Working Together For Change: Active Bystander workshop

Two-part Active Bystander Training Workshop was offered to three age groups in Hopkinton between May-June 2021

After a well-received two-part Active Bystander workshop for town employees and members of town boards and committees with the Hopkinton Freedom Team in the winter of 2021, the Hopkinton Youth & Family Services brought three more training workshops to the Hopkinton community in May and June. The workshop was facilitated by True Story Theater.

A two-part workshop was held for adults 21+ and another two-part session held for high school and college-age students while a single session was held for middle school students with an adult of their choosing. The Active Bystander Training workshops were all held on Zoom and led by True Story Theater whose mission is “Fostering a culture of empathy, respect, and creativity.” 

The topics covered and skills learned in the workshops embodied that goal. The facilitators gave an opportunity for the participants to examine one’s own identities and then acted out specific scenarios of bigotry, bullying or public attacks and modeled ways to address these attacks as an active bystander. The facilitators followed a similar format for dialogues between individuals when one person says or does something offensive while giving consideration to differences in power. After every scenario, small breakout groups then, practiced the same scenario and additional ones through role play.

All of the feedback given on these workshops were positive, with praise for how much more empowered participants now feel with practical ways they can act and skills to use when they witness bias and bigotry. Many participants said that while they found this training to be uncomfortable and hard, the facilitators created a very supportive community and encouraged everyone without shame or blame to push themselves, make mistakes and learn through practice. 

What the Youth who took this training have said...

"It introduced me to a method of speaking out that I wouldn't have otherwise found or used. I am not afraid of being confrontational so I will often call people out but the steps of empathizing were something new to me that I think will make a big difference in the outcomes of my conversations."

"I was pushed out of my comfort zone and learned a lot of good tactics for hard situations."

What Hopkinton attendees who took this training have said...

“It was extremely helpful to tackle real and specific challenges we are all facing in Hopkinton. I definitely feel like I already got some tools from the first exercise about stopping and calling out offensive comments. They came naturally when we were in the later exercise, which was great.” -Anonymous attendee

"The Upstander Training provided by True Story Theater has been worth every minute, every dollar and every role-play/dialogue exercise (and I am admittedly not partial to role-play.) I strongly believe that this training is incredibly important in these times for learning how to assist and stand up as an ally for/with those being disrespected or discriminated against or harmed by others whether this happens in a family conversation, in a group gathering or when passing someone by on the street. Furthermore, this training also teaches important skills for finding common ground and learning how to respectfully listen and have thoughtful conversations with one another so that we all can benefit from what might bring people closer together and be more caring for one another as well. This is exactly the training we all need to be learning and rehearsing in our hope for co-creating a more peaceful, united and love-minded world for ourselves, our children and our future generations." -Cheryl Perreault

“In some ways, [the Zoom setting] makes everyone equal. There is no feeling like an outsider if you arrive to training and groups of people are milling about talking and you don't feel like you have a pre-established place to mingle. It also strips away some of our external differences, as there is less focus on how we look, dress, etc. and more focus on how we think and who we are as people. Maybe I've forgotten what real in person events are like, but I think the virtual experience was effective since all were engaged and ‘eyes on screen.’" -Anonymous attendee 

“Please offer more opportunities. We could have done this all day and it would have flown by. Thank you!” -Anonymous attendee

Some participants also recognized that the skills learned during the dialogue process can be applied not only when two people are talking through an offensive act or comment, but also having a meaningful and respectful discussion about any sort of disagreement, misunderstanding or frustration. Several participants expressed their deep interest in having their students, staff, friends, town employees, organizations and others in their daily lives take the Active Bystander Training because they personally found the skills and the role playing to be vital in bringing more unity, empathy and connection. 

If you would like to bring an Active Bystander Training to your group or organization, please contact True Story Theater or the Hopkinton Freedom Team. We are thrilled that so many in our Hopkinton community have already taken these trainings and hope many more will participate in future trainings!