Virginia 4-H Camping Volunteer Training Modules

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Virginia 4-H CampingVolunteer Training Modules
MODULE 16 ADDRESSING BULLYINGAT 4-H CAMP
Developed by Jewel Hairston, Ph.D., District
Program Leader Barry A. Garst, Ph.D. Assistant
Professor and Extension Specialist March 2006
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How to Use this Information

• If you are a 4-H adult volunteer leader
• 1. Review the 4-H camp-related information
  contained in this presentation.
• 2. Consider the Discussion Questions listed on
  the last page.
• 3. Contact your local 4-H Extension Agent (or
  other person responsible for
• 4-H camping in your county/city) to review
  this information.
• If you are a VCE faculty or staff member
  responsible for 4-H camping in your unit
• 1. Review the 4-H camp-related information
  contained in this presentation.
• 2. Use this presentation to support your 4-H camp
  teen/adult volunteer
• leader training.
• 3. Use the Discussion Questions listed on the
  last page as a resource in
• reviewing this information with your 4-H
  camp volunteers.

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Overview

• Why is it important to address bullying issues?
• Definitions and forms of bullying
• Bullying and its effects on youth
• The camping environment as a great place to
  address bullying issues
• Process for creating an anti-bullying
  environment at camp

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Why is it important to address bullying issues?

• American schools harbor approximately 2.1 million
  bullies and 2.7 million of their victims (Fried
  Fried, 1996).
• 80 to 90 percent of adolescents report some form
  of victimization from a bully at school (Wellins
  Boehler, 2003).

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Bullying has the attention of the federal
government

• Bullying has become such a national concern that
  in December 2003, the federal government
  announced it a public health issue warranting a
  3.4 million media campaign to combat the problem
  (CNN Associated Press, 2003).

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What is bullying?

• Bullying is defined as hurting, frightening, or
  tyrannizing someone (Huebner Morgan, 2002).

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What is bullying?

• Bullying happens when one person or a group of
  people use physical, verbal, or psychological
  actions to upset, intimidate, or force another
  person to do something over and over again.
• The person (or persons) being bullied finds it
  difficult to stop this from happening and
  constantly worries that it will happen again
  (Mellor, 1993.)

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What is bullying?

• Bullying includes physical, verbal, emotional,
  and sexual abuse involving both males and females
  (Fried Fried, 1996).

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Three (3) Forms of Bullying

• Physical hitting, kicking, spitting, pushing,
  taking personal belongings
• Verbal Taunting, malicious teasing, name
  calling, making threats
• Psychological Spreading rumors, manipulating
  social relationships, sexual harassment, engaging
  in social exclusion, extortion, stealing things
  from someone, or intimidation, written messages
  (Ericson, 2001)

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6 elements that distinguish bullying from teasing

1. Intent to harm The perpetrator finds pleasure
   in bullying a victim.
2. Intensity and duration It happens repeatedly
   over time.
3. Abuse of power One person is mentally or
   physically stronger than the other person.

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6 elements that distinguish bullying from teasing

• Vulnerability of the victim The victim is more
  sensitive to teasing, cannot adequately defend
  himself/herself, has physical or psychological
  qualities that make him/her more vulnerable.
• Lack of support The victim feels isolated and
  exposed.
• Consequences The damage to self-concept is long
  lasting and the impact on the victim leads to
  behavior marked by withdrawal or aggression
  (Freid Fried, 1996).

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Boys and girls bully in slightly different ways
Boys Girls
Tend to inflict physical pain Tend to inflict psychological pain
When in danger, they opt for fight or flight When in danger, they tend and befriend
Anger is more often verbally expressed Anger is more often expressed through body language
Attack those they dont know very well Attack within closely knit relationships
Bullying is fairly easy to identify Bullying is difficult to identify
(Simmons, 2002)
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Harmful Effects of Bullying

• Victims of bullying are more likely to suffer
  physical problems such as common colds and
  coughs, sore throats, poor appetite and night
  waking.
• Victims of bullying often have difficulty
  concentrating on their school academic
  performance (Ballard and others, 1999).
• The anxiety produced by bullying manifests itself
  through increased absenteeism and high drop out
  rates (Vail, 1999).

