The tools to identify and prevent the issue of bullying will be given throughout several sessions during a conference on Friday.

The second Bullying Conference “Beyond Awareness: Strategies to Eliminate Bullying” hosted by Bridging Voices in Our Community will be from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

The sessions will cover topics from warning signs, preventions, intervention and cyberbullying.

The sessions will also cover physical and psychological bullying.

Mildred Pearson, an education professor and the adviser of Bridging Voices in Our Community, said she feels it is important to address the major issues of bullying.

“Our goal is to go beyond awareness to provide ‘practices’ that will equip participants to take action by applying their knowledge,” Pearson said.

The program was started in the Social and Emotional Development course.

“Observing weekly bullying episodes, or suicide in the media, we realized this was a national epidemic and was not going away,” Pearson said. “This particular class wanted to do more than just write their response, but felt we should be a ‘voice’ for hurting people.”

There will be a keynote speaker followed by four sessions. Each session, participants can choose between three different presentations.

The keynote speaker is Dorothy Espelage, a professor of child development at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Espelage will be presenting “Social-Emotional Learning Approach to Bullying and Sexual Harassment.”

Her presentation will focus on the development of these issues based in the social environment.

Pearson said bullying has become a major issue within society.

“Bullying becomes an issue when individuals begin committing suicide and taking their lives because of the lack of respect, lack of acceptance, lack of inclusion and lack of support when facing adversity,” Pearson said. “Marginalized groups feel as if they are outsiders standing on the margins rather than experiencing a sense of belonging.”

Pearson said she hopes to teach students they should not fear speaking with adults and getting help.

“Do not become silenced and stand on the sidelines day in and day out hurting; rather, speak up and speak out and let your voice be heard, knowing you have support around you,” Pearson said.

Pearson said her main goal is for students to help in the fight against bullying by becoming more educated and taking a stand.

Angela Jacobs, a communication studies professor, will be discussing the importance of teacher and parent interactions.

“I’ll be looking at easy verbal strategies for teachers when parents come in to talk about bullying incidents,” Jacobs said. “We’ll talk about some of the difficult parent encounters teachers face and what should be done to handle them in a positive way so everybody comes out win-win.”

Jacobs said people need to know how to identify and talk about bullying.

Melanie Mills, a communication studies professor, said it is important to recognize that not all conflict is bullying.

“Not all difficult relationships are attributed to bullying,” Mills said. “Bullying implies some sort of ongoing, sustained, abusive intent.”

Sham’Ah Md-Yunus, an elementary education professor, said she will be speaking about the early warning signs of being bullied and bullying others.

“We will be having a discussion about some of the issues, how schools handle this, how the parents see this as a sign of being unhealthy in school and how the community handles this,” Md-Yunus said.

Md-Yunus said there are about 15 signs of children being bullied and eight signs that they bully others.

She said teachers have to learn to handle this issue.

One thing Pearson stressed is that no one should feel ashamed to share in the discussion.

“Students can look forward to participating in a safe, nurturing environment, where advocates will join them in dialogue, listening empathetically about how we can make things better,” Pearson said. “Students won’t have to feel judged by participating, rather (they are) encouraged to do so.”

Pearson said there will be an ending finale where the group will participate in a secret activity.

“Often times we need to be free from guilt or pain caused by others, and this activity will assist us through that process,” Pearson said.

Mills said bullying has become an even worse issue because of modern technology.

“There is no escape from the negative interpersonal behaviors for kids who are bullied,” Mills said. “That 24/7 of no refuge kind of thing just breaks my heart, so I think it is important to equipped students and teachers alike to push back a little bit.”

People who would like to attend must register for each session they will attend by 5 p.m. Thursday. Registration is on the Bridging Voices in Our Community website at bvcbullyingproject.org.

Pearson said she wants to have people be a support system for others, which should include parents, teachers, advisers, community leaders, as well as any other positive role models in their lives.

“We can counteract bullying, but it will take all us joining together in this effort,” Pearson said.

Samantha McDaniel can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].