Everyone has a duty and a responsibility to intervene if they see harm occurring or about to occur. Bystanders are anyone in the ºìÐÓÊÓƵ that sees or hears about a behavior that could lead to something harmful. Through their action, bystanders have the ability to prevent harm from occurring. All bystanders have a choice to make, to intervene or to move forward without trying to stop the situation. There are 5 steps to bystander intervention. First, a person must notice the event. Second, they must interpret it as a situation that needs intervention. Third, they must assume responsibility to intervene. Fourth, they must decide how to intervene. And last, they must act. A person may experience barriers at any of these steps that make it so that a person does not intervene should they witness an instance of harm.
Bystanders can act to prevent harm in a number of ways. ºìÐÓÊÓƵ College has adopted the Green Dot program as a way to teach about violence prevention. Green Dot empowers every ºìÐÓÊÓƵ member to take small actions in order to foster a culture where violence and harm towards members of our ºìÐÓÊÓƵ are not tolerated. Red dots are actions that people choose to do that can result in harm to other individuals. While, green dots are actions that people take to prevent harm from occurring.