Green Dot, it's all about prevention Published Dec. 12, 2016 By Senior Airman Aja Heiden 482nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs HOMESTEAD AIR RESERVE BASE, Fla. -- This year the Air Force lead the way in adopting the Green Dot program, a program designed to prevent power-based personal violence, and implemented it to all reserve component members, active duty and civilian personnel. Green Dot prepares organizations to implement a strategy of violence prevention that reduces power-based interpersonal violence, which includes not only sexual violence, but also domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, child abuse, elder abuse, and bullying. “Currently the Air Force is the only military branch offering the Green Dot training, but other branches will use it soon,” said Senior Master Sgt. Leola Harrell, 482nd Medical Squadron Green Dot trainer. “Green Dot is the Air Force’s first step in arming Airmen for violence prevention using an evidence based public health model,” said Dr. Andra Tharp, the Air Force’s highly qualified prevention expert. “Although that sounds complicated, really what it means is that we know Airmen are a vital part of the solution and we will use methods like this that have been subjected to rigorous scientific testing and were proven to be effective in reducing violence.” Green Dot takes a different approach to the annual sexual assault prevention training by looking at it as a larger issue. “In the past we have had trainings that focused on bystander intervention, where an Airman can prevent a sexual assault from happening by intervening before an assault occurs; now we are broadening the training to prevent power-based violence,” said Veronica Sforza, the 482nd Fighter Wing Sexual Assault Response Coordinator. This program is an interactive training that asks Airmen to take action and make choices that will make one small corner of the world safer. Reflective of Green Dot’s wider scope, command-designated Airmen at each installation will conduct 50-minute long sessions across the Air Force. Installation leadership will also have oversight of Green Dot through the Community Action Information Board and Integrated Delivery System, and track completion through the Advanced Distributed Learning System. The program uses red dots, which represent cases of violence such as a punch, a threat or an assault, and green dots, which represent situations where someone made a choice to intervene before a red dot occurred. The goal of the visual illustration is to demonstrate the power of taking action. Although the current installment of Green Dot is closing there are more trainings ahead. “This is the last month for this Green Dot segment but we are looking into merging suicide prevention and sexual assault prevention so Airmen have more time to focus on their daily jobs, said Sforza.” Even with the Green Dot training ending, there are lessons that Airmen can take with them into the future. “No one has to do everything, but everyone has to do something”, said Harrell.