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Michelle Denault

PAVE Speaker

For pricing inquire below

Speech Topics:

Grooming 101

Biography

Michelle Denault, owner and founder of “Voices Carry, LLC”, is a survivor of Educator Sexual Abuse and the creator of the training “Grooming 101 - A Predator’s Playbook”.  In 2015, after decades of believing she had been in a “love relationship” with a trusted teacher, a moment in time shifted her perspective and opened her eyes to the truth that she hadn't been loved but instead preyed on and abused. Since that time, Michelle has been speaking her truth, advocating for change, and in a fight in the justice system to bring accountability to her abuser and his enablers. “Grooming 101” has been in numerous schools and at several institutional conferences throughout Illinois to train adults on how to recognize the signs a child is being groomed and to teach students how to recognize they or their peers may be being groomed.  Michelle is married to Mike Denault, Superintendent of the Waltonville School District, and has two boys, Jonny and Jacob Forbes, and two stepdaughters, Emersyn and Addysen.  Michelle has an insane love of Disneyworld and a passion for Duke Basketball.  What students and adults alike find most entertaining about her presentation is that her high school mascot was a Pretzel. Everyone loves it when she teaches them how to make a pretzel with their fingers!

Course Description

How often do you see a headline read that a trusted authority figure has been in an “inappropriate relationship” with a minor? These are not “relationships” but instead abuse that begins with grooming. “Grooming 101 - A Predator’s Playbook” is done by Michelle Denault from her dual lens of educator abuse survivor and superintendent's wife. Michelle weaves her story in as she breaks down each step of grooming. This allows participants to see through the lens of a survivor how predators use a child's natural want for love to manipulate them into consenting to their own violation. It also helps them see why bystanders often place blame back on the victim instead of where it belongs. Michelle then incorporates her lens as an administrator’s wife to show how lack of training and societal misconceptions can often cause people to fail children in their care. These failures have lifelong consequences for our children, create lasting divisions between our schools and communities, and can cause massive financial fallout for our institutions.

Course Objectives

1. At the end of the presentation, participants will be able to identify grooming as it is outlined in Faith's and Erin’s Law which now mandates training for all schools on such behaviors.

2. At the end of the presentation, participants will be able to compare normal mentoring behaviors with classic predatory behaviors and recognize the difference between the two interactions.

3. At the end of the presentation, participants will be able to apply the knowledge they now have on grooming to implement better and clearer policies and procedures on the boundaries of professional conduct. 

4. At the end of the presentation, participants will be able to evaluate situations where professional boundaries may have been crossed and feel more confident in their decision to issue a discipline to an employee, as well as feel better prepared to support survivors.