Huddle Up Training Options
The theme of all Huddle Up trainings is leadership – challenging participants to step up, especially in difficult social situations. This theme is woven into all Huddle Up trainings. Participants will also understand bystander intervention as a tangible strategy to operationalize leadership.
Option #1: Gender Roles & Destructive Behavior
In this session, participants will consider their personal core values and how they live those values through the type of man/woman they want to be. Following this affirmative discussion, the session will challenge participants to share the social and personal obstacles they feel can sidetrack them in living authentically. They will explore the mainstream gender roles and how those stereotypes can lead destructive behavior for both men and women. They will explore the mainstream meaning of what it is to be a “real man” or “woman” in our culture and how that meaning relates to their interactions with people in social settings. They will deconstruct media images focusing on how they translate into norms, behaviors and relationships. Participants will be presented with a series of scenarios where one of their teammates is feeling pressured to behave in a stereotypical way and asked to consider the best options for handling the situation.
Option #2: Healthy vs. Abusive Relationships
This option will explore the components of healthy relationships and of unhealthy and abusive relationships. As a foundation for the training, participants will understand the role of power & control in defining an abusive relationship and then will define the types of respect and the types of abuse (verbal, emotional, physical & sexual) in relationships and brainstorm examples of each. Participants will learn to identify warning signs of unhealthy behaviors to empower them to use their leadership to help their teammates and friends. Participants will learn strategies to avoid abusive situations and to foster healthy relationships while developing concrete skills for preventing or interrupting abusive situations involving teammates or co-workers.
Option #3: Sexual Respect
This option deals “head-on” with the issue of sexual behavior and sexual consent. Importantly, Huddle Up facilitators will discuss the issues surrounding alcohol and sexual consent. This is a highly realistic and common dynamic of which many participants have been participants, observers, or possibly survivors of assaults. The session will examine the dangers and consequences of abusing alcohol and/or other drugs as they relate to sexual decision-making. More importantly, the facilitators will discuss male and female expectations regarding sex, and how alcohol can exacerbate those expectations. Additionally, the importance of clear and effective communication is discussed. In conclusion, the group is then challenged to focus on the options available to them and the responsibilities of all parties involved.
Option #4: Sexual Harassment/Power of Language
In order for participants to take any gender violence issues seriously, they need to understand the full continuum of abusive behaviors and how they work together to create a toxic environment. This session will foreground sexually harassing behavior as a vehicle to raise student-athlete awareness about the power of the words they use, the danger of normalizing abusive behavior and how acts of physical violence start with the silence of friends and teammates. Participants will discuss how demeaning and objectifying language establishes a foundation for harassing and abusive behavior. The participants will also consider a scenario where they are witness to teammates sexually harassing other people, and determine a range of strategies for addressing this behavior.
Trainings Build on One Another
This type of education works best when participants are able to have ongoing awareness raising education and intervention skill building. One-off sessions are not long-term solutions. Huddle Up can work with you to build tailored programming to allows participants to develop over time.
Combination of Options
This training combines aspects of each of the four options above in providing an engaging overview of the continuum of behaviors that could lead domestic or sexual violence.
To learn more about Huddle Up, please contact Dr. Shannon Spriggs Murdoch at (617) 953-6899/ Smurdoch@sportandsocialjustice.org
Jordyn Wieber, A Hero Among Us
Speaking out has not been easy, but it has empowered me to fight for change, so this never happens to another gymnast or child again.
