Say Hello to HeaRT: CDC’s Healthy Relationships Toolkit
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced an exciting update to a familiar prevention resource. What many have known as Dating Matters now carries a new name: HeaRT – The Healthy Relationships Toolkit.
This rebrand reflects feedback from community partners and brings the program’s purpose into sharper focus. HeaRT highlights a broader vision of prevention by focusing on how young people learn to navigate relationships across their lives, not only in dating contexts but also with friends and family. The updated framing reflects evidence that the program’s benefits are not limited to teen dating violence. Research has shown impacts across multiple outcomes, with decreases in behaviors such as bullying, sexual harassment, and other forms of adolescent violence.
For prevention practitioners, this evolution is more than a name change. It is an opportunity to reintroduce a comprehensive, evidence-informed approach to adolescent violence prevention to partners, schools, and community coalitions.
Why HeaRT Matters for Cross-Cutting Prevention
Preventionists understand that violence does not occur in isolation. Shared risk and protective factors connect teen dating violence, bullying, sexual harassment, and other forms of interpersonal harm. Programs that address those underlying drivers can create ripple effects across multiple outcomes.
Previous research on Dating Matters highlighted its ability to reduce not only teen dating and sexual violence, but also bullying, cyberbullying, and physical violence perpetration. HeaRT continues this legacy. By encouraging respectful treatment of others across relationships, not just dating partners, the toolkit supports environments where healthy norms can take root.
For practitioners working within shared risk and protective factor frameworks, HeaRT offers:
- A comprehensive, multi-level approach
- Evidence of cross-cutting impacts
- Language and tools that resonate with youth, families, and schools
- Flexibility to address emerging concerns, including online safety
The updated materials now include more recent data and expanded content on helping teens stay safe online, reflecting the realities young people navigate today.
A New Tool for Engaging Parents and Caregivers
One of the most significant updates is the launch of the HeaRT Online Training for Parents.
Engaging parents and caregivers in prevention has long been recognized as essential and often challenging. In-person programming requires time, transportation, childcare, and space that many families do not have. The new self-paced online training helps address these barriers.
Designed for parents and caregivers of 11 to 14-year-olds, the training includes:
- Interactive exercises
- Videos featuring real parents and teens
- Printable resources
- Practical guidance on communication and positive parenting
The course is divided into two parts:
- Parenting in Adolescence: Covers developmental changes, effective communication, positive parenting techniques, and common risky behaviors.
- Talking to Your Teen about Dating and Relationships: Addresses healthy and unhealthy relationships, teen dating violence, peer pressure, and conflict navigation.
Each section takes about 60 to 90 minutes and can be completed on a phone, tablet, or computer.
For prevention practitioners, this training can serve as:
- A referral resource for families connected to schools or youth programs
- A supplement to school-based or community-based prevention efforts
- A tool to strengthen parent engagement without adding logistical burdens
- A bridge to conversations about healthy relationships and violence prevention
Sharing the training with PTAs, school groups, youth-serving organizations, and sports programs can expand the reach of prevention efforts in meaningful ways.
Website Improvements and Program Updates
The HeaRT website has also been streamlined to improve access to materials. Facilitator guides, handbooks, and implementation resources are now available in one place, making it easier for implementation teams to locate and share materials.
How Practitioners Might Use HeaRT
HeaRT can support violence prevention efforts in a variety of contexts:
- School and district partnerships: Integrate the toolkit into middle school programming and staff training.
- Coalition-based prevention: Align HeaRT with shared risk and protective factor strategies already underway.
- Community engagement: Offer the parent training as an accessible entry point for families.
- Program implementation: Support funded prevention efforts with a research-backed approach that addresses multiple forms of violence.
- Online safety initiatives: Incorporate updated content addressing digital environments and cyber behaviors.
For practitioners who previously used Dating Matters, this is an opportunity to reconnect with partners and reframe the conversation around healthy relationships as foundational to broader community safety.
Moving Forward
Healthy relationships are not a side note in violence prevention. They are central to it. By supporting adolescents in developing respect, communication skills, and healthy norms across relationships, HeaRT contributes to environments where multiple forms of violence are less likely to take hold.
Prevention is strongest when it is comprehensive, connected, and grounded in what we know works. HeaRT offers tools to continue building that foundation.
Explore the rebranded Healthy Relationships Toolkit, review the updated materials, and consider how these resources can strengthen existing prevention strategies.
