. It starts friendly. This week is about seeing the pattern early — because once you can name it, it loses its power over you.

Grooming — the pattern, step by step

Grooming is when an adult (or sometimes an older teen) slowly builds a kid's trust in order to use them. It usually looks like this:

1. The friendly stranger. Someone messages you — from a game, a group chat, social media, anywhere. They seem to like everything you like.
2. The fast friendship. Lots of attention, compliments, gifts (game currency, skins, money), "you're not like other kids, you're mature."
3. The secrets. "This is just between us." They ask you to move to a more private app, delete messages, or not tell adults.
4. The turn. They ask for photos, or send you photos, or push sexual talk, or ask to meet. If you sent anything, they may use it to threaten you: "Send more or I'll show everyone." That threat is a crime they are committing — it is called sextortion — and the blame is on them, never on you.

Any step of this pattern is a red flag — you do not have to wait for step 4. A real friend never needs you to hide them from every adult in your life.

The photo rule (this one matters)

Once a photo leaves your phone, you do not control it. It can be saved, copied, and shared in seconds, even from apps that say photos "disappear." So:

• Never send a photo of your body to anyone. Not to someone you "know," not to someone who sent one first, not under pressure, not as a joke.
• If someone asks, that request itself is the red flag. Stop, block, tell a trusted adult.
• If you already sent something: you are not ruined and you are not in trouble in this school's eyes. Tell a trusted adult quickly. If the person threatens you, that is sextortion — a crime against you. Adults and police deal with this constantly, and reporting early is how images get taken down and threats get stopped. The shame belongs to the person who asked and threatened — not to you.

Everyday online safety habits

• Private accounts. Keep profiles private; only accept people you actually know in real life.
• Location off. Turn off location sharing in apps and photos; don't post where you'll be.
• Personal details are private. Full name, school, address, routine — strangers don't need them.
• The screenshot rule: if you wouldn't want it on a screen in the school cafeteria, don't send it.
• Passwords are yours. Nobody legit — not a game company, not a "friend" — will ask for your password.
• Meeting up: never meet an online-only person in person. If you ever feel you must, that is exactly the moment to tell a trusted adult first. No exceptions is the safe rule.

If it already happened — the exact steps

1. Stop replying. Do not negotiate, do not send anything else, do not pay anything.
2. Save the evidence (screenshots of the threats and the account names) — then block and report the account in the app.
3. Tell a trusted adult today. Use your map from Week 1.
4. Adults can report to the CyberTipline: report.cybertip.org or 1-800-843-5678 (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children), and to police. There is also a free service called Take It Down (takeitdown.ncmec.org) that helps get images of minors removed from the internet.
5. Breathe. This happens to a lot of kids. The person counting on you staying silent is the predator. Telling is how you beat them.

Words to know — Week 2

• Grooming — when someone slowly builds a child's trust in order to use or harm them.
• Sextortion — threatening to share someone's private images unless they send more images or money. A crime committed by the person threatening.
• Predator — a person who targets children to harm or use them.
• Block / report — app tools that cut off contact and alert the platform about an account.
• Digital footprint — everything you post, send, and share online, which can be copied even after you delete it.

What would you do? — Week 2

The situation: In your favorite game, a player called "Storm" has been on your team for two weeks. Storm says she's 15, sends you game gifts, and tells you you're her best friend. Tonight Storm asks you to switch to a different chat app "so the team can't spy on us," and asks what school you go to.

Walk it through:

1. Name the pattern. Fast friendship, gifts, moving to a private app, asking for personal details (your school), secrecy from others — that is steps 1–3 of grooming, in order.
2. You don't have to accuse anyone. You don't owe Storm an explanation or a goodbye speech. Your safety does not need their permission.
3. Stop and block. Don't answer the school question. Block the account on the game and anywhere else.
4. Tell a trusted adult. Show them the messages. This is exactly what your trusted-adult map is for.
5. Notice the feeling. It can feel sad or embarrassing — Storm felt like a friend. That feeling is what the pattern is designed to create. Losing a "friend" who was never safe is a win, not a loss.

What you earned / what's next — Week 2

✅ Week 2 complete (quiz score 80% or higher): You can spot the grooming pattern step by step, you know the photo rule and why it matters, and you know the exact steps to take if someone pressures or threatens you online — including that the blame is never yours.

What's next: Week 3 — Bullying and Cyberbullying: what to do when it happens to you, and how to help a friend without making it worse.

The lesson

Bullying is not "just drama," and it is not something you have to handle alone or "toughen up" about. It has a shape: it is repeated, it is on purpose, and there is a power difference — someone stronger, older, more popular, or in a group, targeting someone who has a harder time defending themselves. One mean comment is a bad moment; a pattern of them is bullying.

The four kinds

• Physical — hitting, pushing, taking or breaking your things.
• Verbal — threats, slurs, constant insults, humiliating "jokes."
• Social — exclusion campaigns, rumors, turning a group against someone.
• Cyberbullying — the same weapons through phones: mean posts, edited photos, fake accounts, group chats made to mock someone, pressuring in DMs.

