The Developmental Approach to Prevention
Built for Preventing the Most Serious Issues:
Campus administrators and national leaders have invested a lot in preventing the most serious kinds of harm.
Those efforts are making an impact, but we need something different to reach a new level of success in preventing harm to young people.
Half of my background is in equipping people for positive lives, or what most think of as leadership and personal development. The other half is in understanding the most serious kinds of interpersonal harm and how to prevent them. These two areas of focus are often treated as entirely separate, but they share the same core of human decision-making and behavior.
My approach is to find the most valuable insights from psychology and other disciplines, apply them to increase our ability to connect and build true buy-in, and then work with the right people to implement systems that can realistically influence behavior. We need to both prevent harm and equip people for positive lives. And we can do both at the same time.
- Aaron Boe, Founder of Prevention Culture and Potential Driven
We are past the stage of assuming awareness and information-based education will be enough.
Blind spots can remain even among receptive students.
Confusion after awareness is established, resulting in apathy or a false sense of comfort.
Misconceptions can mean mis-education. Students think they know all they need to know while operating on the wrong understanding.
Defensiveness and minimization that creates resistance to further education of the same kind.
Negative reactions to the initial programming itself makes a "more of the same" approach ineffective and can build greater resistance to future educational efforts.
"We live in a new world when it comes to the prevention of sexual violence on campus. We are now being asked to demonstrate proven, effective prevention programs. There is no one better at talking to college men about sexual violence prevention than Aaron Boe. He is real, he is engaging, and his approach is grounded in science.”
“Aaron has the rare ability to transform complex, difficult topics into meaningful, understandable, and innovative educational programming. He has been a significant contributor to the progress our organization has made in equipping our members the skills and knowledge necessary to consistently engage in healthy relationships.”
“Our campus was looking for something different. We wanted something that spoke to a wide range of audiences, incorporated required sexual assault prevention content, and also engages students in conversations about healthy relationships in a way that also provided them with skills for navigating challenging and sometimes confusing situations. The Culture Strength workshop developed by Aaron Boe does all of that and more. Thank you, Aaron, for providing this powerful program for our students.”
Universities of Wisconsin
Implement the system that can start strong and be strengthened over time.
Training for Leaders & Emerging Leaders
Training for New Member Educators & Select Chapter Leaders - Equipping for Strategic Influence
Follow-Up Coaching and Support Remotely between Campus Visits
Training for Campus Professionals, National Headquarters Staff, Volunteers, etc.
Aaron Boe, Developer of The Fraternal Strength System
Equip new member educators and chapter leaders to strengthen their own chapters.
Maximize your impact to both prevent harm and equip members for success in college and beyond.
Designed to be naturally incorporated into the normal flow of chapter life for new members and leaders.
With the science-based frameworks developed by Aaron Boe over the past 7 years, we can take a more strategic approach to understanding and building a stronger chapter culture.
We need a more sophisticated yet simple approach to influencing behavior, and The Mechanics of Culture developed by Aaron Boe allows us to help you do that.
The critical factor of culture and how to strengthen it should not be such a mystery.
Aaron Boe identified the 18 Factors & Points of Leverage that reveal a culture's level, strengths, and risks.
Bring Aaron to help you identify weaknesses, strengthen your culture, and prevent problems.
The Fraternal Strength System is designed to minimize the time chapter leaders are needed for training and to fit naturally within their chapter's structure.
Hazing and high-risk activities call for a true change in culture that requires a strategic and comprehensive approach.
Incidents of sexual misconduct or intimate partner violence create a critical moment for developing other members in the chapter and elevating the social and ethical standards in a lasting way.
Aaron Boe brings the rare combination of deep expertise and the ability to connect with young men on the most serious issues.
To prevent life-altering harm, we must dramatically increase connection with a much higher percentage of students.
Now more than ever, it is critical to transcend the political divide and avoid defensiveness due to any perceived partisanship.
These are human issues, and they can be talked about in a human way that aligns with natural goals for a good life.
Academic language is best for the classroom, but students get enough jargon and terminology in their classes. Often without being receptive or interested in any of it.
My job is to understand all the insights from science and the complexity of the issues; then my job is also to turn that into plain language that helps real fraternity men in real-life situations.
Awareness that these issues exist is no longer the problem. Our problem is in their understanding of each issue and how they think of it.
Saying you would intervene during a weeknight training is very different from actually intervening in a complicated situation months later.
With large numbers of people, some number of tragedies will continue to occur.
But we are far from the point where life-altering harm is as rare as it could be.
From a distance, far from the party or the chapter house, these issues can look simple. Up close, they are complex. Human blind spots, moral disengagement, and the pull of both individual and chapter culture all shape decision-making in the moment. That complexity is more than traditional risk management and prevention approaches were built to handle.
There is power in brothers influencing brothers, new members, and pre-new members. What's been missing is an effective way to tap into that power and direct it where it can create the change we need. This approach, which I call The Fraternal Strength System, is built to do exactly that.
Fraternity chapters provide us with a unique opportunity to reach young men and influence the mentalities that shape decision-making and behavior.
Aaron Boe has always taken an innovative approach to prevention that also equips young men for more positive lives.
Major incidents and student deaths are risks that will not go away.
We must take a more effective approach to implementing systems in chapters that equip them to develop their own members and strengthen their culture.
Cease and desist orders, suspensions, and chapter closures are a major disruption for student members and a costly drain on resources for everyone involved.
This innovative approach to Prevention and Risk Management also contributes to student development and chapter success.
Bring Aaron to provide a customized program for your chapter or community, or ask about options for your national organization.
Brief Bio
Aaron Boe, M.S.Ed., is a national speaker and trainer, author of In a Relationship, and the developer of award-winning programs for the fraternity and sorority community.
As a fraternity man, a dad, and a veteran of working with college fraternity men and athletes, Aaron takes a different approach to discussing serious issues that young men actually listen to.
Behind the scenes, Aaron combines subject-matter expertise with an applied-sciences approach, allowing him to find more effective ways to understand decision-making and influence behavior. On top of this deeper rationale is a plain-language way of communicating and leading dialogue to build real buy-in.
Aaron serves as a true partner to campuses, connecting with the hard-to-reach men in the back of the room, advising senior administrators, and leading training for campus professionals on the most difficult and important issues.
Aaron earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees at Indiana University. He has been married for 20 years, and his personal interests have ranged from running to performing stand-up comedy.
Alumni and Leadership Consultant for Fraternity Men
“Men around the country are constantly educated on sexual misconduct, but it seems it is always the same type of information. Social Strengths by Aaron Boe breaks away from the typical and allows men to engage in a conversation around education and personal growth.”
"I wanted to email you to let you know that talking with the pledges went so well. The pledges listened intently and chimed in with such intentional and thoughtful tidbits. Thank you. With your slides I barely had to do anything to make tonight happen. Just sending a big thank you from Williamsburg, VA."