Be the Hero!
Be the Hero! is a web based violence prevention program that specifically addresses men’s violence against women. Developed by the Victorian Women's Trust in 2008 to educate boys and young men about domestic violence, Be the Hero! has now been delivered by NIRODAH staff to numerous groups of young people throughout Australia.
NIRODAH has continued to develop Be the Hero! into a cutting edge program that incorporates multimedia as a key teaching pedagogy. We have now successfully taken the program into Juvenile Justice settings, coeducational classes, community men’s groups and, most recently, developed a version tailored specifically for Netball Australia named Expect Respect. This program was successfully delivered to over 300 young women in the Under 21, Under 19 and Under 17 squads at the 2013 National Championships.
NIRODAH has continued to develop Be the Hero! into a cutting edge program that incorporates multimedia as a key teaching pedagogy. We have now successfully taken the program into Juvenile Justice settings, coeducational classes, community men’s groups and, most recently, developed a version tailored specifically for Netball Australia named Expect Respect. This program was successfully delivered to over 300 young women in the Under 21, Under 19 and Under 17 squads at the 2013 National Championships.
NIRODAH has delivered the program to Reservoir High with great success and has been contracted by the Victorian Rugby League to take the Be the Hero! program to all 11 VRL Clubs.
The Victorian Women's Trust and NIRODAH are at the forefront of bystander education in Australia. Based largely upon the work done by Jackson Katz, the American anti violence educator, we have delivered bystander training to individuals and school groups since 2010 and have now refined this violence prevention strategy as the key impact practice of the program. Our ongoing delivery of bystander education to Melbourne Storm Rugby League Club, Netball Australia representative teams and the innovative reach into Aboriginal audiences in 2013 means there is no other organisation in Australia who can boast our experience and expertise.
Listen to the NIRODAH 'Be the Hero!' song written by Sam Hassler and performed by Mumblr.
Excerpts taken from Parade College newsletter praising NIRODAH and the Be the Hero! program:
The “Be the Hero!” unit is a program that was conceived and designed by the Victorian Women’s Trust. The program is for young men and is a violence prevention program which encourages young men to build respectful relationships with women and each other. It demonstrates that anyone can be the hero by choosing to live a life free of violence. This program was presented to our Year 10 Pathways boys on Monday afternoons and the sessions were headed by Mr Paul Zappa and his team consisting of Mr Dan Cocker and Ms Nicole Kahhan. We had five sessions in Term 1 and had two final sessions the first two Mondays of Term 2. During the two sessions in Term 2 the team was joined by Dr Christine Dew who is the Prevention Project Co-ordinator for the Good Samaritan Inn. The Good Samaritan Inn helped to sponsor Paul and his team.
During these workshops a number of issues were discussed including; respectful relationships, the use of violence among young men and how to control emotions, gender matters discussing the relationships between men and women and what it means to be a man. The sessions were always hands-on for the boys as they did a lot of discussion and role playing as part of their learning.“I have learned about good and bad behaviour toward women and made me think about respecting the rights of others.”
“During the “Be the Hero! Program” I personally learned alot of new things and skills. It is important to help friends keep out of trouble and also learned how to show empathy towards others.”
“We learned how to respect people but especially girls and keeping ourselves and friends out of trouble.”
”We learned about the different types of violence, physical, emotional, cyber, sexual and financial.“
"I think the “Be the Hero! Program” has made us a better bunch of boys and taught us to think twice before hurting any person’s feelings.”
" I was amazed when my son made a decision regarding his relationship and told me that he felt confident to do so because of what he learnt through the Be the Hero! program that was offered at Parade College." -Parent of a Year 9 Parade College student, May 2015
You can
‘Be the Hero’
by simply choosing to respect women, and live a life free of violence.
By thinking about the sort of man you want to become, you too can be
part of a growing movement of men who want to stand up and be counted
in rejecting violence.
Violence is preventable. You can be part of the solution.
Students from Warrnambool College, Thornbury High School Reservoir High and Roxburgh Secondary College participating in the
Be the Hero!
program.
Visit the Clontarf Academy website for a recap and more pictures of NIRODAH and Melbourne Storm.
Visit the Clontarf Academy website for a recap and more pictures of NIRODAH and Melbourne Storm.