Professional Development Resources Publishes First Video Streaming Course on Bullying Prevention

    JACKSONVILLE, FL, April 30, 2014 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Professional Development Resources, a national provider of accredited continuing education units for psychologists, social workers, counselors, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, and dietitians, has announced a new addition to its continuing education (CE) curriculum for health professionals: Bullying Prevention: Raising Strong Kids by Responding to Hurtful & Harmful Behavior. The course is the first in the company's upcoming series of video streaming courses.

The presentation was developed in partnership with A+ Solutions, a practice group specializing in educational services to schools and families. Specialties include psychology, school psychology, social work, special education, speech-language pathology, professional counseling, and parent outreach.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), bullying, particularly among school-age children, is a major public health problem both domestically and internationally. Current estimates suggest that nearly 30% of American adolescents reported at least moderate bullying experiences as the bully, the victim, or both. Specifically, of a nationally representative sample of adolescents, 13% reported being a bully, 11% reported being a victim of bullying, and 6% reported being both a bully and a victim.

While many researchers continue to examine the risk and protective factors associated with bullying experiences, others are working to design, implement, and evaluate bully prevention interventions aimed at reducing bully victimization and perpetration, as well as increasing prosocial bystander involvement in bullying situations. This new video course falls into the latter category.

"Among all of the topics for which we have published CE courses for health and mental health professionals, this one stands out in my mind as one of the most important training experiences clinicians and teachers can have," says Leo Christie, PhD, CEO of Professional Development Resources. "The problem of bullying is pervasive and growing, and professionals, teachers, and parents need to have effective strategies at their fingertips. Those strategies are taught and illustrated in this course.

"The bonus is that this course is a streamed video course that can be taken on one's computer or mobile device. The "new CE" is the ultimate in convenience and accessibility because you can take it with you anywhere there is Internet. If I have a small slot of time available somewhere in my busy day, I can pull out my iPad and start viewing this course."

Bullying Prevention: Raising Strong Kids by Responding to Hurtful & Harmful Behavior starts with a thoughtful definition of "bullying" and goes on to illustrate the functional roles of the three participant groups: the targeted individuals, the bullies, and the bystanders. The speaker discusses the concepts of resiliency, empathy, and growth/fixed mindsets, and considers the pros and cons of alternative responses to harmful behavior. Included also are a variety of effective responses adults can use when they become aware of bullying behavior, as well as an examination of the questionable utility of zero tolerance policies.

The speaker, Amy Burzinski, who is a Licensed Independent Social Worker, utilizes multiple examples and scenarios to propose strategies and techniques intended to offer connection, support and reframing to targeted individuals, motivation to change in the form of progressive, escalating consequences to bullies, and multiple intervention options to bystanders. Further segments discuss ways in which schools can create safe, pro-social climates.

Those who complete this course will learn a functional definition of bullying, describe and illustrate effective strategies for reducing and managing bullying behavior, explain the critical role of resilience in addressing bullying, list best practices to use with targeted youth, aggressive youth, and bystanders, and - finally - discuss ways in which schools can create safer environments.

About Professional Development Resources, Inc.

Professional Development Resources is a Florida nonprofit educational corporation founded in 1992 by licensed marriage and family therapist Leo Christie, PhD. The company, which is accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA), the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB), the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), and the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR) - as well as many other national and state boards - has focused its efforts on making accredited continuing education units more cost-effective and widely accessible to health professionals by offering online home study coursework. Its current expanded curriculum includes a wide variety of clinical topics intended to equip health professionals to offer state-of-the art services to their clients.

Contact:
Leo Christie, PhD, CEO
Professional Development Resources, Inc.
904-645-3456
http://www.pdresources.org

Professional Development Resources, Inc. is a Florida nonprofit educational corporation 501(c)(3) organized in 1992. Our mission is to provide busy health care professionals with accredited continuing education units on topics that are vital to contemporary clinical practice. In addition to our staff, we have a Professional Advisory Board consisting of accomplished professionals representing disciplines for which we offer our CEU credits. We are located in Jacksonville, Florida. Federal Tax ID 59-3138625.

# # #