Bullying Prevention

The approach used takes an integrative psychoeducational focus that grew out of more than 3 decades of professional development and that uses a layering of therapeutic models. This is the layering of models of counseling-therapy, from beginning to current:

Humanistic —> Behavioral —> Social Learning —> Cognitive-Emotive —> Family Systems —> Integrative-Ecological

There is a strong emphasis on skills learning, emotional support, cognitive reforming, and environmental management components.

Aggression and bullying have a biological antecedent in coming from anger and survival experiences but are learned responses to the environment. They can be reactive and protective by providing defense, and they can be instrumental in helping individuals achieve goals. Behaviors that are learned can yield to more effective behaviors that are also learned, and the bullying prevention work focuses on helping people learn more effective skills in conflict resolution, anger management, problem solving, relationship enhancement, self-care, and community engagement. Skill development can occur through modeling, observational learning, and environmental management. In addition, moral development and others' perspective taking are components of reducing aggression and bullying; behavioral skill development can be used in an abusive and damaging manner without an appreciation of the need for respecting the dignity of others.

Although the intervention demonstrated on the video focuses on work with an individual and his mother, the more common approach to reducing bullying and violence is through systemic interventions with schools and families with a prevention and early intervention emphasis. The goal is to teach teachers, other school personnel, students, families, and community persons effective means of preventing and reducing the problem, providing for a universal application (all students, all classrooms) of effective living skills, combined with a targeted intervention for students engaging in a high rate of bullying or victimization behavior. It was not possible to demonstrate the universal prevention model on this video, but this model is the primary approach for reducing bullying in schools and communities. The emphasis on the video is with an individual who has been both bullied by and aggressive toward others; the universal intervention approach attempts to engage bystanders-those not involved in bullying or victimization behaviors-to become involved to create a "just community" in which all are treated with respect and dignity. There will never be a sufficient number of teachers, counselors, psychologists, or others to stop all the potential aggression that can occur, so just as our neighborhoods have adopted "neighborhood watch" areas, so all students in schools must move from being the observer to taking action to stop the problem.

The typical client would be a student who is bullying others, or who is the recipient of the bullying behaviors. It is imperative that adults become involved because those being victimized by bullies and aggressors lack the skills and resources to manage the problem effectively and may resort to increased avoidance or increased aggression to reduce or eliminate the problem. The universal school approach is less effective when working with "high-rate" aggressive students who have learned that they can only be effective in dealing with others when they are afraid or defeated; with high-rate aggressors, a family or individual approach is likely to be more effective. I would not recommend using this approach if there is no control or influence over the circumstances; to attempt to empower children who have been victimized by bullies without being able to provide protection and safety gives false promise of problem solving, and instead the resources should be spent on environmental change to bring about a community that will provide support for reducing violence and aggression.

Arthur M. Horne completed his PhD at Southern Illinois University in 1971. He taught at Indiana State University from 1971 until 1989, during which time he served as a member of the faculty and director of training of the Counseling Psychology Program, which is accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA). He also was a member of the Marriage and Family Therapy Program accredited by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, and he twice served as acting department head. During that time, he also was a visiting professor for the Boston University Overseas Program (Germany, Belgium) and a summer visiting professor to several university programs in the United States. He completed a postdoctoral clinical research experience in 1977–1978. In 1989, he accepted a position at the University of Georgia where he served as department head (4 years) and as director of training of the APA-accredited Counseling Psychology Program (8 years), as well as coordinator of a certificate program in marriage and family therapy (13 years).

Dr. Horne has been active in the APA, where he is a fellow of four divisions (Society of Counseling Psychology, Family Psychology, Group Psychology and Group Psychotherapy, Society for the Psychology Study of Men and Masculinity), and the American Counseling Association, where he is involved with the Association of Counselor Educators and Supervisors and the Association for Specialists in Group Work. In the Association for Specialists in Group Work, he is a fellow and past president, and he is the former editor of the organization's Journal for Specialists in Group Work. In the APA, he is the past president of Division 49, Group Psychology and Group Psychotherapy. He has coauthored five books and coedited five others and has served on editorial boards of seven journals. He is the immediate past editor of the International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling.

Dr. Horne has conducted the Bully Project in Athens for 9 years. The project has resulted in working with schools in several states, the publication of two books, Bully Busting (Newman, Horne, & Bartolomucci, 2000) and Bully Busting in the Elementary School (Horne, Bartolomucci, & Newman, 2003), as well as several research and educational publications. The Bully Project is currently being evaluated in several elementary and middle schools. Dr. Horne coedited the Handbook of Counseling Boys and Adolescent Males (1999), and he has conducted research and training on working with boys and male adolescents and with men in groups for more than a decade. He has conducted workshops and classes on men's issues in the United States, New Zealand, and Germany and has been a trainer for the U.S. Army on addressing male issues of violence and aggression.

