Anti-Bully and Youth Violence Prevention Association

 Introduction

 Violence and bullying have no place in Manitoba society. It’s time for action.

 Bullying and youth violence exists everywhere, in our communities, homes, schools, sporting events and workplaces. They attack 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

 Bullies do not restrict themselves to school or school hours. In fact school makes up less than half of the bullying that takes place today. The only reason school appears to be the biggest problem is due to the large concentration of kids and the abundance of witnesses. Plus there is the predictability of when and where the victim is going to be. This allows the bully to plan when and where to attack and how to avoid detection.  Bullies try to simply blend in to the crowd and become invisible to everyone but the victim, however other can usually spot the bullies.

 Kids learn to bully by the age of 3 so it is obvious that bullying doesn’t start in school. In fact, there are many adults that not only support bullying, but are bullies themselves and use their knowledge about bullying to teach and train the children. These adults can occupy positions of authority and even run daycares. These adults teach the children (by example) how to be bullies.

 Bullying is difficult to address because bullies cross over jurisdictional lines. They bully wherever they find a suitable target. Government agencies and levels usually put more effort in shirking their responsibility than addressing the problem. When it is discovered that the bullies are popular bullies, politicians and beauracrats will support and encourage bullying to further their careers. Each government department or level will try to blame someone else and send the victim and family on a wild goose chase trying to get help. This plays right into the bully’s hands and they take great advantage of this.

 Central command post

 People need a place to go where they won’t get turned away, judged or threatened, an agency that specializes in dealing with these issues. The province needs a single, cross-sector entity that will provide for province wide leadership and cross-ministry education and awareness about bully prevention program strategies.

 “Anti-Bully and Youth Violence Prevention Association (ABA)”; this association would act as the command center of the province. It would provide the expertise to the families of bully victims that is missing today. How this association is created would be critical to its success. First and most important, it would have to be an arms length organization and NOT controllable by the government. If it had to answer to the government, it would immediately become just another fake organization used by the government to further political interests and give the illusion of action against bullying (see Politics and Bullying). No single entity whether that’s an individual family, a school, a community, or the provincial government can solve this problem alone. Solutions to youth violence and bullying must be found together. This association would be the starting point and help organize the effort needed to tackle the problem.

 The core of this organization would be a staff that is chosen for their extensive knowledge of bullying and their proven commitment to stop it. Extensive testing would be required to prevent adult bullies from infiltrating the organization with the intent to sabotage its efforts. Each candidate would have to prove that they not only are against bullying, but that they have taken steps to both prevent and stop it. They have to prove that they are innovators that can see things through the eyes of the victim (target?) instead of just their own. The core structure would consist of the administration, investigation branch, anti-bully trainers, school information specialists, community information specialists and workplace information specialists. These people would recognize that solving this problem starts by helping each individual child and family and not just helping the majority of people by sacrificing the victims.

 In addition to the core structure, there would be volunteer groups. While this part of the organization would change constantly, the main groups would be from schools and school districts, communities and workplaces. These groups would be made up of ordinary citizens that are concerned about safety and the prevention of bullying.

 Just a few of the functions of this Association;

1. Create a common definition of bullying as a guideline for all organizations to use as a starting point and not just for schools.

2. Provide a one stop shop for parents of bully victims so they don’t have to deal with the frustration of being sent from agency to agency.

3. Clearly define what a bully investigation will consist of and what the victim can expect.

4. Provide counseling and contact information for victims so they know who to call should the bullying escalate due to reprisals or help from local government agencies.

5. Provide communities and schools the minimum guidelines they are required to implement to prevent bullying and youth violence.

6. Recommend and define penalties applied to government agencies that fail to be proactive against bullying.

7. Initiate investigations if signs of community bullying become apparent and provide immediate relief by involving investigators and mediators to defuse any potential problems.

8. Establish a Community Incentive Program to support the development of local actions

9. Establish clear guidelines for information sharing among frontline responders to family violence and bullying

10, Make specialized services and supports available and accessible to people who have experienced bullying, youth violence.

 These are just a few of the functions of this organization. More would be added as the needs arise.

 Awareness campaign

 To get the message out that this organization exists, a campaign would be initiated to let the public know they exist and are here to help. Brochures, documentation and information would be provided through local agencies, and a web site would be created that contains information and guidelines. In every school and community, groups would be created to act as a local contact point for people looking for help. Every member of the community would be invited to meet with representatives of the ABA to discuss community issues. Personal one on one meetings could be arranged to discuss personal experiences with bullies in the community. A brochure would be included with every property tax bill to inform home owners of their rights and who to contact if those rights were violated.

 Young people would play a very large role in the awareness campaign and would help create the type of programs needed in both our schools and communities to make things better.

 Power of prevention

 Experts agree that the best way to cure bullying is to prevent it in the first place. And that requires recognizing it, understanding it and acknowledging it as a problem. Sometimes, it’s just a case of a teacher, police officer, councilors or other authority figure observing a problem and confronting it. There must be an emphasis on proactive initiatives - those that deal with the root causes of violence. Strategies must therefore place a priority on prevention and early intervention. Strong involvement of the corporate community, service clubs and community groups is essential. Individual commitment will be crucial. Preventing violence in our society is everybody’s business.

 Violence and bullying is everyone’s problem.

 We need to repeat and reinforce an important message that family violence and bullying are not someone else’s responsibility. It’s only through comprehensive action by communities, governments, agencies and organizations, Aboriginal peoples, businesses, faith communities, cultural groups, and individual Manitobans that we can succeed in preventing family violence and bullying. It is important to develop strategies for early childhood and school age development for our communities, parents and young people. This is society’s best chance to effect positive change and influence the power and control behaviors that perpetuate family violence and bullying across generations.