Prevention Through Bystander Intervention
Ali Martin Scoufield | September 22 | 10:10 - 11:10 AM | Room 2582
Power-based personal violence is not an individual problem; it’s a community concern. Bystander intervention re-frames the focus of prevention; it calls on all of us to make choices that could make a difference in the lives of others. Many know of active bystanders – most recently personified in Carl-Fredrik Arndt and Peter Jonsson – but knowing of them and knowing how to make similar choices are two very different things. This session will be an interactive workshop demonstrating the relevance of bystander intervention as a means of prevention around power-based personal violence including sexual assault, stalking, intimate partner violence, and sexual exploitation. Participants will outline obstacles and barriers to intervention, practice safe methods of intervention recognizing those barriers, and discuss observable behaviors that may call for intervention. Participants will also share proactive and reactive means of intervention. Violence in any form is unacceptable. As active bystanders, we have the opportunity to change the culture around violence so that everyone knows it is unacceptable.