Click on a class or seminar within each package below for more information
PEER INTERVENTIONS |
ACTIVIST COURSE |
Peer Interventions. Students are often asked to be “good bystanders” and intervene when they see bullying and cruelty among their peers. However motivated a student may be to do so, they often may not because issues of fear for their safety or reputation come into play or because they are unsure of how to approach it. In this package, students learn the basics of avoiding being a target for violence and positive body language; learn about the dynamics of control that are at play in bullying and manipulation; explore the roots of violence so that they can see across differences to the fact that it is not simply a bad person who may say or do cruel things, but a part of larger societal ill that needs to be addressed at its root – language and “minor” issues like jokes that just don’t feel right. We then do verbal scenarios so that students can practice strategies for intervening when they see something happen at school or with their peers. Includes:
Personal Safety 101 teaches what an assailant is looking for and how to avoid being that target by teaching awareness skills, body language, and using one’s voice to prevent or stop an assault. We address how our socialization and media images affect how we react in threatening or dangerous situations. Students have an opportunity to question safety information they have received in the past to discover whether it is relevant or effective.
•The Roots of Violence Seminar
People are assaulted differently based on the way that they are perceived. These perceptions are based on cultural legacies around factors like gender, race, and class. This seminar explores the link between casual use of derogatory language and hate-crimes like gay-bashing or domestic violence. Participants in this seminar identify how the use of this kind of language serves to socialize the behavior of the group or culture they belong to and how this socialization limits personal expression and encourages the continuation of institutional oppression.
•Harassment & Bullying 101 Seminar
Participants learn about the manifestations of manipulation and control that often affect interactions at school. We look deeper into why people try to control or punish others through manipulation. Participants examine the ways in which they use manipulation. The group identifies when it is appropriate to have a conversation and when to depend on subtle cues.
•3-5-Hour Experiential Verbal and/or Verbal & Physical Intervention Workshop
Participants learn practice a variety of concrete communication skills in realistic role-play scenarios with in-the-moment feedback. Participants learn effective body language and verbal skills to set boundaries appropriately, using strategies such as humanizing, empathizing, de-escalating, etc. These verbal techniques are put to use in intervention situations. In a longer class, participants learn how to stand up for themselves and other physically, which can profoundly change the efficacy of their tone, body language, and verbal skills in interventions.
Activist Course. Many adults have the pleasure of leading young people who are very motivated by a sense of justice and want to make the world a better place. These classes help give these students a framework for changing the world they live in by educating them about the larger forces at play when discussing violence and injustice, exploring choices and consequences by examining media portrayal and real-life consequences, looking at a proactive way of avoiding some types of sexual assault, understanding positive and negative dynamics of relationships and how to help someone they know in an abusive relationship, and finally verbal skills to advocate for themselves and others in the world. Since physical safety is one of the top concerns for people in the decision of whether bystanders intervene in situations, schools often elect to offer physical skills as a part of this course to address that concern as well as to boost the student’s presentation overall by having experienced his/her own power. Includes:
Personal Safety 101 teaches what an assailant is looking for and how to avoid being that target by teaching awareness skills, body language, and using one’s voice to prevent or stop an assault. We address how our socialization and media images affect how we react in threatening or dangerous situations. Students have an opportunity to question safety information they have received in the past to discover whether it is relevant or effective.
•The Roots of Violence Seminar
People are assaulted differently based on the way that they are perceived. These perceptions are based on cultural legacies around factors like gender, race, and class. This seminar explores the link between casual use of derogatory language and hate-crimes like gay-bashing or domestic violence. Participants in this seminar identify how the use of this kind of language serves to socialize the behavior of the group or culture they belong to and how this socialization limits personal expression and encourages the continuation of institutional oppression.
Participants analyze popular images (newsprint, TV, songs, movies, etc) that portray boundary-setting, personal safety, or self-defense to understand the perspective and bias of the media and to better understand the factors of the incidents themselves. We use the media as a tool to identify the choices we have to make around interpersonal relationships.
Participants gain an expanded sense of how to deal with dangerous or complicated situations. They come to see that by making smaller decisions early on, they can avoid increasingly uncomfortable or dangerous situations later. Participants often feel safer by learning that the media usually portrays the most extreme cases of violence, and that they already have skills to avoid the most common situations.
We define consent as follows: the act of willingly and verbally agreeing to engage in specific sexual conduct. We shift the idea of consent from “not saying ‘no’” to saying “yes.” Instructors give examples of this principle in real-life scenarios and teach phasing so that participants are empowered with skills to ensure they have the fully consenting partner they want to have. As a result of the workshop, participants have improved self-reflection and self-awareness so that they are better able to actively, verbally stop a situation they do not want. Some of the key concepts addressed are that: consent is verbal; obtaining consent is an on-going process in any sexual interaction; and if someone is under the influence of drugs or alcohol, they are not able to give consent. The seminar can be modified to be appropriate for students who are not yet sexually active (i.e. consent for hand holding, kissing, etc.)
•Healthy Relationships Seminar
This seminar examines the behaviors that constitute healthy and unhealthy, or abusive, relationships. We begin with interactive activity to understand the progression along the increasingly controlling and abusive spectrum of domestic violence. Students learn early signs of domestic violence and discuss personal boundaries and choices they make with “lower level” domestic violence. The discussion then turns to healthy relationships and helps the students determine what healthy relationships might look like, and which aspects are particularly valuable for each participant personally.
•3-5-Hour Experiential Verbal and/or Verbal & Physical Intervention Workshop
Participants learn practice a variety of concrete communication skills in realistic role-play scenarios with in-the-moment feedback. Participants learn effective body language and verbal skills to set boundaries appropriately, using strategies such as humanizing, empathizing, de-escalating, etc. These verbal techniques are put to use in intervention situations. In a longer class, participants learn how to stand up for themselves and other physically, which can profoundly change the efficacy of their tone, body language, and verbal skills in interventions.
