Bystander Intervention: Responding to Witnessed Harassment

May 25, 2018 - 6:40 am

What do you do when you witness harassment on the street, at the coffee shop or on the bus?

Pastor Andrew Conley-Holcom of Admiral United Church of Christ is a conflict management workshop facilitator and an advocate for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence. Pastor Conley-Holcom also facilitates workshops in bystander intervention. The sessions involve theater games to explore, disrupt, and reformulate power relationships.

KBCS interviews Pastor Conley-Holcom about how the workshops are structured and some approaches to the urge to help.

Part 1: Pastor Conley-Holcom explains how power is constantly negotiated in community interactions and shares a story that illustrates the importance of responding to witnessed harassment and bullying.

Part 2: Musician and recording artist Chastity Brown shares a personal account of a situation where she was the victim of harassment with KBCS’s Yuko Kodama.

Part 3: Pastor Conley-Holcom describes how the bystander intervention workshop is structured.

Part 4: Pastor Conley-Holcom breaks down the framework of elements to consider when you witness harassment.

Part 5: Pastor Conley-Holcom shares some some possible bystander intervention techniques.

Part 6: Pastor Conley-Holcom recounts a couple of domestic violence harassment incidents where he approached the aggressor. Listen to his reason for this.

Part 7: Find out what a couple of people at the Bellevue College campus had to say to KBCS’s Devin Williams about how they responded when they witnessed someone else being harassed.