Green Dot: Changing the Culture

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Kristoffer Kaubisch
  • Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs
MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  Green Dot is a violence prevention program that is meant to give people avenues or ways to be able to intervene and help stop violence from occurring, whether it is sexual assault, stalking, or dating/domestic violence.

Green Dot started in high schools and colleges. The program has had such a dramatic reduction in sexual assault, dating and domestic violence and stalking in those settings, the Air Force bought into the program to help reduce interpersonal violence within the Air Force.

“The Air Force purchased a 5-year plan for Green Dot, which started at the end of 2015. The actual training started in January of 2016,” said Master Sgt. Kristy Wiener, 5th Bomb Wing Protocol Superintendent and Green Dot Installation Coordinator for Team Minot. “Some bases started rolling the program out in April, which is when it started here at Minot Air Force Base as well.”

There are roughly 25-50 people per training session, and each person is given an anonymous clicker to use during that session. The class is able to see actual, real-time statistics from only those participating in that training.

“Usually in Air Force training, the statistics are so broad: Air Force, U.S. or Department of Defense wide. In Green Dot Training, no statistic comes from outside of the classroom,” said Wiener. “Every statistic is from the people participating in the training, anonymously. By these statistics only coming from those in the classroom, you can truly see how many people in our environment have been effected by interpersonal violence in some manner whether directly or indirectly.”

“Everyone must wear civilian clothes in this training to promote an environment where people will feel comfortable and be more apt to participate. A lot of times when you look to your left or your right, all you see is rank,” said Staff Sgt. India Middleton, 5th Civil Engineer Squadron furnishings management officer and Green Dot installation coordinator for Team Minot. “Someone may be more hesitant to speak because there may be someone in their chain of command or they may have a fear of rank in general. So if we shed that and I’m just coming in as India and not Staff Sergeant, then people may be more comfortable to speak out.”

The Green Dot training will be required for every Air Force member. There are three phases. Phase one is leadership; which will be all of the wing, group and squadron commanders, chiefs and first sergeants. Phase two is the bystander training, which is a four-hour interactive training. Only people chosen by their commanders are allowed to attend phase two of Green Dot, and it is only 12-15% of each unit. Phase three will be the overview training, which is a 50-60 minute training for the masses. Personnel are only required to attend one of the three phases.

“This year Green Dot will count towards the annual SAPR training; however, Green Dot is not SAPR, and it covers more than sexual assault. It is a prevention strategy,” said Middleton. “SAPR is still in place if a sexual assault were to occur. You will still utilize the SARC for restricted or unrestricted reporting options. You can’t do that through Green Dot.”

In Green Dot, positive and negative actions are signified by green and red dots. Red dots are negative words or actions used to cause someone else harm. Opposed to the red, there are two types of green dots, reactive and proactive. A reactive green dot is positive words or actions taken in response to the negative red dot action to help deescalate the situation. Proactive green dots are positive things you can do in your personal/work spaces to begin stopping red dots before they even (happen) start.

“One of the main things we talk about in Green Dot is barriers,” said Middleton. “Everyone, regardless of what they see going on, has that barrier where they see something that they know shouldn’t be happening, but they don’t want to step in because they may feel like it is none of their business or maybe someone else will do it.”

People also may not intervene because they think they have to be the person who has to directly stop the negative action, but that is not the only way to help stop a red dot. During this point in the Green Dot training, the Implementers talk about the three D’s of intervening in a situation: direct, delegate, and distract. Then they work with everyone to help them identify which way works best for them in each situation.

“Some people may be more apt to directly confront the red dot action as it’s occurring, whereas someone else may decide to use the distract approach by taking the attention off of the red dot action onto themselves or some other form of distraction,” said Wiener. “Green Dot is all about reactive and proactive Green Dots using one of the three D’s in different situations. Not one of the three D’s, is better than the other; it is just about what fits you and how you would react in each situation.”

The goal of the program is to reduce power based personal violence by promoting an environment where people can step in and respond, regardless of any barrier they may have.

The Team Minot Green Dot Coordinators and Implementers are very excited to start initiating this new program for Team Minot.

“I started as a Victim Advocate along with Master Sgt. Wiener, and when the Air Force invested into the Green Dot program, we were asked if we wanted to help implement it, but we knew nothing about it,” said Middleton. “When we went to the training, we found out that the spectrum had truly been broadened. The talk now wasn’t just about sexual assault, but also stalking and dating/domestic violence. I love the program because of what it stands for.”

In the future, Green Dot is projected to expand into additional environments such as family advocacy and suicide awareness.

“Green Dot is all about changing our culture. It’s important that everyone understands that we all have some sort of barrier and that’s okay,” said Wiener. “This program will give us the tools needed to help change the culture where people will feel comfortable to intervene in some manner. In the future, we want to have only proactive Green Dots, where people always stand up for interpersonal violence, no matter what. We want to change the culture from where we are now to a much safer environment.”

With its motto being, “No one has to do everything, but everyone has to do something,” the Green Dot program is creating a safe and effective path for victims and bystanders alike.