VPA’s – Violence Prevention Agents
Training Students to become Upstanders
4th – 12th Grades
For far too many students, school is a place where cruelty is the norm and bullying is an accepted behavior. Current youth development research shows that when students work in partnership w/adults to solve challenging problems, amazing things happen. Students see, hear, and know things adults don’t and can intervene in ways adults can’t. By learning de-escalating communication tools and savvy intervention skills, students can reduce/stop bullying, intimidation, and harassment. If 25 ”VPA’s” intervene in one potentially hurtful situation each day, that is 125 interventions per week, or 5000 interventions in a school year. This training will help youth to build positive peer culture, positive social norms, and a supportive school environment for all. By the end of this workshop, students will be able to:
- Identify and assess their bullying concerns
- Adopt a strong, but caring stance against the “code of silence”
- Practice de-escalating tools and kid-friendly intervention strategies for on-the-spot bullying episodes
- Discover “shame-free” zones where bullying and teasing is not taking place
- Learn classroom activities/lessons that can be implemented in any school setting
- Practice simulated peer pressure reversal scenarios
- Experience interactive, lively vignettes and real-life scenarios that can successfully confront bullying behaviors
- Teach and equip other students with the skills learned in this workshop
- Learn safety tips and proper netiquette for navigating social networking sites and free apps
- Sign agreements for promoting internet safety.