If it is happening to you — the plan

1. It is not your fault, and "ignore it" is not the only move. Ignoring sometimes works for a one-off comment. For a pattern, you need adults involved.
2. Save evidence. Screenshots with dates. Don't delete the thread — evidence is what turns "he said/she said" into action.
3. Block and lock down. Block accounts. Tighten privacy. You do not have to keep reading poison.
4. Tell a trusted adult — parent, teacher, counselor. Schools are required to respond to bullying reports. If the first adult shrugs it off, go to the next one on your map. Keep your screenshots.
5. Don't fight back in writing. Replying angrily in a chat usually becomes the screenshot they use. Starve it of reaction, feed it to adults with evidence.
6. Stay connected. Bullying aims to isolate you. Spend time with people who treat you right, in person when you can. If it is making you feel like hurting yourself, that is a 988 call or text — right away, any hour.

If you see it happening to someone else — be the reason it stops

Most bullying happens in front of an audience, and the audience is the most powerful part. You do not have to fight anyone to change it:

• Don't feed it: no laughing, no liking, no forwarding. Attention is the fuel.
• Reach out to the person being targeted: one kind message — "I saw that. It's not true and it's not okay. You good?" — matters more than you know. Kids who are bullied say being supported by even one person changes everything.
• Tell an adult what you saw, with evidence if you have it. Reporting cruelty is not snitching; snitching is getting someone in trouble for something harmless. This is not harmless.
• Invite them in: sit with them at lunch, add them to your group chat. Inclusion is a shield.

If you realize you've been part of it

It happens — a joke that went too far, a chat you laughed along in. What you do next is what counts: stop, delete what you can, apologize like you mean it (privately is fine), and don't do it again. That is not weakness. That is character.

Threats and crimes are different — act faster

If bullying includes threats of violence, weapons, sexual content, or a plan to hurt someone: that is beyond school discipline — tell an adult immediately, and if someone may be hurt soon, it is a 911 call. If the target talks about hurting themselves, treat it as real, every time: tell an adult and share the 988 number with them — or call it yourself and ask what to do.

Words to know — Week 3

• Bullying — repeated, on-purpose harm where there is a power difference.
• Cyberbullying — bullying done through phones, apps, games, or social media.
• Bystander — someone who sees bullying happen.
• Upstander — a bystander who acts: supports the target, refuses to feed it, tells an adult.
• Evidence — screenshots, dates, and saved messages that show what happened.

What would you do? — Week 3

The situation: A group chat you're in starts posting edited photos of a quiet kid from school, "Devon," with cruel captions. Everyone's laughing in the chat. You're not posting — but you haven't said anything either. Tonight Devon texts you separately: "please don't tell anyone. it'll just get worse."

Walk it through:

1. Not posting isn't the same as not being part of it. Silence in the audience is what the posters are playing to. You have more power than you think.
2. Support Devon first. Reply to him directly: "It's wrong, it's not your fault, and I'm not going to just watch."
3. About the secret: like Week 1 — this is a safety secret, not a keep-forever secret. Devon is scared it will get worse, which is understandable. But a campaign with screenshots does not stop on its own; adults with evidence are how it stops.
4. Save evidence and report it. Screenshot the chat (with names and dates visible), leave the chat, and give the screenshots to a counselor or trusted adult tomorrow — sooner if there are threats.
5. Keep being a person, publicly. Sit with him, message him like a normal friend. One steady ally breaks the isolation the whole campaign depends on.

What you earned / what's next — Week 3

✅ Week 3 complete (quiz score 80% or higher): You can tell bullying from a one-time argument, you have a real plan if it targets you (evidence, block, tell, stay connected), and you know how to be an upstander for a friend — including when a "don't tell" promise has to be broken to keep someone safe.

What's next: Week 4 — When It Feels Like Too Much: big feelings, asking for help without shame, and building your own safety plan. Finish it and the Certificate of Completion is yours.

The lesson

Everyone has stretches where things feel heavy — stress at home, trouble at school, friend drama, grief, or a sadness or worry that just sits there. This week is about understanding those feelings, knowing the warning signs that mean "get help now," and building the plan you'll actually use. This might be the most important week in this course.

Feelings are signals, not verdicts

• Feeling sad, angry, anxious, or numb sometimes is human, not broken.
• Feelings get dangerous when they stay and grow: weeks of feeling down, losing interest in everything, sleep or appetite changing a lot, feeling hopeless, or thinking everyone would be better off without you. Those are signals to get support — the same way a high fever is a signal to see a doctor.
• Asking for help is a skill, not a weakness. The strongest people you know have all been helped by somebody.

Know the help lines (put them in your phone today)

• 988 — call or text, 24/7, for emotional distress or thoughts of suicide. Free, confidential.
• Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741 if you'd rather type than talk.
• Childhelp 1-800-422-4453 — if home is the problem.
• 911 — if you or someone else might act on harmful thoughts soon, or anyone is in immediate danger.

