ON SCREEN: Misdirections in Bullying Prevention & Response
We all want to prevent bullying. It’s a clear goal but how we stop bullying behaviour is not always clear.
CATHERINE BRADSHAW, PhD, M.Ed.: Bullying is very complex. It’s critical that we keep in mind some potential misdirections when we’re thinking about trying to prevent bullying.
Bullying is a complex issue. As a result, some approaches that work well in other situations may be problematic when applied to bullying. We’ll discuss five misdirections to avoid.
ON SCREEN:  Zero Tolerance
Zero tolerance or “three strikes and you’re out” policies are often used by schools in reaction to violent offenses like carrying weapons or fighting. When it comes to bullying, zero tolerance is typically ineffective or can even make the bullying situation worse.
Zero tolerance is not recommended because it’s unrealistic and disruptive, given the number of students involved in bullying, it doesn’t allow for intervention and may isolate children who bully from needed role models. Suspended or expelled students may have a lack of supervision when they stay home and severe punishments can deter reporting.
BRADSHAW: When there’s a zero tolerance policy in place sometimes they can actually cut down on the number of individuals that are comfortable reporting bullying offense. They may be afraid of the zero tolerance policy or view it as too harsh or just solely punitive in nature and doesn’t actually provide an opportunity for intervention to stop the problem. 
ON SCREEN: Conflict Resolution & Peer Mediation
Conflict resolution and peer mediation can be effective ways to address many types of student conflicts, but not bullying. Conflict resolution and peer mediation is not recommended because it implies both parties bear responsibility and may further victimise the target.
BRADSHAW: In the case of bullying, we don’t have a situation where there is just a disagreement. It’s a situation of abuse. Quite often, the victim doesn’t really want to be seen in the role as a victim, and doesn’t want to be identified or brought out  or made to feel even more emotionally targeted or physically targeted within that group. And bringing them face to face with the perpetrator often can validate those roles and that power differential between them.
ON SCREEN: Group Therapeutic Treatment
Some schools address bullying behaviour by implementing group therapeutic treatments like anger management counselling or empathy building. Group therapeutic treatment is not recommended because group members may model bad behaviour and group treatment that involves aggressors and children who are bullied can reinforce bullying behaviour. 
Similarly, you wouldn’t want to have a group where you brought together victims and perpetrators within the same group, because that might serve to be very disempowering for the children that were targets of bullying. It could also reinforce that power differential between them. 
ON SCREEN: Overstating or Simplifying the Relationship Between Bullying & Suicide
“Bullycide” is a term that’s come into recent use and should be avoided. This term suggests the overly simplistic notion that a suicide may be cause by only one factor. Those who actively work to prevent bullying can help prevent bad outcomes, including suicide, but bullying prevention efforts do not, in and of themselves, constitute suicide prevention. Although bullying may be a factor in suicide risk, it is often not the only one.
BRADSHAW: We also know that suicidal ideation is pretty common among youth during adolescence. There are issues around impulsivity that very well could lead to a suicide that is actually completed. So it’s important for us to be aware of that potential link between mental health and suicide and the role that bullying could serve within that, but we don’t want to overstate that link here. We also want to be cautious to clarify that there isn’t an epidemic of these concerns, but where there are certain instances of bullying that are linked in some way with suicide, that we recognise the role other factors like mental health could play in them. 
ON SCREEEN: Simple, Short-Term Solutions
Some schools address bullying as a topic on a single day during a staff training session, a parent-teacher meeting, an assembly or even in the classroom. These types of efforts can represent important initial steps of a comprehensive, long-term bullying prevention strategy, but they may not be effective in reducing bullying problems if implemented in a piecemeal way.
ON SCREEN: A comprehensive plan is necessary to be effective
BRADSHAW: Independent or piecemeal types of approaches probably are really not going to be impactful. They might very well raise awareness during that one day, but they are not going to be sustainable types of efforts. So we really recommend having a more comprehensive and integrated approach that involves a variety of activities.
ON SCREEN: Misdirections and Best Practices
BRADSHAW: Even though there are a number of misdirections we should really try to avoid in our bullying prevention efforts, there are a number of reasons why communities and practitioners should be optimistic about the issue of bullying prevention. There are a number of best practices that have been identified. We also recognise the importance of the research documenting significant impacts of bullying on youth development and youth outcomes. So this is a critical time to take stock on the research and to identify what best practices and some potential strategies we should avoid.
So how do we prevent and stop bullying? It takes a comprehensive approach to create the right culture for children and youth. Stopbullying.gov is a resource developed by experts in the field to help develop long-term solutions that inspire a safe, respectful culture in your school and community. Visit stopbullying.gov for more information. 
ON SCREEN: Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Human Services’ (HHS) Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
ON SCREEN: Thank you to Catherine Bradshaw, PhD, M.Ed. for contributing to this educational video.