By VICTORIA STONE-MEADOWS
A TECOMA martial arts group is taking a stand against bullying in the Yarra Ranges.
Paragon Martial Arts has developed the ‘I stand against bullying’ not-for-profit community group and is running workshops open to everyone to equip children and parents with tools to reduce bullying in the community.
Sensei Cameron Gill has been working for 15 years to try and put an end to bullying and recently decided that the dojo needed to take the fight to the next level.
Sempai Michael Robinson said the average bullying rate for children in the Yarra Ranges was almost 50 per cent and affected children of all ages.
“Bullying is even seen in pre-schools, so the workshop is aimed at all ages,” he said
“We are looking to give different tools and tips to different age groups to tackle different problems that children and even adults may face.”
The program has support from local businesses such as Bell Real Estate in Olinda who has put up signage to advertise the workshop.
While the workshop is being run by Paragon Martial Arts, the focus is on a non-physical and non-violent approach to dealing with bullying at schools and workplaces.
“The best self-defence does not use any physical means,” said Sempai Michael.
“Learning to walk away or use words or having other tools to use before escalating to anything physical is what we want to teach.”
The workshop has been designed with the help of psychologists to give people and especially children the skills to prevent bullying.
The main ways the workshop achieves this is by building the child’s confidence and resilience, teaching children to deal with bullying in a positive and constructive way, how to approach schools and other organisations where bullying takes place, how children can approach people within those organisations, and to help children to know what to do if they see someone else being bullied.
Sempai Michael said confidence was very important in learning how to deal with bullying in a constructive way.
“If someone is able to be confident, they are less likely to be a victim and they are more able to deal with it,” he said.
“This confidence transfers into the resilience as well. For example, if someone is calling your kid a name or picking on them, they are able to take it in their stride and not let it damage their self-esteem and that way it’s less likely that whoever is bullying them is less likely to continue.”
The free workshops are open to everyone in the Yarra Ranges and beyond.
Paragon Martial Arts are hoping the more people that get on board the better.
“The more people that know and understand different techniques to deal with bullying in the community, the more people will take a stand against bullying make a change in the community,” said Sempai Michael.
For more information about the workshop call Paragon Martial Arts on 9754 5445 or visit bitly.com/TecomaBullyWorkshop.
