Active Bystander Intervention Training and Facilitation Guide

This resource was developed as part of a provincial project to develop open access resources to address sexual violence and misconduct at post-secondary institutions.

Active Bystander Intervention Training and Facilitator Guide: Preventing and Responding to Sexual Violence in B.C. Post-Secondary Institutions is one of four open educational resources now available for the B.C. post-secondary sector. These four components can serve as a foundation for a comprehensive educational strategy to provide students, faculty, and staff with the awareness, knowledge, and skills required to prevent and respond to sexual violence and misconduct and to create healthier and safer campuses for all.

Background: The Sexual Violence and Misconduct Policy Act

In 2016, the B.C. Sexual Violence and Misconduct Policy Act was introduced, requiring all 25 B.C. public post-secondary institutions to develop policies to prevent and respond to sexual violence and misconduct. In 2017–2018, a government outreach campaign identified the need to increase access to quality training resources. While access to training resources is an issue for all institutions, it is a particular challenge for smaller institutions. The need for open access educational resources that could be adapted by individual post-secondary institutions was identified as an important part of increasing knowledge about sexual violence and system-level capacity building (BCcampus, 2019).

In 2019, a cross-sectoral sexual violence and misconduct training and resources working group was established to provide advice and identify priorities for the development of the resources. Over a two year period, the Working Group:

• Identified priority sexual violence and misconduct topics where training resources are needed. This included resources on consent, responding to disclosures, understanding the root causes of sexual violence, accountability and justice, and trauma-informed practice.
• Developed a toolkit for evaluating sexual violence training and resources to guide the selection of training resources that are gender-inclusive, survivor-centred, evidence-informed, decolonial, trauma-informed, intersectional, culturally located, and accessible for all users. (Download toolkit)
• With the support of external consultants, identified and reviewed sexual violence and misconduct training and educational materials from all 25 B.C. post-secondary institutions as well as community, provincial, and national organizations.

This training is part of a growing collection of open education resources for addressing sexual violence in BC. These resources are intended to be of use for staff, students, and faculty working in a range of contexts, including:

• Campus sexual violence centres
• Campus Indigenous groups
• Accessibility services
• Peer support workers
• Wellness programs
• International students and staff/faculty who work with them
• Student leaders
• Student organizations
• LGBTQ2SIA+ student groups
• Athletics and sports departments
• Fraternities and sororities
• Other groups that are working to prevent sexual violence on campus

In December 2019, a Working Group of experts in the field of sexual violence met to discuss the development of sexual violence training and resources at post-secondary institutions in BC. The group included staff, students and faculty actively involved in sexual violence prevention and response activities at their respective institutions. Following the meeting, the Working Group met through an online community of practice to identify key principles central to development of training on sexual violence. These eight key principles have guided the development of this resource.