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Overview:
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Uses a community of responsibility model to
teach bystanders how to intervene safely and effectively in cases where sexual
assault may be occurring or where there may be risk. |
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Conducted in groups with a team of one male and
one female peer facilitator who provide an active learning environment. |
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Evaluated with both a one-session curriculum
and a multi-session version on the campus of the University of New Hampshire
with results demonstrating the efficacy of this program for increasing
participants’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviors about effective
responses to relationship and sexual violence. |
Learning Objectives:
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Develop skills for both direct
and indirect intervention while keeping bystander’s own safety
in mind. |
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Increase knowledge and awareness of scope
and causes of relationship and sexual violence. |
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Increase sense of responsibility for creating
change in one’s
community related to sexual violence and commit to playing a role
in decreasing relationship and sexual violence. |
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Increase recognition of inappropriate behavior along the continuum of sexual and relationship and sexual violence and how to respond to it safely and appropriately. |
Brief Description of Program Components:
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Gradual introduction to the
notion of bystander responsibility including examining issues relating
to sense of community membership and participants’ own experiences
with bystander behavior. |
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Use of local community examples as much
as possible including local statistics about the prevalence of
relationship and sexual violence. |
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Active learning exercises to raise awareness of
the continuum of relationship and sexual violence, its causes and
impact on victims. |
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Discussion and practice of a range of active,
potentially helpful bystander behaviors as well as the costs and
benefits of different behaviors. |
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Discussion of importance of personal safety and
presentation of community resources. |
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Bystander pledge to increase commitment to intervene. |
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"ABC" card – Active Bystanders
Care (Assess the situation. Be with others. Care for the victim)
with relevant information and resources. |
Based on founding work on bystander-focused prevention by Jackson Katz (Mentors in Violence Prevention program), Alan Berkowitz, and John Foubert (One in Four programs), the Bringing in the Bystander curriculum approaches both women and men as potential bystanders or witnesses to risky behaviors related to sexual violence around them.
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