Steps to a Bystanders Workshop
Everything you need to know

Intervening workshops and performances specialize in imparting knowledge, experience and tools in the professional field of the side effect model that is the client model from the field of social psychology.

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Each workshop or performance delivered by the Interveners Association undergoes a series of pilots and approvals by experts and authorities from the fields of mental health, communication, pedagogy and standing in front of an audience.

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The family of intervening workshops includes:

• The "classic" workshop adapted to a diverse audience. This workshop is a basic workshop to which a number of workshops can be added as part of an array.

• Office-adapted workshop - StandBy - Bystander Impact Training .

• An "educational" workshop at different levels and for different ages, intended for students, year of service students and pre-military preparatory courses, and for high school students in grades 11-12.

Each intervening workshop is built according to the specific target audience following instructions from its hosts.

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Vision intervene

Our vision for the prevention of sexual harassment focuses on the third factor, the bystander. According to surveys by the Association of Centers for Victims of Sexual Assault in Israel, as of 2019, 76% of all complaints of sexual harassment per year occur in public or shared spaces when it is reported that there are other people besides the harasser and the harasser in the area.  Of all the cases in which there are bystanders, in 80% of the cases no effect of the bystanders occurs before / during / after the disturbing situation. Similar data exist in almost every Western country.  An alarming phenomenon can be found in the work environment where on average more than 60% of employees and employers of all levels indicate that they experience harassment.  

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The side viewer population is large and it basically includes us all. This population has behavior, there are barriers to behavior, there are concerns and there are common values. In our opinion, this population is the key to changing reality and a real revolution in the picture of sexual harassment in Israel and around the world. Interveners' values are based on belief in the person, bottom-up influence, positivity and creativity.

Contents of the workshops

Intervention workshops convey a combined experience of play and simulations to the viewer from the side that creates awareness, is able to identify distress, take responsibility for the public space and acquire tools and confidence that may help prevent the next harassment. Effective influence must never be expressed in actual intervention. Intervention workshops generally advocate: "see, hear, prevent" and accustom the audience to the face that can help prevent a disturbing situation before it occurs, can be influenced in a smart way while  Its occurrence and it is certainly possible to help the troubled person after the occurrence with sincere support.

The workshop variation is delivered to groups (up to 20 people in the base structure) who go through a process in front of a facilitator and actors who simulate scenarios of "sexual harassment" and "sexual harassment provider" in the gray area in public and shared spaces. The audience practices being a bystander and is even invited to intervene in the situation. The uniqueness of our workshop is the focus on experiential, unmediated coping, which evokes action and gradually practices the intervention skills as bystanders and bystanders.  

The basic principles of the movement are based on empathy for the other, positivity and awareness of the environment. From these, a safer, more empowering and powerful environment can be created that does not allow harassment to exist as the norm. In fact, the very preoccupation with the subject from the point of view of the third factor already causes pre-act prevention and not only post-act assistance in dealing with an injury that has already occurred.

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The workshops and performances are intended for organizations and comply with the requirements of the law for training in the prevention of sexual harassment. The workshop focuses on the experience that the viewer goes through from the side, the difficulty in coping as a side viewer, along with the importance of taking an active step. Unlike horizontal solutions used by many organizations, such as web learners, the experience of the workshop is very personal, it is sensitive and it is aimed at a common sense of accomplishment to allow for a safer and more pleasant work space.  

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Variations of workshops or performances

As mentioned, the workshops are delivered in groups of up to 20 participants in the basic variation, to allow for a discourse of attention and a gradual practice of involvement for the majority of the participants. Another variation exists for audiences of 50 to 100 people in a performance configuration. In addition, the Interveners Association offers the opportunity to have an effective experience of "Intervening Workshops"  Through street performances at festivals, conferences, and happenings.

You can request to deliver several workshops at the same time (a larger team will simply arrive) or several workshops one after the other.  

Each workshop is attended by, depending on the target audience, an actor and actress or an actress and actress facilitator.

How long?

The duration of the workshop is an hour and a half including a short break, in the basic version. After adapting the workshop to the audience, a longer or shorter workshop is possible.

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What is "gradual practice"?

The gradual practice process is managed, among other things, as follows:

• Dealing at first with the question "When did I recognize that there is already harassment here?", Recognizing that there are different lines for each and every one, processing the feelings of this difference.

• "What would I like to do and at what stage to get into the situation if at all?" Participants bring up in the discussion how and when they would and would like to intervene and then experiment (if they wish) with the actors repeating the scenario. 

• Full practice, the participants are invited, if they choose, to intervene at any given moment in the scenario presented to them and the players respond accordingly to the intervention. The audience is invited to experience "going on stage" and influence what is happening independently. 

• Between simulations a discussion takes place, and finally the groups give names to the different forms of intervention that were observed during the practice so that they could appropriate for themselves the set of tools built during the workshop.  

Not enough for you? there's more!

Of course you can always book follow-up workshops, in consultation with us. In addition we offer additional tools such as an interactive instructional video designed to replace existing learning to prevent sexual harassment and emphasize the power of viewers and viewers from the side and the various options in which to respond; Recommendations and providing access to "side-by-side" apps; Advice for assimilating consciousness in the organization; And very soon!  Intervention Association will offer a virtual reality experience - wait for winter 2022 :)

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