April is sexual assault awareness month. In honor of that, a bystander training was hosted by LBCC’s student affairs and healthy vikings department.
The invited guest speakers were from the Interval House and they conducted a virtual presentation on April 16.
Interval House is a violence agency that supports and runs a shelter for victims who have encountered domestic violence. The services and programs provided by Interval House are; call hotlines, community service centers, crisis shelters, counseling, and more.
Founded in the year of 1979, Interval House has dedicated their hard work to provide programs and many services to the victims of domestic violence.
Lorena Ponce, Courtney Taylor, Brain To, Lydia Henderson, Shirley Valverade, Dulce Mendez, and Thibault Martin are staff members from the Interval House who presented the bystander training.
“Interval House is a great resource for anybody who has experienced domestic violence, and the neat thing about our hotline is that we offer 70 different languages in assistance,” said Ponce.
Ponce said, “I feel very fortunate for the assistance I have received for many years, and I want to be able to help others who are going through domestic violence, because it is fine to need and want the help.”
The first activity was introduced by To. The activity was to imagine a scene where someone is a bystander and does absolutely nothing while a random woman in your life is being attacked and robbed by a man.
“How would you feel seeing your mom, sister, grandma or whatever women you thought about being attacked by a robber?” said To. Many of LBCC participants responded and participated by answering the question in the chat with words like; frustrated, mad, sad, helpless, furious and more.
A bystander is an individual who witnesses some type of criminal event or an emergency. As a bystander you have options; do nothing, contribute to any of the negative behaviors and actions, or provide some assistance.
Some of the ways someone can be an effective bystander is; making eye contact with the person being yelled at to let them know you see what’s going on, use body language and facial expressions to convey a message or concern, interrupt the behavior going on, publicly support the victimized person in the incident or you can report the incident.
“Please always remember that a helpful bystander can save a life,” said Martin.
Bystanders are able to broaden support systems for survivors, research shows that positive social support in the aftermath of any trauma can promote resilience, and recovery.
In closing of the workshop, Valverade wanted people to know there is great value in being a bystander.
The Interval House hotlines are available 7 days a week and 24 hours a day and be reached by calling 562-594-4555.