Shifting Social Culture and Keeping Each Other Safe.
Everyone has a role to play in preventing harm or violence and there are many different ways you can step up to make a difference as a bystander. By focusing on prevention and direct action, bystander intervention seeks to create a culture where harmful behaviors are less likely to occur and more likely to be addressed when they do. Bystander intervention encourages the recognition of one’s ability to positively influence the outcome, either by directly intervening, seeking help from others, or utilizing resources to support those involved. This proactive role shifts the bystander from a passive witness to an empowered participant working towards a safer and more inclusive environment.
It is important to determine as a bystander whether there is a safe and reasonable way to intervene, and to act in a way to assist a person whether it is before, during, or after an incident takes place. By intervening in the moment, bystanders may give the concerned person a chance to get to a safe place or leave a situation.
First things first – be safe. Take action only if you feel that it is safe to do so. Determine what actions you feel comfortable taking based on the situation. Choose the best method to intervene based on the circumstances, including your own personal safety.
The 5Ds are different methods – Direct, Distract, Delegate, Delay, Document– that you can use to support someone who’s being harassed or harmed, emphasize that harassment is not okay, and demonstrate to people in your life that they have the power to make community safer.
Anyone can use the 5Ds! They are designed to be safe and not to escalate situations. In fact, four of them are indirect methods of intervention.
Direct: Intervene directly with the involved people, alerting them to the problematic comments or actions. Speak up about the disrespectful behavior when it’s happening and try to keep it short and succinct. Be confident, assertive, and calm. Avoid engaging in dialogue, debate, or an argument. Focus your attention on assisting the person who was harmed.
Distract: Take an indirect approach to derail and de-escalate the situation. Distract either party to interrupt a situation. Distraction is a subtle and creative way to intervene. The key to distraction is to ignore the person who is harassing, and engage directly with the person who is being harassed by talking about something completely unrelated.
Delegate: Bring in someone else to help. This could be someone who may be in a better position to help with the situation, someone who knows the affected parties, or someone with more perceived authority. When you delegate someone to help you, try to tell them as clearly as possible what you’re witnessing and how you’d like them to help.
Delay: If you can’t intervene in the moment, check in later. Bystanders can reach out to those affected to link them with resources or offer emotional support.
Document: Record the interaction on your phone, take a photo of the individual causing harm, or write notes about what occurred. Afterwards, ask the person who experienced harm what they would like to do with the documentation. Although it can be helpful to document harassment, we also want to assess and ensure the person receiving harm is being helped — if they’re not, use another of the 5Ds to intervene.
Each “D” intervention style serves a unique purpose in navigating and neutralizing a potentially volatile situation. Everyone has a role to play in preventing harm or violence and there are many different ways you can step up to make a difference as a bystander.
Intervening in situations may feel difficult, but here are some strategies you can use:
DIRECT Intervention Examples:
DISTRACT Intervention Examples:
DELEGATE Intervention Examples:
DELAY Intervention Examples:
DOCUMENT Intervention Examples:
A note about safety: The goal of Bystander Intervention is to help others while not getting yourself hurt. Always prioritize safety, and consider possibilities that are unlikely to put you or anyone else in harm’s way.
No one asks to be sexually assaulted or to experience abuse in a relationship and the person responsible for violence is the person who caused harm, not the person who experienced it. However, there are some things it would be helpful to keep in mind to reduce risk.
Don’t let someone leave with a stranger. Even if you are helping someone you don’t know – call 911 or the Department of Public Safety. Help them call a cab or ride-share from their own phone.
If your student organization, department, or group is interested in learning more about bystander intervention, you can review our Signature BADASS Bystander program by clicking the button below.
This award-winning program helps participants gain crucial skills to take action and start an effective conversation to address and prevent instances of sexual misconduct.
Where did the 5Ds come from? In 2012, Right To Be partnered with the bystander program Green Dot, who pioneered the Three Ds of bystander intervention, Distract, Delegate, and Direct. Right To Be worked with Green Dot to develop tools to help people intervene when they saw harassment happen. In 2015, they expanded those to include Delay, and in 2017 they expanded them again to include Document.