Learning Courage Podcasts

About Learning Courage Podcasts

These podcasts capture a range of topics related to sexual misconduct in K-12 schools. Our goal with them is to help listeners understand sexual misconduct in schools, including how to reduce incidents and how to respond in ways that are survivor-focused, trauma-informed and resiliency-based. Our guests include professional practitioners and individuals who have experience and opinions that we believe are valuable.Learning Courage is a nonprofit membership organization that works with K12 independent schools to reduce incidents, improve responses and support healing from sexual misconduct and abuse by guiding and advising on best practices, tools, and resources.www.LearningCourage.org

Publisher

Learning Courage

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

9 Sept 2021

Latest episode

21 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

9 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   21 Oct 2026

   Beyond Sex Ed: Teaching Consent, Connection, and Healthy Relationships with Shafia Zaloom

   Beyond Sex Ed: Teaching Consent, Connection, and Healthy Relationships with Shafia Zaloom Content note: This conversation covers sexual violence prevention and consent education. It mentions suicidal ideation and eating disorders in passing, as risks Shafia says comprehensive sexuality education helps protect against, and it doesn't describe abuse. Shafia Zaloom has spent 30 years in schools teaching healthy sexuality and relationship education, and she's known to students as the consent lady. In this conversation with Jamie Forbes, she talks about why she wrote Getting Real About Sex Ed: What Today's Students Need, and what it takes to give teachers the sex ed they never got themselves. Shafia says kids can define consent, and what they're really asking is what it looks, sounds, and feels like on a Saturday night. Her answer is that sex ed is the foundation and not the ceiling, because the broader work is building skills for connection, which she describes as simply being close to other people. They also get into why teachers worry about their professional security when they teach this, why adults' silence tells kids something, and how a child who says "I'm not into hugs" in kindergarten can grow into an adult who can set a professional boundary. Shafia describes this kind of education as the preventative work when it comes to sexual violence, and she says it benefits all of us, including the adults who never received it. This episode is for teachers, school leaders, and parents who want concrete language for talking with young people about consent, relationships, and intimacy. Get Help Now Need Help? Call 800.656.HOPE (4673) (National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline) Free. Confidential. 24/7 About Shafia Zaloom. Shafia Zaloom, Author and Health Educator, is a health educator, consultant, author, and parent whose work centers on human development, community building, ethics and social justice. She has worked with thousands of children and their families as a teacher, coach, administrator, board member, and outdoor educator, and she has contributed articles to The New York Times and The Washington Post. She received the California statewide (CAHPERD) Health Teacher of the Year Award for 2021. Shafia's links Website: https://www.shafiazaloom.com/ (https://www.shafiazaloom.com/) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shafiazaloom/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shafiazaloom/) Getting Real About Sex Ed: What Today's Students Need: https://www.shafiazaloom.com/getting-real-about-sex-ed (https://www.shafiazaloom.com/getting-real-about-sex-ed) Sex, Teens, and Everything in Between: https://www.shafiazaloom.com/sex-teens-and-everything-in-between (https://www.shafiazaloom.com/sex-teens-and-everything-in-between) About the show. These podcasts capture a range of topics related to sexual misconduct and abuse. Our goal with them is to help listeners understand sexual misconduct, societal and cultural norms and factors that impact behaviors and discuss ways we can reduce incidents and minimize trauma when incidents occur. Our guests include professional practitioners and individuals who have experience and opinions that we believe are valuable. Disclaimer: Learning Courage values a diversity of opinions, which sometimes means we have guests with perspectives and values that do not reflect those of our organization. If this was useful, follow the Learning Courage Podcast and share this episode with someone who works with young people.

2. 

