Bystander intervention

Photo: Allison Shelley/The Washington Post

Active Bystanders: Learn to stand up for others

Are you concerned for those who face hate speech and violence? Unsure how to respond if you witness verbal or physical hate?

We all have opportunities to interrupt potentially harmful situations. And we all have concerns that can prevent us from stepping up. We may fear for own safety, worry about being embarrassed, think it’s not our business, be afraid of escalating the situation, or something else.

Skills are the antidote to those concerns. In our training, you’ll develop skills to assess a situation and choose a response. We teach creative strategies for responding to harassment and ways to de-escalate aggressive behavior.

In our workshops, you’ll engage in hands-on practice that builds on what you already know. We focus on:

A social-justice framework for understanding the role of bystanders in interrupting oppression
Reasons to intervene when you see a problem, and reasons not to
Overcoming barriers to intervening
The 5 Steps of bystander intervention
4 Tools for intervening
And lots of practice!

When you leave the training, you’ll be more able to overcome the barriers to stepping up and have practical skills for doing so.

We believe in building a culture of active bystanders through whose actions we reduce verbal and physical violence and oppression, while promoting community and respect.

Get trained and equip yourself with ways you can play a role in stopping harassment and violence.

Defend Yourself has more than 20 years of experience training some 25,000 people in protecting themselves against harassment and abuse and in training people to defend others.

Want to learn more? Contact us to gain skills you’ll use for the rest of your life.

Want to know what a Defend Yourself

bystander intervention training is like?

Read all about it here,

in the Washington Post!

What people are saying

After seeing a verbal assault on the Metro, one student took steps to deescalate the situation, and told us: “Really grateful for your training!”

“After this class, give myself permission to speak up, I have plans of action, and feel confident to engage.”

“Inspiring! She makes me feel comfortable addressing scary & uncomfortable situations.”

“After taking the bystander intervention class, I feel a lot more confident that I could deescalate a dangerous situation.”

“I feel more safe and proud when I walk down the street. When I see a potentially unsafe situation up ahead, instead of just getting nervous, I can make a plan.”

“It’s apparent that you’re genuinely concerned about each student learning the techniques and becoming more confident in verbal confrontations. It’s nice to be the recipient of that level of dedication.”