Nearly 20 OTC students, faculty and staff attended a 6-hour training on Saturday, April 30 to earn their Green Dot Bystander Intervention Certification. Participants learned how to respond safely as a bystander to prevent imminent or potential acts of sexual or interpersonal violence on campus. This training session was the second training held at OTC and the first facilitated entirely by OTC faculty and staff.
As of today, more than 500 students, faculty and staff have received some form of Green Dot training.
“We are so proud of our students, faculty and staff for taking a stand against violence in our campus community,” said Samantha Crandall, TLC assistant director and Green Dot training facilitator. “Through Green Dot training, we are empowering our students to engage in behaviors that can reduce and ultimately prevent violent acts from occurring in their social circles.”
What is Green Dot?
Green Dot is a nationwide movement and comprehensive approach to violence prevention that uses student leaders to affect positive cultural change from within the student body. The model targets all community members as potential bystanders, and seeks to engage them in proactive behaviors that establish intolerance of violence as the norm, as well as reactive interventions in high-risk situations.
Green Dot specifically targets influential and respected individuals such as student leaders with the hope that they will integrate moments of prevention within existing relationships and daily activities.
The name of the program comes from the idea of turning “red dots” on a map marking incidents of violence into “green dots” of preventative actions.
Learn more about OTC’s Green Dot initiative here.
