Step 2: Choose

While there are many factors as to why people may choose not to intervene, including but not limited to: time, location, biases, age, gender, culture, religion, race/ethnicity, group size, past experiences, safety concerns, and fear, we may sometimes also experience internal dialogues that may prevent us from choosing to take action.

• “Someone else will do something.”
• “It’s not my business.”
• “I am afraid of what can happen to me if intervene.”
• “What if I am wrong?”
• “My friend will be mad at me.”
• “No-one else thinks it’s a problem so it’s not a big deal.”

While it may be helpful to either recognize the situation as a problem, have been asked for help, or have witnessed others intervene, some internal dialogue that may motivate us to choose to take action is listed below:

• “I would want someone to help me or my loved one if I was in that situation.”
• “This is wrong and I need to do something about this.”
• “I am afraid of what will happen if I don’t do anything.”
• “I’ll feel better knowing I did something.”
• “I care about this person, and/ or my community.”