Bystander Prevention Training at the EMEPA

The Wesley House and the Care Lodge came together, for bystander prevention training.

“So not looking like a deer stuck in the headlights, we are wanting to actively engage in preventing violence from happening in our community,"says Sara Smith the Care Lodge Community Coordinator. She says, “The green dot community bystander training, is just that. We are educating the community on what it looks like to be a positive bystander. We are here to educate on how to do that. Directly, distracting somebody, or delegating the responsibility to somebody who is more equipped to handle the situation.”

Deidra Stewart, a Wesley House therapist says, It was a joint effort among the two organizations, to spread the word.

“Well care lodge of coarse does domestic violence, and we do child abuse and sexual assault awareness. So, just really coming together to do this training because, this training actually hints on child abuse, sexual assault, stalking, and domestic violence. So, us together is able to get this out to the community”

“We are really good about getting the word out when something is going on in the community, but we need some improvement on doing something good to change it. So, today we are talking about one small thing we can do to make a difference in our community. Instead of tweeting the violence, or posting the violence on facebook, we can actually do something proactive and call the authorities.”