Articles

• Newman, D., & Horne, A. (2004). The effectiveness of a psychoeducational intervention for classroom teachers aimed at reducing bullying behavior in middle school students. Journal of Counseling and Development, 82, 259–267.
• Orpinas, P., Horne, A., & Multi-site Violence Prevention Project. (2004). A teacher-focused approach to prevent and reduce students' aggressive behavior: the GREAT Teacher Program. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 26 (Suppl. 1), 29–38.

Books

• Guerra, N. G., & Smith, E. P. (Eds.). (2006). Preventing youth violence in a multicultural society. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
• Horne, A. M., Bartolomucci, C., & Newman, D. (2003). Bully busters for elementary schools. Champaign, IL: Research Press.
• Horne, A. M., Stoddard, J., & Bell, C. (2006). Bully busters for parents. Champaign, IL: Research Press.
• Newman, D., Horne, A. M., & Bartolomucci, C. (2000). Bully busters: A manual for bully reduction in schools. Champaign, IL: Research Press.
• Orpinas, P., & Horne, A. M. (2006). Bullying prevention: Creating a positive school climate and developing social competence. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Book Chapters

• Horne, A. M., & Orpinas, P. (2003). Childhood bullying. In M. Bloom & T. Gullotta (Eds.), Encyclopedia of prevention and health promotion (pp. 233–240). New York: Kluwer Academic.
• Horne, A. M., Orpinas, P., Newman-Carlson, D., & Bartolomucci, C. L. (2003). Elementary school Bully Busters Program: Understanding why children bully and what to do about it. In D. Espelage & S. Swearer (Eds.), Bullying in American schools: A social-ecological perspective on prevention and intervention (pp. 297–325) . Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Orpinas, P., & Horne, A. (2006). Bullies and victims: A challenge for schools. In J. R. Lutzker (Ed.), Preventing Violence: Research and evidence-based intervention strategies (pp. 147–165). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

APA Videos

• Consulting With Teachers
  Jon Carlson and William Glasser
• Harm Reduction With High School Students
  Mary E. Larimer
• Working With Children Who Have Experienced Neglect or Abuse
  Wes Crenshaw
  

APA Books

• Antisocial Behavior in Children and Adolescents: A Developmental Analysis and Model for Intervention
  John B. Reid, Gerald R. Patterson, and James J. Snyder
• A Place to Call Home: After-School Programs for Urban Youth
  Barton J. Hirsch
• Bullying Prevention: Creating a Positive School Climate and Developing Social Competence
  Pamela Orpinas and Arthur M. Horne
• Children's Peer Relations: From Development to Intervention
  Edited by Janis B. Kupersmidt and Kenneth A. Dodge
• Helping Others Help Children: Clinical Supervision of Child Psychotherapy
  Edited by T. Kerby Neill
• Preventing Violence: Research and Evidence-Based Intervention Strategies
  Edited by John R. Lutzker
• Psychosocial Treatments for Child and Adolescent Disorders: Empirically Based Strategies for Clinical Practice, Second Edition
  Edited by Euthymia D. Hibbs and Peter S. Jensen
• School-Based Mental Health Services: Creating Comprehensive and Culturally Specific Programs
  Bonnie Kaul Nastasi, Rachel Bernstein Moore, and Kristen M. Varjas
• School-Based Prevention for Children at Risk: The Primary Mental Health Project
  Emory L. Cowen, A. Dirk Hightower, JoAnne L. Pedro-Carroll, William C. Work, Peter A. Wyman, with William G. Haffey
• Stalking in Children and Adolescents: The Primitive Bond
  Joseph T. McCann
• Treatments That Work With Children: Empirically Supported Strategies for Managing Childhood Problems
  Edward R. Christopherson and Susan L. Mortweet
• Violence Against Children in the Family and the Community
  Edited by Penelope K. Trickett and Cynthia D. Schellenbach
• Working With Parents of Aggressive Children: A Practitioner's Guide
  Timothy A. Cavell

Magination Press Books

• Blue Cheese Breath and Stinky Feet: How to Deal with Bullies
  Catherine Depino; Illustrated by Bonnie Matthews and Charles Beyl
• Too Nice
  Marjorie White Pellegrino; Illustrated by Bonnie Matthews