How to Intervene Safely as a Bystander
Feb 28, 2024
Safety in sport means environments on and off the field, offices, and boardrooms are all physically safe, while being inclusive, psychologically and culturally safe. To contribute to a positive culture, we can all improve our communication skills, and also feel empowered to do something when conflict arises.
We all have a responsibility to create a safe environment, but we often don’t know what to do when faced with a situation that may compromise our own safety. Bystander intervention gives individuals tools to intervene the next time they witness harmful behaviour in the sports community. The training will equip you with the five strategies for intervention so you leave feeling more prepared to intervene successfully and safely.
When we intervene, we don’t just minimize the impact on the person being harmed. We also start to shift the culture towards that prioritizes respectful sport experiences that are safe for everyone. Alone we can’t shift the culture — but together — our actions matter.
Right To Be’s 5Ds of Bystander Intervention
How can we act when we witness maltreatment if we don’t know what to do? Right To Be, a non-profit working to build a world free of harassment and filled with humanity, offers interactive training to equip people with easy-to-use tools for confronting implicit bias, responding to and intervening in incidents of harassment or maltreatment. They have developed a clear, adaptable, and expert-approved set of tools to empower individuals to take action: Right To Be’s 5Ds of bystander intervention.
- Distract – Take an indirect approach to de-escalate the situation
- Delegate – Get help from someone else
- Document – Write down what happened, or record the incident on video where appropriate
- Delay – After the incident, check in with the person who may have been harmed
- Direct – When safe, speak up. Be firm and clear.
Free training for bystander intervention in sport
Course Info
Everyone is invited to join us to learn practical and safe techniques to stand up for others. We have partnered with Right to Be to offer Bystander Intervention in Sport for your teammates, colleagues, and friends.
This training is designed to give participants the tools to intervene the next time they witness harmful behaviour in the sport community. You will learn how to be an effective bystander in the midst of maltreatment in sport spaces using the proven 5Ds methodology, the five strategies for intervention.
How do I register?
Stay tuned for upcoming sessions.
Additional Resources
Free Training & Resources by Right to Be
Right to Be provides free trainings to the public, as well as customized training experiences for businesses, organizations, schools, and colleges. Their training sessions are oriented to empower individuals to make a change and channel attention to simple, creative, and effective action.
Right To Be Bystander Intervention videos
Based on the 5Ds methodology, Right To Be teamed up with partners to create a series of animated videos to help individuals apply their learnings — for kids and older participants.
Social Media Toolkit
We prepared a toolkit to make it even easier to share bystander intervention resources with others.
