Green Dot Bystander Intervention training and certification was completed recently by sixteen staff members from Maysville Community and Technical College. The training is focused on violence intervention and the certification will permit the staff to instruct students on the strategies employed by the program to intervene in active situations and to provide community tools to reduce the culture of violence.
Staff from Maysville Community and Technical College attended a virtual training program and received certification from Green Dot. Green Dot Bystander Intervention is a program that instructs people how to maintain safety in schools and communities, with a focus on preventing domestic violence and sexual assault. It is a national program, developed by University of Kentucky's Dr. Dorothy Edwards, that provides clear steps for bystanders to intervene in and prevent violence. It encourages community mobilization to curb domestic violence and sexual assault. Programs are available for elementary, middle, and high school students, as well as for college students and staff. MCTC staff that completed the training are now certified to conduct training. MCTC and local organizations and officials aim to reduce and prevent violence through implementation of this long-term strategy.
MCTC had sixteen staff members complete the four-day training program in October. The staff members received certification after learning about the four training modules included in the program. The first module provides an overview of the strategy and familiarizes attendees with terms and definitions. The second module teaches how to recognize behaviors commonly observed in incidents of domestic violence, making it easier to identify potentially dangerous situations. The third module identifies obstacles within bystanders that often prevent them from intervening. The fourth module emphasizes strategies to build skills and generate confidence to carry out the program in real life. The Green Dot Bystander Intervention Program emphasizes the three D's: direct, distract, and delegate. Participants learn how to engage directly with a potential perpetrator of violence, to distract in order to hopefully diffuse the situation, and to recognize when the situation needs to be delegated to another party, where the bystander reaches out for intervention from other bystanders or law enforcement.
A study conducted by University of Kentucky Professor Ann Coker shows that college campuses that have provided this training to staff see a significant reduction in cases of sexual and domestic violence reports. The MCTC staff that were certified are excited to share what they have learned with other staff members and with students. As faculty member Tina Curtis stated recently in a press release from MCTC, "To be a part of the Green Dot training was an amazing experience. Understanding that we can all use the strategies of direct, delegate or distract to diffuse a potentially violent situation is empowering. Thanks to this Green Dot certification, our students will get to take part in the Green Dot bystander intervention training." Another staff member, Jacob Wolfe, emphasized the way the program empowers the community to collaborate to reduce violence, "It focuses on bystander intervention and shows people that no one expects you to do everything, but everyone needs to do something. I'm proud to be a part of this great initiative."
The implementation of this violence prevention strategy was made possible in part by a 2019 grant that allowed MTCT to work with local law enforcement and the Women's Crisis Center of Mayville. An overarching goal of the program is to not only intervene in potentially violent situations, but to create a community atmosphere that normalizes behavior that has been shown to be incompatible with violence. This strategy lays the groundwork for permanently reducing domestic and sexual violence.