Cornell University's "Intervene" Bystander Intervention Campaign and Video

In 2016, Skornton Center for Health Initiatives at Cornell University produced "Intervene", a bystander intervention video and training workshop materials, and has made the content available online for free.  A facilitator discussion slide deck is also available, to allow anyone to facilitate a workshop using the video.  The campaign won a Best Practices award for Health Promotion and Education from the American College Health Association in 2018.

Here are Cornell's description of the video and the workshop:

    Video: The online 20-minute video Intervene includes brief filmed scenarios demonstrating ways in which student bystanders can successfully intervene in problematic situations. Seven different situations are addressed, including sexual assault, sexual harassment, intimate partner violence (emotional abuse), hazing, alcohol emergency, emotional distress, and bias.

    Workshop: An in-person 60-minute workshop provides an opportunity for students to view the video with others and engage in a facilitated conversation to reflect upon the attitudes and behaviors that influence the process of intervening as an individual or with assistance. 

And here are the primary links to the Intervene content:

- Project landing page
- The 20-minute video on Vimeo, also viewable at the main project site
- Program overview one-pager (PDF)
- Facilitator's guide (.pptx / Powerpoint format)

"Bystander Intervention Helps Prevent Sexual Assault in High Schools" - Teen Vogue article

This article was originally published in March 2017, but it's been making the rounds again more recently.  A few extracts below.

---------------------------------------------------

In 2010, the same year he became principal of J. M. Atherton High School in Louisville, Kentucky, Thomas Aberli agreed to let his students take part in something called Green Dot... Students are taught the “three Ds” of bystander intervention: direct, delegate, and distract.

[...]  In the largest and longest study of its kind, researchers studied 26 Kentucky high schools over five years. Half of the schools used the Green Dot program, and half did not offer any bystander intervention training. They found that by years three and four of the study, victimization rates were about 12% lower in schools that offered the Green Dot program than in those that did not. That translated to 120 fewer incidents of sexual violence in the third year of the study and 88 fewer in the fourth year.

(Article continues here)

AFSC releases recording of its bystander intervention training webinar

The American Friends Service Committee held an online bystander intervention training webinar on Nov. 16, 2017, and recently posted a recording of the entire training online.  The full video is 80 minutes.  From the AFSC training page:

Watch a recording of our Nov. 16th "Bystander Intervention" webinar. Learn how to intervene in public instances of racist, anti-Black, anti-Muslim, anti-Trans, and other forms of oppressive interpersonal violence and harassment.

We'll explore "do's and don'ts" of bystander intervention and consider scenarios and how to respond effectively taking the lead from the person being harassed. Learn not only how to intervene on the streets, but how to teach and train others on these methods.
Presented by Lucy Duncan, AFSC director of Friends Relations. This webinar is part of our Sanctuary Everywhere Live! webinar series.

AFSC's page also has the slide deck used during the training.  Here's the link to the webinar landing page:  www.afsc.org/video/webinar-recording-bystander-intervention-training

Bystander Intervention training included in new Sexual Assault Training for International Students

Extracted from the press release.  Here's a link to the web page where schools can order the training program.

International Student Insurance and RAINN Announce Sexual Assault Training Program for International Students

International Student Insurance (ISI) is proud to announce the release of its multi-media sexual assault training program for schools in the USA. ISI partnered with the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization to develop this engaging training session on sexual assault awareness for international students. This free resource includes discussions about consent, bystander intervention, staying safe, what to do in the event of an incident, and protections from both law enforcement and their school.  [...]

SPLC on Campus releases "A Guide to Bystander Intervention"

The Southern Poverty Law Center's "SPLC on Campus" initiative has released a new Guide to Bystander Intervention, available directly online as a web page and as a 12-page downloadable PDF.  The guide's acknowledgments section credits anti-harassment organization Hollaback! for earlier drafts.  The guide focuses on the "5 D's" of Direct, Distract, Delegate, Delay, and Document, which is a broader set of choices than some bystander intervention trainings that place the emphasis on ignoring the harasser and interacting only with the target.

From the guide's introduction:

It’s understandable that people can feel immobilized and afraid when faced with these situations. There’s no need, however, to feel helpless. We can all find a way to safely take action that makes a difference. This guide provides those steps. It also examines how to prepare before you encounter such situations. As this guide makes clear, a little preparation can help you find a way to let someone know they are not alone and public harassment will not be tolerated.

From NPR: Boston Launches Anti-Islamophobia Poster Campaign

The city of Boston is using the well-known illustrated one-pager by Maeril in an anti-Islamophobia poster campaign.  Extracted from the full NPR article published on July 18, 2017:

The city of Boston is launching a poster campaign to fight Islamophobia by encouraging bystanders to intervene, in a nonconfrontational way, if they witness anti-Muslim harassment.

Starting Monday, the city began installing 50 posters around the city with advice on what to do if you see Islamophobic behavior. The posters recommend sitting by a victim of harassment and talking with them about a neutral subject while ignoring the harasser.

Below is the customized (and slightly simplified) version of the original Maeril graphic that the city is using.  Click it to enlarge.

Welcome to the Bystander Intervention blog

Bystander Intervention is a family of easy-to-use, nonviolent principles and tactics that anyone can use to de-escalate incidents of hate speech and harassment, particularly incidents in which a member of a minority community is targeted in a public space.

We can think of bystander intervention as a basic set of skills that everyone should learn, just as we all learn how to tie our shoes or drive a car.

This lightweight blog is the sister site to the Bystander Intervention Resources pages.  Together, the resources pages and the blog form a collection of information and pointers to US-based training in, and resources related to Bystander Intervention.

Individual resource pages:

- How and where you can receive training in bystander intervention

- Resources and links

- Bystander intervention FAQ

If you'd like to direct people to this blog, note the hyphen in the name:
bystander-intervention.blogspot.com

If your organization is US-based and offers Bystander Intervention training, be sure to fill out our lightweight web form to get your organization added to our public database of trainers.