Editor
Bonnie Jacobs, PhD, ABPP

The Board would like to thank Drs. Holly Pedersen and Victoria Simon for presenting the first LAGPA CEU seminar of 2004, Talk Works for Kids: A Conflict-Resolution & Anti-Bullying Program and their company TalkWorks TM. On January 18th fifteen people heard how bullying is often related to violence in and out of schools. The goal of the Talk Works for Kids program is to train teachers and students in conflict mediation and resolution and to decrease the number of physically violent incidents in schools.

Their training consists of two parts: one for teachers and one for students. The presenters discussed how they had met with a great deal of resistance from the public school teachers who are generally overworked, underpaid and did not want additional responsibilities because of the program. The teachers also seemed resistant to outsiders telling them how to reduce inappropriate behavior in their school and classroom. Once the teachers were engaged in the program training they were enc raged to explore and discuss their stressors, frustrations and resistance to the anti-bullying program decreased. The teachers were taught effective listening skills, communication skills, conflict resolution and anger management skills. They were also taught the specifics of the student portion of the program so they would understand, participate in (by use of a reward system for the students) and support the program.

Student mediators (security patrol) are chosen for the program based on their behavior: those who do the bullying are the ones chosen. Students are taught how to identify fighting and bullying, the impact of words and physical aggression and consequences for victims and bullies. They are taught about mediation, different types of interventions used to deescalate conflict situations and how to identify characteristics of bullies and victims so they can recognize potential problems in fellow students. Students are also given sensitivity training with the hope that they become more tolerant f human differences including: race, gender, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, appearance, belief systems and other issues that may lead to conflicts between students. The remaining school student population is given information about the program and informed that certain designated students (those wearing badges) are new security monitors who may approach them if they feel a problem exists. The underlying premise of the program is that by empowering the students who were once the bullies, the need for that behavior will decrease and they will learn other ways of dealing with feelings and conflicts.