PREVNet is a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to preventing youth interpersonal violence. PREVNet collaborates with communities, organizations, educators, researchers, and youth to create and share learning resources that address bullying and teen dating violence across Canada. Our network is comprised of 130 researchers, representing 30 academic institutions across Canada, as well as more than 60 national youth-serving organizations.

Our purpose is to create space where research and practice converge. We connect the best and brightest minds in the area of bullying, youth healthy relationships and gender-based violence with the expertise of youth-serving organizations, businesses, and governments.

This unique partnership model allows researchers to collaborate with practitioners and policy makers to ensure knowledge development is informed by on-the-ground expertise. We examine how experiences in childhood and adolescence can lead to unhealthy behaviours, and co-develop practices, programs, and policy to prevent interpersonal violence, and foster healthy relationships among children and youth.

PREVNet was co-founded in 2002 by Drs. Deb Pepler (York University) and Wendy Craig (Queen’s University), and officially launched in 2006 through funding from the Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE). Get insights and learn more about PREVNet’s impacts across Canada.

As Canada’s Healthy Relationships Hub, PREVNet is now bringing together researchers and national organizations to build research capacity, assess teen dating violence problems and promote evidence-based programs and effective policies across Canada to address and reduce teen dating violence.

Our Purpose

We’re here to create an equitable, caring society that supports children and youth to have healthy relationships.

Our Mission

We build the capacity of adults supporting children and youth by co-creating and sharing knowledge, tools, and resources that reduce bullying and teen dating violence.