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Harmful Effects of Bullying

• Youth who are bullied are generally more
  insecure, anxious, depressed, lonely, unhappy and
  maintain low self-esteem. Students who are
  bullied regularly may become depressed and
  despondent, even suicidal or homicidal (Nansel,
  2001).
• Bullying is a precursor to future physical
  violence that can even trigger violence in its
  victims (National Association of Attorneys
  General, 2000).

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Why is the 4-H camp environment a great place to
address bullying?

• Bullying peaks during the ages of 10 to 14 years
  (Nansel et. al., 2001, Olweus, 1993) when many
  youth attend 4-H camp.
• Camp enhances youths self-confidence,
  self-competence, self-esteem by creating an
  environment where kids can succeed (Marsh, 2001).

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Why is the 4-H camp environment a great place to
address bullying?

• 4-H camp creates opportunities for positive
  social interaction.
• 4-H camp gives kids a chance to reside in a place
  designed for positive nurturance, development and
  change (Garst Bruce, 2003).

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What can a 4-H camp volunteer do to address
bullying at camp?

• The remainder of this presentation outlines a
  suggested process for addressing bullying at 4-H
  camp.
• After you review the remainder of this module,
  talk with your 4-H Extension Agent (or other
  person responsible for your county/city 4-H
  camping program) about bullying at 4-H camp and
  the strategies that may already be in place for
  your camp.

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What can a 4-H camp volunteer do to address
bullying at camp?

• If strategies are not already in place, consider
  how you could be involved in starting an
  anti-bullying program at your 4-H camp.
• Use this summers 4-H camp as a learning
  experience to better understand whether or not
  bullying is a problem. If it is, you may be
  able to develop an anti-bullying program at
  your 4-H camp next year in cooperation with your
  4-H Agent (or other person responsible for your
  county/city 4-H camping program).

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6-Step Process for creating anti-bullying
environments at 4-H camp

1. Focus on anti-bullying programs as part of 4-H
   camp programming.
2. Establish an environment for honest discussion
   about bullying.
3. Identify the presence of bullying in 4-H campers
   everyday lives.

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6-Step Process for creating anti-bullying
environments at 4-H camp

• Provide 4-H campers and teen volunteers with an
  arsenal of solutions for addressing bullying
  situations.
• Take time to reconvene as a large group to create
  a Zero Tolerance for Bullying policy.
• Provide 4-H campers with a set of written
  guidelines used at camp to address bullying so
  that they can apply similar processes within
  other environments.

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Step 1 Make anti-bullying a focus of 4-H
camp programming

• Bullying programs should be implemented as an
  educational component at 4-H camp and teen
  volunteer training, just as there are arts,
  aquatic, sports, and other programs.
• Plan time to implement the bullying program when
  4-H camping events are being scheduled.
• During one week of 4-H camp, allow approximately
  8 total hours to conduct the bullying program.

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Step 2 Identify the presence of bullying at 4-H
camp

• Use a standardized/statistically reliable
  questionnaire such as the Olweus Bully/Victim
  Questionnaire to measure the effects and
  experiences of bullying within 4-H campers
  lives.

To order the questionnaire contact Susan
Limber Center for the Study and Prevention of
Violence Clemson University [phone]
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Step 3 Create an environment where campers can
talk openly about bullying

• To begin a discussion about bullying, use popular
  movies, videos, and/or music whose content delves
  into the topic of bullying.
• Use written or oral questioning to create further
  discussions about bullying.

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• Since males and females bully in slightly
  different ways, host 1 or 2 separate one hour
  discussions for males and females to freely
  discuss the issues that are unique to them.
• During these sessions, ask 4-H campers to share
  real life bullying incidents.

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• Use the real life bullying incidences to create
  role play scenarios and group exercises. It may
  also be beneficial to create several before hand.
  (Be sure to include role plays that address male
  and female bullying issues).
• Provide time for the group to conduct role plays
  and develop their own solutions for handling each
  bullying situation.

