New Anti-Bullying Initiative to Offer
Telephone Hotline After School Hours
Service Will Eventually Include
Text Message and Online Chat Assistance
A new anti-bullying campaign launched today will offer students
counseling by mental health professionals for incidents both inside
and outside the classroom. The service will begin Wednesday
afternoon (Oct. 19, 2011) by offering a telephone hotline in the
afternoon and evening, and next January adding assistance through
text messaging and online chat.
The BRAVE (Building Respect, Acceptance, and Voice through
Education) campaign is being launched by the UFT in
collaboration with the Mental Health Association of New York City
(MHA-NYC), the New York City Council, and community groups.
It will connect students with clinicians and mental health
professionals who can provide supportive listening, crisis
intervention, suicide risk assessments and advice on crisis
de-escalation.
UFT President Michael Mulgrew said, "Every student deserves a
safe and nurturing learning environment. We joined with the
City Council and the DOE to create the Respect for All program,
which provides training for staff and students in resisting
bullying, and manages the reporting of bullying incidents in
schools. Our hotline and additional training through the
BRAVE campaign will add to this by providing a place kids can turn
to when school is over."
"Bullying is a growing issue in young people's
lives, and the Mental Health Association of New York City is proud
to be a partner in the BRAVE line. We are thrilled to extend our
expertise to help kids manage the emotional challenges that arise
from bullying and cyber-bullying by adding this innovative
initiative to our family of confidential crisis services that
includes LifeNet, the addiction Hopeline, and the National Suicide
Prevention Lifeline," said Giselle Stolper, President and CEO of
MHA-NYC. "We look forward to working with UFT to help make the
BRAVE campaign a life saving resource to the 1.1 million public
schoolchildren that call this city home."
"Principals and teachers work every day to build safe and
respectful school cultures and implement activities that support
the Respect for All initiative," Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott said.
"The new BRAVE campaign builds on this support for anti-bullying
programs."
"Bullying, whether in the schoolyard or in cyberspace, inflicts
short and long-term harm and poisons the learning environment of a
school. The BRAVE Campaign empowers students, teachers, and
parents to fight the problem of bullying and provide support to
victims," said New York City Comptroller John C. Liu
"As parents, my wife Chirlane and I do everything we can to keep
our kids safe. But we know it takes support both inside the
classroom and out to prevent bullying," said Public Advocate Bill
de Blasio. "BRAVE is a powerful initiative that lets any student
know that help is never more than a phone call away. I applaud and
thank the UFT for this important step in the fight to keep every
child safe."
Students can call for services in English, Spanish, Mandarin,
Cantonese and other languages via real-time translation. It will
operate Monday through Friday from 2:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. The phone
hotline will be active beginning today and the online chat and text
message service will launch January, 3, 2012.
The campaign will also hold monthly workshops for parents and
school personnel in every borough, and encourage schools to develop
anti-bullying programs. BRAVE will focus on topics like recognizing
and preventing bullying, cyber-bullying, LGTB bullying, conflict
resolution techniques, peer mediation and student communication
skills.
The campaign will encourage schools to design, or enhance, their
anti-bullying programs by partnering with community groups and
mental health professionals and parent workshops will be held in
every borough to involve local parent and community groups.
Download the BRAVE program flyer in
English
Download the BRAVE program flyer in Spanish
Media
Video
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Hotline:
212-709-3222
Available: Monday through Friday
from 2:30p.m. to 9:30p.m.
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