To Stop Bullying, Organize and Advocate for Your Rights

On October 19, 2017, Jerry Halberstadt, Coordinator of the Stop Bullying Coalition and a Commissioner of the Massachusetts Commission on Bullying, spoke on the role of advocacy and legislation on bullying at the online conference of the National Workplace Bullying Coalition in the context of National Bullying Awareness Month.

Together, We Will Stop the Bullying

Victims of bullying ask, "Does anyone, anywhere care?" We do care. We are the Massachusetts Commission on Bullying, and I am one of the Commissioners as well as Coordinator of the Stop Bullying Coalition. Your Beacon Hill legislators do care, and they gave us the responsibility not only to care, but to find ways to protect you from harm and protect your rights. We will find ways to protect elderly and disabled residents. Now we are reaching out to you to learn what causes bullying and what can prevent bullying and create healthy communities.

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Research Committee Reports to the Commission

The main way to understand what conditions permit or inhibit bullying is to ask How and Why? through qualitative research: observing, listening, and comparing. The main way to understand prevalence is to ask How many? and count, or estimate through a sampling process, the number of locations with bullying and compare it to the total number, which for public and subsidized housing in Massachusetts, is 1,400 residential developments, with over 92,000 units.

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Coordinator to speak at workplace bullying conference

October is National Bullying Awareness Month, and on October 19 the National Workplace Bullying Coalition will host an online conference. http://www.workplacebullyingcoalition.org/ I have been invited to speak on the role of advocacy and legislation, and will give an update on the work of the Massachusetts Commission on Bullying and the impact of advocacy by the Stop Bullying Coalition.

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Righteous Indignation Confronts Mobbing

Pamela Goodwin

Pamela Goodwin, a 69-year-old woman living in public housing has challenged what she sees as poor management and disregard of the rights of tenants at her housing development at the housing authority in Upton Massachusetts. Goodwin has argued that the housing is dangerous for elderly persons as well as those with disabilities because it is not ADA compliant with regard to the stairs at each apartment because the entrances lack ramps or handrails, and the development lacks adequate parking, with limited parking for persons with disability. Instead of dealing with those issues, members of the housing authority and the manager have portrayed Goodwin as a danger to the community.

Bullying and Mobbing in Group Settings

Janice Harper, PhD, Author of Mobbed!
"As a cultural anthropologist, my focus has been on the behavior of the group and on organizational cultures that can lead otherwise good and decent people to behave in cruel and inhumane ways given certain patterned and predictable features of mobbing and how people respond when a leader targets someone for punishment." More: http://stopbullyingcoalition.org/harper-mobbing