We are very excited to launch our newly developed and piloted Bystander Intervention game-play style session for both student and staff groups at Bath! In this blog, Dan, our Student Training Officer, explains why and how they developed this session from a new and interesting angle.
Interested in the session? Request a session for student groups here, and staff groups here.
Bystander Intervention at the University of Bath
As part of the University of Bath’s #NeverOK campaign, bystander intervention is an important part of supporting a safe, accountable and inclusive community. All of our students and staff complete eModule chapters on being an active bystander when they begin their journey at Bath, supporting our community with the skills to intervene in and/or report anything unwanted or unacceptable that they see or experience.
It’s very difficult to be completely ready and prepared all the time to step in as an active bystander – each incident is unique and presents its own challenge. This does not, of course, excuse me or anyone from taking any action at all. That's why knowing about the 5Ds of Bystander Intervention can improve your confidence and help you understand how and when to intervene.
Beyond just knowing the 5Ds (an important foundation!), many students and staff are keen to take their understanding to the next level, and we are excited to launch our newly developed and piloted Bystander Intervention game-play style session for students and staff at the university.
What better way to simulate unpredictable scenarios and behaviours in a controlled environment, than through a story driven role-play game?
As with all #NeverOK sessions, my intention is to not just inform and educate, but to inspire and influence positive behaviours. This can be a high bar to reach when it comes to running sessions, and the challenge inspired me to stray from the more predictable ‘workshop’ or ‘lecture’ style delivery.
I designed this #NeverOK Bystander Intervention session as an interactive dice rolling adventure, where four fictional characters are taken on a journey around a fictional university town, and are met with a series of challenging events. Participants work together with their team to consider their character’s background, sensitivities and relationships, and to reach a decision on what to do in each scenario.
Do you take a step back and let your more confident friend respond to that text? Do you take direct action when a drunk man approaches a customer? How do you respond to the responsibility handed to you by another character?
Our new Bystander Intervention session has been carefully designed to explore potentially harmful events without explicitly detailing or having to respond to them in the simulation. The explorative space offers the chance to consider missed opportunities, further action that could be taken and the nuances of social dynamics within the story as it plays out.
Playing the game requires emotional intelligence, social awareness and the ability to be flexible with what you think you know! Reach as high a score as you can by fully explaining the why behind your decisions.
Careful though, the game master can challenge some of those decisions!
At present, there are 3 versions of the game each with different themes:
General: a mix of different scenarios that cover a variety of different
misconducts (sexual harassment, discrimination, bullying)
Sexual Harassment: personal boundaries, sexism and relationships
Racism: microaggressions, racial dynamics and positive discrimination
The session runs for 1.5-2 hours and always aims to include an opportunity to reflect and discuss at the end. The session is currently suitable for groups of up to 20.
If the session sounds interesting to you, you can request a session for student groups here, and staff groups here (this link will take you to email our Staff Training Officer).
Interested to learn more about the birth of Bystander Intervention?
Before Bystander Intervention became recognised, the Bystander Effect was proposed in 1964, declaring a psychological phenomenon where individuals were, and are, less likely to help a victim when others are present. It was also known as “diffusion of responsibility”.
The Bystander Effect stated that the more bystanders there were present, the less likely any one of them would intervene or step in to help.
However, in 2019, a review of 219 real-world incidents recorded on CCTV across the UK, the Netherlands and South Africa found that in 9 out of 10 incidents, at least one bystander, but typically several, intervened to help the victim. This debunked the previously held notion and acknowledged that in truth, people generally do want to step in, help and stand up against an injustice.
Respond
