School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Muslim Ordained Minister
This lesson is educational information and is not legal advice. Laws vary by state. If you are in danger right now, call 911.
Before you start
- This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or answer. Your progress stays on your device.
- We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you download it and write your own name on it after.
- Pass the test at 80% or higher to earn this unit's certificate. You can retake the test as many times as you need — each retake presents the questions in a different order, with the answer choices in a different order too. Answers are not shown: go back and find what you missed.
- If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time, day or night.
- This unit teaches safety basics about stalking: when someone follows you, watches you, or will not stop contacting you. It can feel embarrassing to talk about, especially if the person is someone you know. It is never embarrassing; it is a safety problem, and adults handle those.
The lesson
Part 1. What stalking is — a pattern, not a single act
Stalking is a pattern of behavior aimed at one person that makes them feel unsafe: following them, showing up where they are, watching them, or contacting them again and again after they want it to stop. One annoying message is not stalking. A pattern that keeps coming, especially after a clear "stop" or a block, is what adults and police take seriously.
The person doing it might be a stranger, but often it is someone known: an older student, an ex, someone from a team or a game, or an adult. Whoever it is, the rule is the same: you are allowed to want contact to end, and ending it is your right. Nobody earns access to you by refusing to accept no.
Part 2. How stalking works — following, contact, monitoring, and showing up
Stalking aimed at young people usually looks like this:
- Being followed or watched: someone keeps appearing on your route or at your practices, too often to be chance.
- Unwanted messages: texts, DMs, and comments that keep coming after you stop answering, say stop, or block, including through new accounts.
- Monitoring: someone demands your location, checks your phone, uses a shared account to watch you, or always knows where you were.
- Showing up and pressuring: appearing at your school events, contacting your friends for information about you, or sending gifts after you said no.
Location sharing deserves its own warning. Sharing your live location can feel normal between friends, but it hands someone a map of your life. Keep it off except, if your family uses it, with a parent or caregiver. If anyone pressures you to share it, or gets angry when you turn it off, that pressure is itself a warning sign.
Part 3. The law in general — stalking, harassment, and protection orders
Stalking is against the law. In general, laws describe it as a pattern of conduct aimed at a person that causes fear or serious distress, and it can be charged as a crime in person, by phone, or online. Harassment, a pattern meant to alarm or distress someone, is also covered by law.
Courts can also issue protection orders: official orders telling a person to stay away and stop all contact. Adults in your life can ask a court for one, and breaking an order is itself a crime. You do not need to know which order fits; the legal steps are the adults' job.
One more fact: you cannot get in trouble for being stalked, and telling is not "snitching." Reporting someone who is frightening you is how safety adults can do their job.
Part 4. Documenting and keeping evidence safely
If you think a pattern is starting, your phone can become your evidence kit:
- Save the messages. Do not delete threads, even upsetting ones. Screenshot with the date, time, and account name visible, including new accounts made after a block.
- Write a simple log. Date, time, what happened, where, who saw it. Same-day notes are the most useful.
- Tell a friend and ask them to save anything the person sends them about you. Other copies back yours up.
- Keep copies safe. Show a trusted adult and store copies somewhere the person cannot reach. Do not collect evidence by answering, meeting, or provoking the person. Silence plus saving is strongest.
- Check your sharing. Review who can see your location, posts, and stories, and tighten settings with a trusted adult's help.
Part 5. Safety planning and reporting, step by step
- Tell a trusted adult today. Parent, caregiver, counselor, coach. Show the messages. If the first adult shrugs it off, tell the next one; keep telling until an adult acts.
- Block and report in the app, evidence saved first. Blocking is not rude; it is a boundary with a button.
- Change the predictable parts of your day for a while: routes, walking partners, where you wait for rides. Tell friends not to share your schedule or location with the person.
- If the person shows up in real life: do not engage, move toward people, go into a store or another safe place, and call a trusted adult or 911 if you feel unsafe.
- If it continues, adults can report to police with your log and screenshots, and ask about protection orders. In immediate danger, call 911 yourself; text HOME to 741741 or call or text 988 for support.
Part 6. Support, roles, and rights — for the person targeted and people around them
Your rights, plainly: to say stop and have it respected; to block anyone; to keep your location private; to be believed; and to help from adults whose job is safety. None of this changes if the person is popular, older, or someone you once dated. A past relationship is not a permanent permission slip.
