not the target...
teaching kids to say NO to bullies

Our mission is to teach students the necessary skills they need to: 

  • Become appropriately assertive
  • To stand up for themselves, and to know
  • When to ask for help - before the situation gets out of hand.

 

What our Children Face
For some children, the scariest thing they will do all day is go to school. Each day, over 160,000 students miss school because they are afraid to tell their caregivers they don't know how to say, "I'm the target of bully, and I don't know what to do." We must teach them the skills they need to both ask for help, and to assert themselves.

Although there are severe cases of bullying, most situations can be remedied by some gentle adult intervention.

Bullying Research
Research shows that adult care-givers witness bullying only 4% of the time. That means that we're missing 96% of confusing, saddening, angering (and sometimes) downright terrifying events in our children's lives.

This is a totally unacceptable response rate.

As adults is our job to teach children. Part of this is helping them to recognize new ways to help themselves. Although each student learns in unique ways, research shows that children are simply unable to thrive when not provided with the appropriate skill set.

Our Mission
Not the Target's primary goal is not to "stop" bullying. This will not happen by making ten, or even ten-thousand presentations. Instead, we teach the targets of bullies the 'fake it 'till you make it' mantra. They are taught ways to say "NO" forcefully, and then to walk away. Through repeated practice and self-assertion, the incidence of bullying decreases dramatically. They must also learn when things have escalated to the point that an adult must intervene.

To understand what the target of a bully feels is to know that he or she does not feel 'right' when standing up for themselves. Through our interactive presentations, we teach simple skills - like standing up straight and making eye contact. That's the fake it part. We then teach them to walk away and feel whatever it is they feel. This approach is a somewhat novel way of working with targets - and it has proven effective in many schools.

We also motivate students who are not involved (usually 90 to 95% of the student population) to become more involved. We do this through empathy training, emotion recognition and active role-plays.

Not the Target's teaches the necessary skills students, faculty and parents need to create effective, school-wide anti-bullying campaigns.