Updated July 1, 2025 at 10:13 PM EDT
This story was originally published in May of 2021 and has been updated.
Chances are, you've already witnessed something as a bystander. Maybe, as a kid on a playground, you saw another kid being bullied. Perhaps as a teenager at a party, you saw someone being sexually harassed. Or, as an adult on a bus, you saw someone being attacked.
If you find yourself in a situation where you sense someone needs help and you'd like to intervene, Gabriela Mejia, a former training and communications associate with the anti-harassment training organization Right to Be, has some advice. "Show up with a way to deescalate a situation to not make it more dangerous for the person being harassed," she says.
She shares the "5Ds" of bystander intervention, developed by Right to Be and the bystander program Green Dot.
This comic, illustrated by Connie Hanzhang Jin, is based on a Life Kit episode on the same topic. The podcast version is hosted by Ruth Tam and was produced by Clare Marie Schneider. The visuals editor is Beck Harlan.
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