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Step 4 Provide 4-H campers and teen volunteers
with several solutions for addressing bullying

• Bring males and females together as a large
  group.
• During one of the evening camp sessions, conduct
  a group sharing session for campers to present
  role play scenarios and the solutions they chose
  to address each situation.
• Seek additional input from the entire group.

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Step 5 Reconvene as a large group to create a
Zero Tolerance for Bullying policy and slogan

• Provide time for campers to develop lists of
  anti-bullying policies and guidelines for camp.
• Campers should vote on all suggested
  anti-bullying policies.
• Adopt an anti-bullying policy and an
  anti-bullying slogan. Put them both in writing
  and post throughout the camp!

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Step 6 - Provide campers with written guidelines
for addressing bullying at camp

• Maintain records of the following
• Results of the anti-bullying survey
• Role play scenarios created by 4-H campers
• Zero Tolerance for Bullying policy and slogan
• A list of steps used at 4-H camp to develop an
  anti-bullying program so that campers can
  recreate the same program once they leave 4-H
  camp and return to school, etc.

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• Put this information in a packet for campers to
  take home at the end of the camp week so that
  they can apply the information within other
  environments where bullying exists

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What can a 4-H camp volunteer do to address
bullying at camp?

• If you want to do more to address bullying at
  your 4-H camp, talk with your 4-H Extension Agent
  (or other person responsible for your county/city
  4-H camping program) about your ideas.

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Discussion Questions

• Identify a situation in which you encountered
  bullying. What did you do to manage the
  situation? If the situation occurred tomorrow,
  what else would you try?
• As a 4-H camp volunteer, what other training do
  you need in order to deal with bullying at camp?
• What do you think is the most important thing
  that should be remembered from this module?

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References
Ballard, M., Tucky A., Remley, T. Bullying and
school violence A proposed prevention program.
NASSP Bulletin, (May 1999) 38-47. CNN
Associated Press. (2003). National effort
emerging to halt bullying. Retrieved January 15,
2004 from www.cnn.com(2003)EDUCATION/12/09/bullyin
g.ap/index.html Ericson, N. (2001). Addressing
the problem of juvenile bullying. Office of
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Fact
Sheet. Washington, D.C. J 32.212001/27. Fried
, S. Fried P. (1996). Bullies victims. New
York, NY M. Evans Company, Inc.
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Garst B. A. Bruce, F. A. (2003). Identifying
4-H camping outcomes using a standardized
evaluation process across multiple 4-H
educational centers. Journal of Extension.
41(3). Huebner, A Morgan, E. (2002).
Adolescent bullying. Virginia Cooperative
Extension. Mellor, A. (1993). Finding out
about bullying. The Scottish Council for
Research in Education. Retrieved July 31, 2002
from http//www.scre.ac.uk/spotlight/spotlight43.h
tml Nansel, T. R., Overpeck, M., Pilla, R. S.,
Ruan, W. J., Simons-Morton. B., Scheidt, P.
(2001). Bullying behaviors among U.S. youth
Prevalence and association with psychosocial
adjustment. Journal of the American Medical
Association, 286(16), 2094-2100.
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• National Association of Attorneys General.
  (2000). Bruised inside What our children say
  about youth violence, what causes it, and what we
  should do about it. Retrieved March 23, 2003 from
  http//ericcass.uncg.edu/virtuallib/bullying/1068.
  html
• Olweus, D. (1993). Bullying at school What we
  know and what we can do. Cambridge, MA
  Blackwell Publishers, Inc.
• Simmons, R. (2002). Odd girl out The hidden
  culture of aggression in girls. New York, NY
  Harcourt, Inc.
• Vail, K. (1999). Words that wound. The
  American School Board Journal. 37-40.
• Wellins, M. Boehler, F. Bullying A
  presentation of information and strategies.
  Child Welfare and Attendance. Retrieved February
  17, 2003 from http//www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/cwa/)