   1 Sept 2026

   The Hidden Curriculum of All-Boys Schools with Adam Howard

   The Hidden Curriculum of All-Boys Schools with Adam Howard Content note: this episode discusses sexual misconduct, violence between students, and pornography as a source of sex education for boys. The conversation names these as findings from research and does not describe incidents in detail. Adam Howard has spent 28 years studying elite schools, and for the last eight he's been studying boys. When he set out to interview 127 recent graduates of all-boys schools, he handed the interviews to a team of young research assistants, because he doubted that 18 and 19 year old men would open up to someone in his fifties. What came back wasn't a story about a few bad actors, it was a story about what those schools teach without meaning to. He calls it the hidden curriculum, the lessons that sit underneath the official one. In the interviews it showed up as a conviction that every interaction produces a winner and a loser, as near-universal cheating, and as a loyalty so complete that boys learned not to talk about what happened inside the school. Almost all of the young men he interviewed admitted to cheating, and the way they put it was that if you're not cheating, you're not trying. He also found what schools could do instead, and none of it is a new assembly. Host Jamie Forbes asks him what school leaders, families, educators, and alumni networks would each have to change, why the sister-school partnerships that nearly every school in the study ran were described by students as disastrous, and why the strongest consent education is peer to peer rather than an adult at the front of the room. This episode is for heads of school, trustees, deans of students, and anyone who teaches or raises boys. ABOUT THE GUEST Adam Howard is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Education and Chair of the Education Department at Colby College. His research covers social class in education, masculinity in education, elite schooling and affluent youth, and the sociology of education. Adam Howard https://profadamhoward.com/ Privileged Brotherhoods: Becoming Men at Elite All-Boys Schools https://www.amazon.com/dp/1509571299 Educating Elites: Class Privilege and Educational Advantage https://www.amazon.com/dp/1607094584 Learning Privilege: Lessons of Power and Identity in Affluent Schooling https://www.amazon.com/dp/0415960819 Dr. Adam's TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sexedforguys ABOUT THE SHOW These podcasts capture a range of topics related to sexual misconduct and abuse. Our goal with them is to help listeners understand sexual misconduct, societal and cultural norms and factors that impact behaviors and discuss ways we can reduce incidents and minimize trauma when incidents occur. Our guests include professional practitioners and individuals who have experience and opinions that we believe are valuable. If this conversation is useful, follow the Learning Courage Podcast wherever you listen, and share this episode with someone who works with boys. Disclaimer: Learning Courage values a diversity of opinions, which sometimes means we have guests with perspectives and values that do not reflect those of our organization. Get Help Now Need Help? Call 800.656.HOPE (4673) (National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline) Free. Confidential. 24/7 Website -  https://learningcourage.org (https://learningcourage.org) Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/learningcourage (https://www.facebook.com/learningcourage) Instagram - @learningcourage (https://www.instagram.com/learningcourage/) LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/learning-courage/ (https://www.linkedin.com/company/learning-courage/)

3. 

   18 Aug 2025

   Poetry and Healing: Gang Intervention Through Creative Expression with Chris Henrikson

   Poetry and Healing: Gang Intervention Through Creative Expression with Chris Henrikson Discover how poetry became a revolutionary tool for healing trauma and building community in one of America's most challenging environments. Chris Henrikson, founder of Street Poets, shares three decades of insights from his groundbreaking work in LA County juvenile detention facilities, where he discovered poetry's unique power to create safe spaces for vulnerability and transformation among gang-involved ...

4. 

   6 Feb 2023

   Learning Courage: Independent Investigations of Abuse - Part 2

   Join us for Part 2 of our discussion about investigators of sexual misconduct in independent schools. Your host Jamie Forbes, the founder and CEO of Learning Courage, speaks with attorneys Mary Beth Hogan and Hailyn Chen who share their extensive experience with cases involving sexual abuse in schools. Find out what school leaders need to consider when facing allegations of past abuse, how schools and school boards can handle future allegations of abuse, and what has changed in recent years. ...

5. 

   9 Jan 2023

   Learning Courage: Independent Investigations of Abuse - Part 1

   Part 1 of a two-part series exploring how independent schools and school boards have historically handled sexual abuse investigations, how investigations of independent schools have evolved over the past five years, and how transparent schools should be when disclosing sexual abuse. Your host Jamie Forbes, the founder and CEO of Learning Courage, will speak with two wonderful and very generous attorneys: Mary Beth Hogan and Hailyn Chen. Topics covered: - What does it mean for a society to e...

6. 

   11 Jul 2022

   6 Key Learnings for Supporting Survivors of Historic Misconduct

   Learning Courage CEO Jamie Forbes joins Executive Director Amy Wheeler to discuss 6 Key Learnings for schools handling incidents of historic misconduct based on research and work with survivors. One perhaps surprising finding is that caring for survivors is not best only for the individuals who have been harmed, but it is also in the best interest of the institutions where the harm took place. Jamie and Amy draw on their personal experiences as survivors bringing to light the importance of co...

7. 

   16 Nov 2021

   Social Norms and Their Impact on Beliefs Around Masculinity

   Cindy Pierce, a social sexuality educator, storyteller, speaker, and author, joins Learning Courage's Jamie Forbes to discuss how to support male survivors of sexual abuse. Pierce shares anecdotes from working with young men and provides insight and suggestions for families and schools on how to support healthy sexual relationships by engaging in conversations around how to support survivors. This episode explores how social-cultural norms impact our beliefs around masculinity and how we, as ...

8. 

   9 Sept 2021

   COVID’s Impact on Students’ Mental Health & Technology Use

   World-renowned clinical psychologist, Dr. Catherine Steiner-Adair joins Learning Courage’s Jamie Forbes and Amy Wheeler to discuss how the global pandemic impacted both mental health and dependence on technology among K-12 students. Dr. Steiner-Adair provides insight and specific suggestions for school leaders and teachers for how to support students as they return to school this fall. For more information on the items discussed in this episode or to learn more about our guest, check ou...

9. 

   9 Sept 2021

   Creating Safe Spaces for Students to Discuss Identity and Sexuality

   World-renowned clinical psychologist and expert in adolescent youth, Dr. Catherine Steiner-Adair joins Learning Courage’s Jamie Forbes and Amy Wheeler to discuss the importance of creating and maintaining safe spaces for students where they can feel comfortable discussing topics related to sexuality and identity Website - https://learningcourage.org Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/learningcourage Instagram - @learningcourage LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/learning-co...

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Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.