Bullying has to be stopped in our schools and extra curricular activities. It is part of our culture (until recently) that has been treated as a “right of passage” as opposed to a “personal assult.” Now that it has been properly characterized it is time to address the disease with a cure.

Jon Carmichael committed suicide, in the barn, at his home in Cleburne, Texas. The acts of bullying were typical enough — Jon being thrown into a trash can on a weekly basis and head flushed in a toilet several times. The same sort of bullying that has been going on since the start of time, although manifesting itself differently given the environment and time period.

Once again the school district, The Joshua Independent School District, is raising its hands and saying we are aware of bullying in our school and we are addressing it. Well, the lawsuit filed by the Charmichael family will make sure that the administration and teachers hear it loud and clear — bullying is a disease and it needs to be addressed and treated with “real” training and solutions. The family’s attorney said that the family’s goal in issuing the lawsuit is to educate. “On the human level, the family wants what every family wants when they come to me in these kind of cases. They want to make sure it doesn’t happen to someone else.”

The tipping point for Jon was a heinous act of bullying, whereby he was stripped nude, tied up and again placed into a trashcan. The act of bullying was taped and uploaded to YouTube. Really . . . and the staff, teachers and fellow students have been trained to recognize bullying and properly address it?

SAM was created to help address Jon and all the other future victims of aggressive behavior in our school systems. It is time to make our school systems safer and a more secure, comfortable place for education and learning.

We are so pleased with the turnout for the SAM Program this week we decided to make it extra special by adding 3 additional instructors. This Thursday, March 17, 2011 SAM will have 5 instructors teaching the SAM Program. As each new facet of the Program is introduced, we will have a specialist in that discipline take you through the skills and tactics you need. Your instructors:

Roland Ouellette – Roland is the Director of Training and co-founder of SAM Program. Roland is the author, trainer, and founder of the Management of Aggressive Behavior (MOAB).

Mike Kaselouskas – Mike is a Lieutenant as the University of Hartford responsible for Day Operations. Mike is also a board member of IECLEA.

The SAM Program instructors will also be joined by:

Dennis Jurasz – Dennis retired from law enforcement in 1994 after serving 20 years with the same agency and is currently manager of training for Delta Airlines Global Services Security Division.

Guy Rossi – Guy is a retired Police Sergeant of the Rochester, New York Police Department who specialized in patrol, field training and defensive tactics instruction. Guy’s current focus is assisting with the instruction and on-going development of SAM.

Terry Smith – Terry was most recently in charge of Monadnock training. In this role, he developed and managed courseware, along with establishing curriculum procedures for the Monadnock PR-24, Monadnock Expandable Baton, and Monadnock Defensive Tactics System programs.

You don’t want to miss this very special event: five skilled and experienced trainers providing their expertise within the framework of the SAM Program. If you would like to join us at the University of Hartford please call (954) 255-6300. See program information below. For more information please check out the website using this link: www.samprograms.com/programs/descriptions.php

If you can’t join us this week, please plan on joining us in the late spring and summer for another SAM Program. We will have details out soon. Also, follow us on our blog, www.samprograms.com/wp/, which will provide you current information on SAM as well as local and national events that affect SAM.

Bonnie S. Michelman is a member of the SAM Advisory Board which provides valuable advice and guidance with the mission of SAM — “The Safety You Want. The Training Solution You Need.”

She was recently named to the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano. Bonnie, who is the Massachusetts General Hospital Director of Police, Security and Outside Services was one of three newly appointed members of HSAC.

HSAC provides advice and recommendations to the Secretary on matter related to homeland security. The Council comprises leaders from state and local government, first responder communities, the private sector and academia.

Bonnie Michelman has been a very good friend of SAM and helpful in our mission to address school safety. SAM congratulates Bonnie in her important new role with Homeland Security.

Since our email went out a week ago there has been another shooting involving a 22 year old student and his instructor. The student was upset and left the classroom and came back to the classroom with a semi-automatic gun and shot and killed his instructor. Would you have accurately assessed his non-verbal communication? Do you know what to do if you are confronted by an active shooter?

SAM Programs were developed to address this disheartening trend. SAM’s comprehensive curriculum addresses preparedness and prevention, empowering individuals with practical safety skills. These skills will allow an individual to deal with aggressive behavior, bullying, violence and an active shooter.

On March 17, 2011, SAM is holding a one-day Instructor course. The course is being held at the University of Hartford and will be taught by Roland Ouellette (Director of Training, SAM) and Mike Kaselouskas (University of Hartford). The course will provide the necessary skills and training to allow an Instructor to go back to their community and provide training to all those that may confront aggressive behavior.

Unfortunately, aggressive behavior in our schools is only going to get worse. Be prepared to address this trend — sign up today for SAM.

Students and administrators who have acquired skills in non-verbal and verbal communication can reduce physical confrontations by 90%. There are five(5) methods of communication: non-verbal, listening, verbal, reading and writing. Of these five, non-verbal is the most critical to understand. Approximately, 90% of human communication is non-verbal. The angrier people get, the less they focus on words and the more they focus on non-verbal (body language) communication.

Most of us have received an education which puts an emphasis on reading and writing but not on the three highest forms of communication: non-verbal, verbal and listening skills. Some progressive elementary schools are now teaching kids how to be empathic towards other kids given credence to the notion that “how” we communicate with others is important. Clearly, the earlier we learn these skills the greater the opportunity to practise and implement the communication skills.

I have received feedback from many organizations such as hospitals, corporations and law enforcement agencies over the past twenty-five years who have trained their employees in verbal, non-verbal and listening skills. As a result of the training, they report that they have reduced physical confrontations by 60 to 90 percent.

Ultimately, knowing how and when to let an individual to vent, making an empathic statement at the appropriate time, using supportive non-verbal communication, using proper eye communication, initiating proper gestures and/or posture, can quickly calm an angry or agitated individual. In the video below, the reporter takes us through another senseless shooting by a 22 year old student at a Los Angeles vocational school. It is pretty clear from the report that the teacher should have picked up on the non-verbal communication of the student prior to the shooting. It is pretty clear that the student was displaying classic non-verbal communication that should have tipped off the instructor that the student was going to commit some act of violence. Take a look.

Los Angeles School Shooting – SAM Programs

SAM Programs is a training program looking to assist administrators and students with non-verbal skills. SAM also provides a number of skill sets to prepare the potential victim to address aggressive behavior. Please check out the SAM website for a more complete description of the training programs.