Friends have a role too. If a friend tells you someone will not leave them alone: believe them, do not pass along their location or schedule, save anything the person sends you about them, and encourage them to tell a trusted adult. Never confront the person, and never share the story for drama.
And hear this clearly: being stalked is never the target's fault. Not because of photos posted, messages answered earlier, or kindness mistaken for interest. The person who refuses to stop is doing something wrong. Fear and trouble sleeping are common reactions, and 988 (call or text) and the Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) exist for those feelings.
Words to know — Stalking
- Stalking — a pattern of following, watching, or contacting a person that makes them feel unsafe.
- Unwanted messages — messages that keep coming after you stop answering, say stop, or block the sender.
- Location sharing — an app feature showing others where your phone is; it hands them a map of your life.
- Block and report — app tools that cut off contact and alert the platform.
- Trusted adult — an adult who believes you, does not hurt you, and will act to help you stay safe.
- Safety plan — steps you and trusted adults agree on to keep you safer.
- Private information — facts like your school, address, routine, and live location that others do not need.
Myths vs facts — Stalking
- Myth: If the person likes you, following you and messaging nonstop is romantic. Fact: Contact that continues after "stop" or a block is a warning sign, not romance. Respect listens the first time.
- Myth: It only counts as stalking if a stranger does it. Fact: Stalking is often done by someone known: an ex, an older student, or an adult. The pattern is what matters.
- Myth: Answering a few messages means you caused it. Fact: Nothing you answered makes stalking your fault. The person who will not stop is responsible.
- Myth: Blocking is dramatic and rude. Fact: Blocking is a normal safety tool. You never owe anyone continued access to you.
Think it through — Stalking
Jada, 14, broke up with her boyfriend of two months. In the three weeks since, he has texted every day despite her "please stop," made a second account after she blocked him, and twice waited near her bus stop "just to talk." Yesterday a friend showed Jada a screenshot: he asked the friend what time Jada's practice ends. Jada says, "He hasn't hurt me. My friends say I am being cold." What is happening, and what should Jada do?
Walk it through: (1) Name the pattern (Part 1): repeated contact after a clear stop, a new account after a block, showing up in person, and collecting her schedule from friends. That is following, contact, and monitoring together (Part 2), and it is stalking behavior whether or not he has touched her. (2) The "cold" framing is wrong (Part 6): a past relationship is not a permission slip. (3) Jada's steps (Parts 4 and 5): save everything including the friend's screenshot, start a dated log, tell a trusted adult today and show the evidence, keep the block and report the new account, tell friends not to share her schedule, and change her bus-stop routine with adult help. (4) If he appears again and she feels unsafe, she moves toward people and calls 911.
Try this — Stalking
Safety check:
- ☐ Location sharing off in my apps, except with a parent or caregiver if my family uses it
- ☐ My accounts are private, and I only accept people I know in real life
- ☐ I know how to block and report in every app I use
- ☐ Three trusted adults are named in my phone
- ☐ I know the first steps by heart: save it, log it, tell an adult, block and report
- ☐ My friends know: never share my schedule or location with someone I have cut off
Resources to keep — Stalking
- 911 — in danger now, or the person is following you.
- 988 (call or text) — support any time.
- Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741 — if you would rather type than talk.
- Childhelp: 1-800-422-4453 — help if an adult is pressuring or hurting you.
- National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 (thehotline.org) — safety planning help, including stalking by a dating partner.
What you earned / what's next — Stalking
✅ Stalking complete (test score 80% or higher): You can say what stalking is, spot its forms, protect your location, save evidence, and work the steps.
Your certificate
Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — Topic Library: Stalking
This certificate is presented by Muslim Ordained Minister Destiny Marie Morgan
Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)
Date completed: ______________
Congratulations. You learned that "stop" is a complete sentence, your location belongs to you, and telling fast is strength. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan
This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license, a government certification, or legal training for representing anyone.
What's next: Harassment.
Sources
- Stalking Prevention, Awareness, & Resource Center (SPARC) — stalkingawareness.org — stalking fact sheets.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — cdc.gov — preventing stalking guidance.
- Massachusetts government — mass.gov — protection orders information.
Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Educational information only, not legal advice. Help lines: 911 · 988 (call or text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.