The Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault(UCASA) is hosting a Bystander Intervention Trainingat the Utah State University campus. The coalition joined forces with Citizens Against Physical and Sexual Abuse (CAPSA), and the Utah State University Sexual Assault and Anti-Violence Information (SAVVI) office to host the training.
UCASA executive director Turner Bitton says the training is to help empower bystanders to act.
"What bystander intervention does is it trains individuals to have the skills to both be aware of these situations and to intervene in a proactive and positive way," he said. “It’s about developing skill sets for individuals to be able to intervene in situations where they think sexual and domestic violence is going to occur.”
Bitton said finding safe and positive ways to intervene is key to preventing sexual violence.
“The reality is that intervening and being a bystander is a lot harder than just ‘yeah, if I saw someone taking someone who was too drunk home, I would stop that,'" he said. "I think all of us think that, but in terms of having the skills to do that without potentially causing an explosive situation is why we’re doing the training.”
The first trainingis next week, and additional trainings will be held to build skills and role play specific circumstances. Similar intervention trainings are being held across the state. The training is open to the public on Thursday, March 30, 2017 at 6 - 9p.m. at Old Main on Utah State University campus.
