Positive Peer-based Approaches to Address Cyberbullying

Embracing Digital Youth is please to announce its Webinar series. Through these Webinars, Embracing Digital Youth Network will seek to help educators, mental health professionals, and law enforcement engage in prevention and intervention activities that ground in research insight, focus on influencing positive behavior and implementing restorative practices, and encourage effective evaluation.

These Webinars will be available for later viewing in our archive. An Issue Brief for each Webinar will provide insight and recommendations for practice.

Positive Peer-based Approaches to Address Cyberbullying 

This webinar takes place on April 26th at 7:00 P.M. Eastern Time

Register Here

Schools are struggling to address a new challenge–the hurtful behavior of students when using digital technologies. Addressing this new challenge is difficult because much of this hurtful behavior occurs in digital environments where adults are generally not present. Hurtful interactions frequently occur when students are off-campus, with the damaging impact occurring at school.

How can educators ensure the development of a positive school climate and support positive actions by peers that will be necessary for prevention and early intervention? These three professionals are working on innovative new approaches to enhance these positive peer-based approaches.

Presenters:

• Patricia Agatston, Ph.D. Licensed Professional Counselor with the Prevention/Intervention Center, a student assistance program in the Cobb County School District, Georgia. Co-Director of CyberbullyHelp: Preventing Bullying in the Digital Age
  . Co-author of Cyber Bullying: Bullying in the Digital Age. Patti has been pioneering a peer-based prevention approach that includes utilizing peer leaders to facilitate class lessons on cyberbullying as well as utilizing peer leaders from the Sources of Strength suicide prevention program to develop anti-bullying messages.
  
• Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D. Director of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use/Embracing Digital Youth. Author of Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats: Responding to the Challenge of Online Social Cruelty, Threats, and Distress, Cyber Safe Kids, Cyber Savvy Teens: Helping Young People Learn to Use the Internet in a Safe and Responsible Manner, Cyber Savvy: Embracing Digital Safety and Civility. Nancy is developing a new program called Be a Friend ~ Lend a Hand
   
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• Karen Siris, Ed.D. Professor at Adelphi University, Garden City, NY
  Principal at OceansideElementary, NY. Currently serving on the New York State Education Task Force charged with designing and implementing the new Dignity for All Students Act, anti-bullying legislation. Karen has demonstrated significant success in creating a caring majority
   of “upstanding students” in her Long Island school.
• Torin Hovander is a senior at Sandia High School in Albuquerque, N.M. who established a very successful bullying prevention club
  . This program has increased peer intervention and reporting to the school. It is now being spread to other high schools in the region.

Sponsors

Embracing Digital Youth Network would like to thank our early sponsors: Facebook and Cable in the Classroom.