The Green Dot Safety Program, a bystander intervention initiative, has been a presence on the University of Idaho’s campus since 2014. Their objective is to train students, staff and faculty to take action as bystanders by noticing and preventing domestic violence, sexual violence and stalking in their local communities to create a safer environment for everyone.
“(Green Dot is) a violence prevention program that really focuses on culture change, and knowing that no one has to do everything, but everyone has to do something,” Amanda Ferstead, the Mental Health Promotion Program Coordinator for Student Health Services and Green Dot training facilitator, said. “If we work together, we can make it clear that violence is not tolerated and everyone is expected to do their part.”
Green Dot normally holds several 90-minute training sessions as well as several longer-term workshops per semester for students, staff and faculty to participate in and learn how to be an active bystander.
However, COVID-19 guidelines have made it to where all training sessions are held online.
Students can register for virtual workshops by visiting Green Dot’s page on UI’s website and navigating to the “sign up for training” tab. Participants must submit their first and last name, email, optional relevant organization and year in school. From there, a selection of available times is listed.
During these sessions, trained facilitators consisting of UI students, staff and faculty share stories of unsafe, violent situations and inform participants about how to be active bystanders through interactive workshops. These workshops are open to specific staff and faculty groups, Residence Hall Association members, Family and Consumer Science students and Greek Life affiliates to name a fraction of specific groups.
“Really, it’s about having conversations with folks about things like ‘what is Green Dot?’ and what does that mean, as well as … (looking) at what barriers we may have as an active bystander, and how we find something that works for us within our barriers,” Ferstead said.
Participants are informed on the difference between a Green Dot and a red dot, as well as the “3 D’s” that an active bystander can choose to do.
Green dots are categorized into reactive and proactive responses.
According to Green Dot’s information page, a reactive green dot is “The choices you make in response to a situation that you think might be a high risk or might eventually lead to a red dot.”
These choices made in response may relate to the “3 D’s,” being direct, delegate and distract.
A “direct” green dot is often done by having a bystander directly confront an unsafe situation of violence, usually by engaging in a conversation with the perpetrator or the victim of the violence that is happening.
A “delegate” green dot is when a bystander delegates responsibility to another individual or party that may be better suited to handle the situation. This could include calling the police or recruiting help from others that may be at the scene.
A “distract” green dot occurs when a bystander creates a diversion to distract attention, often from the perpetrator, from continuing the unsafe or violent behavior. This can also be used to diffuse the tension of a situation by changing the center of attention to something else.
A proactive green dot is described as “Little things you can do to make it less likely red dots will ever happen by shifting norms about getting involved,” according to their information page.
These ‘little things’ include registering for Green Dot training, encouraging others to sign up or generally spreading information through social media or word of mouth about positive bystander responses to potential circumstances of violence.
A red dot, on the other hand, according to their information page is “a decision to inflict power-based personal violence or harm on someone else.”
This can include physically coercing or purposely intoxicating someone to gain control or sending threatening or manipulating text messages, among other things, according to Emilie McLarnan, the Associate Director of Violence Prevention for the Dean of Students and the main project coordinator for Green Dot.
“I think most people have that gut feeling of (seeing) something going on and it looks like somebody who’s not safe or that something sketchy is going on … we want students to, you know, relish that gut feeling and then do something about it, while keeping themselves safe,” Mclarnan said.
Physically or verbally engaging with someone in a violent manner, often in public, committing forms of domestic or sexual abuse and stalking are all forms of red dots to be aware of as active bystanders, as said by Leslie Jimenez, a fifth-year studying marketing and advertising.
Jimenez is a student staff member in charge of managing Green Dot’s social media and online marketing presence. She has participated in Green Dot training in the past and decided to take on a social media and marketing position due to her fields of study and her experience working with McLarnan, as well as other facilitators and participants.
“ It really comes down to how everything really impacts us, knowing somebody and not being able to help them… (it) just feels so horrible,” Jimenez said. “I feel like this program definitely gave me resources to at least help with whenever I can.”
Jimenez’s position will be available upon her graduation this May. Students should keep in mind that this position is open to students studying any major, but should be filled by someone with design experience, social media savviness and enthusiasm about Green Dot and the prevention of violence on campus, according to Mclarnan in an email.
Sean McIlraith, the Administrative Coordinator for UI Athletics, is one of the training session facilitators involved with Green Dot. McIlraith went through Green Dot training as a staff member involved in an area of campus not often thought of when it comes to violence prevention programs.
“One of our number one responsibilities is to look out for our students,” McIlraith said. “If we all go through this program, we’ll learn those applicable ways where we can look out for students and each other in general.”
This initiative was supported by McLarnan, wanting to reach out to as many divisions of campus as possible.
“It’s been great to see the range of faculty and staff who have participated and who really want to learn what their role is in supporting students who are doing green dots, who are trying to make a positive change on campus in how they can best support students who may have already experienced violence in their lives,” Mclarnan said. “The response they get from their faculty and staff that support them is really important.”
McIlraith has collaborated with the Athletic Department to implement CHAMP, or Caring for the Health of student Athletes through Motivation and Preparation. This program encourages new Vandal athletes to participate in the Green Dot program whether they are first-years or transfers, according to McIlraith.
“They get acclimated to campus and they get to go through something that the general student body is going through as well,” McIlraith said. “Returning students go through a refresher to hit home the little tidbits of the program as well, so I think that’s been really helpful.”
Although standard sessions have concluded for the semester, students are still able to get involved with Green Dot.
The Residence Hall Association will be sponsoring a 90-minute Green Dot workshop on Wednesday, March 31. This event will be held virtually at 6:30 p.m. Pacific Standard Time and can be registered for at this link. If students register before 3:00 p.m. on March 31, they are eligible to receive both Green Dot and RHA prizes.
“Every person on our campus has a role to play in preventing assault, harassment and interpersonal violence,” an email sent out by RHA stated. “The Vandal Green Dot Bystander Intervention program will give you the skills and tools to assess and safely intervene in potentially unsafe situations.”
If individuals are interested in training but are not able to register for a scheduled slot, groups of at least 10 students can email Emilie Mclarnan at [email protected] or [email protected] to set up a personalized group training.
“We only need nine or 10 people to come together to participate in a workshop, so if people have a group of friends that they want to pull together, we would be happy to do that,” Mclarnan said.
Green Dot is partially supported by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare and is associated with several other resources that can provide support for victims of interpersonal violence, domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking.
“We didn’t have this program at the undergraduate institution that I went to, and I really could have used it,” Ferstead said. “This is something that is really valuable, just in your day-to-day life to help your friends, to help, potentially, yourself, and I’m really glad that students here have this opportunity.”
Reach out to UI’s Women’s Center, Counseling and Testing Center, Violence Prevention programs, Dean of Students office, Office of Multicultural Affairs, Vandal Health Education or Alternatives to Violence of the Palouse on the local level for more information and support.
Visit the National Domestic Violence Hotline for 24/7, confidential national service through phone or chat.
Katarina Hockema can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @katarina___h