Green Dot training aimed at ending violence on college campuses

By Matthew Levine ’17

Earlier this month, 22 Salve Regina faculty and staff members participated in a four-day training session with Green Dot, a bystander intervention strategy program aimed at ending violence on college campuses and communities.

Green Dot is specifically aimed at ending sexual violence and domestic/dating violence. The 22 participants were trained as Green Dot facilitators and can now pass their knowledge along to other members of the Salve Regina community.

“Students will benefit from the training by learning specific strategies for safely intervening if they witness a circumstance in which someone is at risk of getting hurt – through words, bullying or direct violence,” said Dr. Barbara LoMonaco, vice president for student affairs, who participated in the training. “For instance, students could help by creating a distraction, calling someone else to intervene or checking in on someone to see if they are safe.”

Green Dot was founded by Dorothy Edwards, who developed the program as a more proactive, educational way to tackle all types of violence, mainly on college campuses. Taken from the Green Dot website, Edwards writes: “The story of Green Dot is one thread of many burgeoning around the country, fueled by the same impatient insistence: This violence has got to stop.”

Faculty and staff who have completed the training will have the tools to teach the Salve Regina community the Green Dot curriculum. As time goes on, training sessions will be offered to students, who will then be equipped to intervene on behalf of others.

For more information on the Green Dot program, visit livethegreendot.com.