Three School District 43 Grade 12 students sat they're confident many of their younger peers have been inoculated against bullying behaviour and their schools are safer because of it.
Sarah Mueckel, of Heritage Woods, Sofia Palma, of Pinetree secondary, and Candace Chau of Riverside secondary are among the dozens of SD43 students trained to be facilitators for the Red Cross Beyond the Hurt and Healthy Relationships programs.
The girls have been teaching bullying prevention and intervention techniques to middle and high school students. Recently, they were picked to be in a Red Cross video that will be shown to schools around the province.
"It validated the work. It's like, oh, now they know we're here," Chau said of the video, that was promoted by Shaw TV on Pink Shirt Day last month.
Mary Crocker, provincial manager for the Red Cross Respect Education Program, said the girls were picked for the promotional video because they showed strong leadership at a recent youth conference in Richmond.
The Red Cross program trains teens to explain to younger kids about what it means to be a bully, a victim and a bystander, and to teach them actions they can take to prevent bullying. The video shows the three SD43 students talking about why the program is important and examples of them teaching it in schools.
"Our program — what makes it distinct and what you were able to witness in the video — is the unique peer-to-peer model," said Crocker, who said the program has been popular at SD43, where it has been around for a number of years.
"It's a relationship model with youth empowering youth," Palma said. "They're seeing people just like them talking about things that happen every day."
"The ripple effect we have seen in last couple of years — particularly since [the late] Amanda Todd and [her mother] Carol Todd have brought awareness to the issue — it has not been difficult to keep the message alive. There's been an ongoing demand for the program," said Crocker, noting that over the years, hundreds of young people have heard the message of how to be kind to one another and smarter in their relationships.
The teens say a number of the messages hit home with their peers.
For example, in one exercise where students rank each other by what card they pick from a deck, students experience what it's like to be isolated based on social standing.
"They learn what power looks like in a casual setting," Mueckel said.
Getting facts from peers instead of an adult also makes an impression on youths, and sometimes instances of bullying are revealed during the workshops.
As well, the Healthy Relationships segment, targeted to Grade 9s, gets a lot of attention, especially the topic of sexting (sending intimate images via text), which has become a problem among teens and is against the law.
"It's a touchy subject with them and they know people who are doing it," said Mueckel, "The kids don't want to come forward to an adult, they want to talk to a peer."
In fact, all three teens expressed concern about the role social media is playing in spreading hurtful messages and imagery. They hope the Red Cross programs will help the next generation be better prepared, and, armed with knowledge and tools, will handle their relationships in a safe and appropriate way.
