Half a Day, Lasting Skills: How Cambrian College Equipped Staff to Intervene
A custom, in-person workshop helped 80+ staff and faculty recognize harm, choose a safe response and support students, even after the moment had passed.
When something happens, what do you do next?
Cambrian staff and faculty may overhear a harmful joke, see a comment land badly in a classroom or receive a disclosure from a student. The difficult part is often deciding how to respond without escalating the situation, overstepping or leaving the person harmed without support.
Cambrian wanted its people to understand the role that power and identity can play in these moments, while giving them practical options they could use across different situations. An opening poll found that 68% of the room had either never encountered the term intersectionality or had heard it without a clear understanding of what it meant.
A custom half day built around real campus situations
CultureAlly created an in person learning experience for 80+ Cambrian staff and faculty, grounded in the situations they may face on campus.
Staff and faculty explored intersectionality, harm, power and responsibility before practising the 5 Ds of Bystander Intervention: Direct, Distract, Delegate, Document and Delay. They worked through realistic faculty and student facing scenarios, considered how to respond to disclosures and learned how to support someone without investigating or taking control away from them.
Live polling, facilitated discussion and scenario work gave people room to consider what felt realistic in their own roles. A custom workbook connected the learning directly to Cambrian’s policies, reporting pathways, campus services and community supports.
Staff and faculty could name what they would do next
People left with more than an understanding of bystander intervention. They could identify specific actions they felt prepared to take.
They talked about choosing the right intervention approach for the situation, using distraction when a direct response did not feel appropriate, listening without investigating and holding space without immediately trying to provide a solution.
The learning also reinforced that intervention does not end when the moment passes. Checking in afterward, documenting what happened or connecting someone with support can still make a meaningful difference.
Of the 16 people who completed the survey, 100% agreed the facilitator presented the material in a logical and compelling way, 94% would recommend the session to a colleague and 100% wanted access to more diversity, equity and inclusion sessions.
Why it worked
Their Campus. Their Challenges. Clear Ways to Respond.
Cambrian’s policies, support pathways and real campus situations shaped the learning, giving staff and faculty practical responses they could use in classrooms, conversations and difficult moments.
Cambrian was part of the learning, not just the logo
The workbook brought together Cambrian’s policies, reporting pathways, campus services and community supports, including the room numbers and phone lines people might need later. The scenarios reflected classrooms and student facing roles, so the learning felt connected to the work people actually do.
94% would recommend the session to a colleague.
A half day gave people room to work through it
Instead of moving quickly through slides, the in person format made space for discussion, reflection and scenario work. Staff and faculty could think through different responses, hear how others might approach the same moment and leave with options that felt realistic.
People could weigh in without taking the floor
Live polling gave everyone a simple way to respond, including people who were not comfortable speaking in front of the room. Up to 41 people answered a single poll, helping the facilitators see what was landing, where people were unsure and when the conversation needed to slow down.
Something useful to return to
The workbook gave staff and faculty more than notes from the day. It brought the 5 Ds, Cambrian’s reporting pathways and local supports into one place, so people had something practical to return to when a difficult moment came up later.
In their own words
What Staff and Faculty Took Away
Staff and faculty could name new ways to respond, choose an approach that fit the moment and see the value of practising with situations that reflected their work.
A response that fits the situationTaking a moment to carefully choose one of the 5 Ds. Every situation is different and needs to be handled differently.
Cambrian staff and faculty feedback
A new option to tryDistract was new for me. I am usually very direct.
Cambrian staff and faculty feedback
Practice they wanted more ofI enjoyed the cases and I would love to have that type of practice and group discussions in the future.
Cambrian staff and faculty feedback
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