PORT ANGELES — A free Community Cafe conversation about bullying is planned on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The conversation for youth and adults will be from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Jan. 19, in the Carver Room at the Port Angeles Library, 2210 S. Peabody St.
Participants will discuss four specific factors that comprise bullying in a facilitated and structured model called “Community Cafe,” said Mary Doherty, coordinator of Prevention Works.
“It will be a chance to tell your story, hear of other families’ solutions or reactions to bullying problems, and to hear the voices of various ages and groups about a serious and persistent social problem,” she said.
The discussion is sponsored by Prevention Works’ Bullying Re-education and Violence Elimination (BRAVE) task force.
Follow-up
“BRAVE chose MLK Day for this gathering to follow up on the recent assemblies at Stevens Middle School and Port Angeles High School,” said Jamye Wisecup, task force chairwoman and Prevention Works board member.
Cyber-bullying experts Darrin and Beth Laur spoke at the assemblies, as well as in an evening session for adults, in presentations sponsored and funded by the Port Angeles Healthy Youth Coalition and Prevention Works.
One principal later told members of the Healthy Youth Coalition that several students came to ask for help afterward, both because they were bullied and because they admitted they had bullied and wanted to know how to apologize, Doherty said.
Bullying has been identified as a large contributor to youth depression and suicide, Doherty said.
“Discussion and proper training in communities is known to make a difference in relieving bullying,” she added.
Added Norma Turner, Prevention Works board chairwoman: “The afternoon is an application of PW’s slogan ‘nurturing children to strengthen our community.’”
Forks schools
Prevention Works provided a $12,000 grant to the Quillayute Valley School District in Forks to buy the Olweus Anti-Bullying Program curriculum.
The Forks schools superintendent, Diana Reume, settled on the program, which was designed by a Swedish psychology professor and is now implemented mostly in the New England region, when she received complaints of bullying in the schools and sought a research-based program.
She reported last January that the program, which involves students and staff, was helping to change the culture of the schools.
The upcoming gathering “begins the conversation openly in Port Angeles,” Doherty said.
For more information, call Doherty at 360-457-6219 or 610-952-6026, or email preventionmmd@gmail.com.