You can also call 988 about a friend and ask what to do. You do not have to carry someone else's crisis alone.

The friend rule: take it seriously, every time

If a friend says they want to die, hurt themselves, or "not be here anymore" — even as a "joke," even if they say "don't tell":

1. Believe it could be real. You cannot tell from the outside, and the cost of being wrong is too high.
2. Stay connected. Keep talking, stay with them in person or on the phone if you can.
3. Tell a trusted adult immediately — parent, counselor, teacher — and call/text 988 for guidance. This is another promise that does not outrank a life. A living friend who is mad at you can forgive you later.
4. Do not promise secrecy about this. Ever. Say: "I care about you too much to keep that secret."

Calm-down tools that actually help (for the everyday too-much days)

• Breathe out slowly. Longer exhales than inhales, a few rounds — it physically slows a racing body down.
• Cold water / ice. Splash cold water on your face or hold something cold; it jolts the stress response down.
• Move. Walk, run, shoot baskets, dance in your room — stress is energy; give it somewhere to go.
• Name it to tame it. Say (out loud or in a notes app): "I'm furious because…" Naming a feeling shrinks it a little.
• Shrink the problem. Ask: "What is the next one thing I can do?" Not the whole solution — the next step.
• Sleep, food, water. A tired, hungry brain makes everything feel 10× worse. Basic care is real medicine.
• Limit the scroll. When you feel awful, feeds full of conflict and comparison pour fuel on it. Take the break.

Build your personal safety plan (write it in your notes app or on paper)

1. My warning signs — how I know a bad stretch is starting (e.g., "I stop answering texts," "my stomach hurts every morning").
2. My calm-down tools — the 2–3 from the list above that work for me.
3. My people — my three trusted adults from Week 1, plus one friend.
4. My places — somewhere I can go and feel safer.
5. My lines — 988, Crisis Text Line, Childhelp, saved as contacts.
6. My reason list — people, pets, goals, even small things (a team, a show, a future plan) that are worth staying for. Read it on the worst days.

You have now built, piece by piece across these four weeks, a complete safety toolkit: trusted adults, online defenses, a bullying plan, calm-down tools, and this safety plan. That is the whole course.

Words to know — Week 4

• Crisis — a moment when feelings or danger are too much to handle alone and help is needed right away.
• Confidential — kept private (hotlines are confidential, with one limit: if someone is about to be seriously hurt, helpers act to protect life).
• Coping tools — healthy actions that help you get through hard feelings (breathing, movement, talking, rest).
• Safety plan (personal) — your own written plan: warning signs, tools, people, places, and help lines.
• Support network — all the people and services you can turn to; stronger than any single person.

What would you do? — Week 4

The situation: Your best friend Marcus has changed over the last month — quit the team, stopped coming to lunch, leaves your messages on read. Tonight he finally replies: "honestly everyone would be better off if I just wasn't around. forget I said anything."

Walk it through:

1. Take it seriously. That sentence is a warning sign, full stop. "Forget I said anything" does not cancel it.
2. Respond with care, right now. "I'm not forgetting it. I care about you. Are you thinking about hurting yourself?" Asking directly does not put the idea in someone's head — that is a myth. It opens the door for them to tell the truth.
3. Stay on the line / keep texting. Don't leave him alone with it tonight if you can help it.
4. Bring in adults — tonight, not tomorrow. Tell your parent or his, or another trusted adult, exactly what he wrote. Call or text 988 and ask them what to do; they coach friends and family through this all the time.
5. Follow up tomorrow, and the day after. Sit with him at lunch. Keep inviting. Recovery is not one conversation; it's someone who keeps showing up. That's you — with adults carrying the heavy part alongside you.

What you earned / what's next — Week 4 + CORE COMPLETE 🎓

✅ Week 4 complete (quiz score 80% or higher): You know the warning signs that mean "get help now," you have calm-down tools for the everyday hard days, and you have your own written safety plan.

🎓 You finished the Youth — here is your certificate

All four weeks + all four quizzes at 80% or higher earns:

> Minister Destiny Testimony Schools

> Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth

> Certificate of Completion — Youth Program

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> This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister & Founder

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> Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)

>

> For completing: Youth (Weeks 1–4)

> Date completed: ______________

>

> Congratulations. You built a real safety toolkit: trusted adults you can name, defenses for online pressure, a plan for bullying, and a plan for your hardest days. Knowing how to keep yourself and your friends safer is knowledge you will carry for life. I am proud of you. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license or a government certification.

What's next: The 12-Month Youth Track — one new topic a month, going deeper: dating and consent, peer pressure and substances, trouble at school and safer choices, your body and health questions answered plainly, the juvenile court process step by step, charges and vocabulary, medical and mental-health facilities and your rights, and building your fresh start. Your toolkit comes with you.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Lessons are educational information, written in plain language. If you or someone you know is in danger, call 911. Help lines: 988 (call/text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.