Special Note: To commemorate the release of the revised version of Jodee Blanco's New York Times best-selling memoir, Please Stop Laughing at Me..., The Blanco Group will be offering a special rate to any schools and/or organizations that schedule a speaking engagement by July 15th, 2010 for the Fall of 2010. Please call The Blanco Group for further information.

October is National Anti-Bullying Month: Schedule Jodee to speak at your school during the month of October 2010 and show your community your commitment to address this issue!

Where She’s Been, and Where She’s Going

Jodee Blanco, author of the New York Times best-selling memoir, Please Stop Laughing at Me…, its award winning sequel, Please Stop Laughing At Us: One Survivor’s Extraordinary Quest to Prevent School Bullying, and the Creator and Executive Producer of the It’s NOT Just Joking Around!™ anti-bullying education program understands how it is to be the school outcast, and knows first-hand what it’s like to contemplate “retaliation.”

From 5th grade to the end of high school, she was shunned and tormented by her peers, simply for being different. As an adult, she decided to go public with her story, because she was frustrated with the nation’s perception of the true cause of the school tragedies in Columbine, San Diego, AZ, and dozens of other locations across America

Since the release of her book, Jodee has committed her life full-time to turning her pain into purpose. Inspired by the thousands of letters and speaking requests she receives from students, parents, and teachers, Jodee travels internationally sharing her story of survival and forgiveness in schools, communities, and organizations. In addition to her landmark strides in middle and high schools, she is taking her unprecedented approach to university campuses in an effort to help fraternities and sororities survive and prevent hazing incidents with her program, The Desperate Freshman™. One of the nation’s most sought-after keynote speakers and seminar presenters, Jodee’s anti-bullying initiatives redefine the scope of possibilities for curbing suffering in our schools from kindergarten through college world-wide.

Some of her most note-worthy accomplishments include:

• In the last six years, she and her team have successfully intervened in over two-dozen bullying-related suicides, averted a school bombing, thwarted a murder-suicide attempt by a lonely, angry seventh grade boy, and disarmed a student with knife.

• Her book Please Stop Laughing at Me…, released on the day war was declared in Iraq, shot straight to the New York Times Best-Seller list in less than 48 hours, on word-of-mouth alone.

• The United States Department of Justice and the United States Department of Interior sponsored Jodee to speak at schools and conventions. The National Crime Prevention Council,  the United States Department of Health and Human Services,  have recognized Jodee’s memoir as an essential resource for parents, students and educators.

• The National Catholic Educational Association reached out to Jodee to conduct an unprecedented series of annual seminars which continue to generate standing-room crowds and have marked a turning point for the organization and its approach to bullying.

• Jodee is regularly sought after as a crisis management expert and consultant by schools, families, legal professionals, government officials, and the national media including HLN’s Nancy Grace, NBC, FOX, USA Today, Newsweek among others to help America understand the emotional reasons behind the behavior of American students.

* Jodee is the go-to expert on bullying related breaking stories for HLN’s “Prime News with Mike Galanos,” “Issues with Jane Velez Mitchell, CNN.com, among others.

• Please Stop Laughing at Me… is required reading in hundreds of middle and high schools, colleges, and universities coast to coast.

Finally, someone does understand. Jodee Blanco is honest, insightful, and one of the most perceptive experts on the subjects of peer abuse, hazing and school violence speaking out today. This survivor turned activist will provide a point
of view that will open your eyes to a whole new world of understanding about this subject.

Contact: The Blanco Group 708- 873-9225 or info@jodeeblanco.com

Invite anti-bullying activist Jodee Blanco to speak at your school, or to your group. She understands first-hand the reality of being the school outcast. From fifth grade through senior year of high school, she was shunned, abused and tormented by her peers simply for being different and refusing to conform to the rules of the cool crowd.

Jodee’s story however has a happy ending. She not only survived those years of ostracism and pain, but she grew up to become a highly successful entrepreneur.  Her brave memoir PLEASE STOP LAUGHING AT ME… landed a spot on the New York Times Best-Seller list within 48 hours of its release, and climbed steadily for six straight weeks. Each day, she receives dozens of emails and letters from students, parents, educators, and “Adult Survivors of Peer Abuse,” like herself from across the country, thanking her for her courage, advice, and the hope she represents.

Elected Government officials – Jodee will work with you on anti-bullying legislation and speak to your assembly on behalf of the bill.

Student Presentation(s)
The student presentation(s) is ninety minutes.  I relive painful episodes from my past in front of the students so that they can witness firsthand what I endured at the hands of my peers.  It’s emotional and intense and allows the audience to live inside the heart and head of the bullying victim.  My primary message to students is three fold: bullying is not just joking around, it damages you for life; bullying just isn’t the mean things you do, it’s all the nice things you never do; and if you’re being bullied or shunned, there’s nothing wrong with you, it’s everything that’s right about you that makes you a target, and that you shouldn’t change for anyone, it is those who put you down who need to change.  In addition to the re-enactment of my school days, during which that tri-teared message is continually reinforced, I also give students specific advice on how to handle what I call “elite tormentors,” the mean members of the cool crowd.   I conclude the presentation with an empathy exercise for students that brings my anti-bullying message home on a visceral and deeply personal level. 

Depending upon the size of the school/district, I can do one or two student presentations to accommodate all the students.  Bear in mind, the student presentations are age-appropriate and divided as follows:

K-4
6-8
9-12

Fifth graders can attend the elementary school or middle school age presentation.  It’s up to the discretion of the school which presentation they feel would be better suited for their particular fifth grade class.  Some schools are already experiencing pronounced, sophisticated forms of bullying at the fifth grade level and feel their fifth graders need a stronger, “big kid” approach.  Others are more comfortable with their fifth graders attending the elementary school presentation, which communicates the same basic message, but more softly and simply. It all depends upon the level of bullying in fifth grade at each particular school and what administration thinks will have the strongest impact. 

After the student presentation(s), I make myself available to do one-on-one sessions with any students who wish to speak with me. Typically, those students will include victims who want a sympathetic ear and “elite tormentors” who never realized they were cruel until they heard my talk, and now want my advice on how to make amends to their victims.

Teacher Workshop
I can enlighten the students and inspire them to be more compassionate, but if I don’t educate teachers on how to maintain that new level of empathy and tolerance in their students, then I’ve fallen short of my goal.  To that end, the teacher workshop is a comprehensive, ninety-minute (I can do it in an hour but prefer the extra thirty minutes for a question and answer period) presentation during which I offer specific strategies and initiatives along with scripted verbiage teachers can use with students. 

The workshop includes: what you should never say to a bullied student and why; what you should say and do; the two types of educators and how to determine which one you are and why this is important to know when dealing with a bullied child; the difference between authority and emotional credibility and how it can impact a students’ willingness to trust in you;  how the bully and the victim are flipsides of the same coin and how to assist both; the two types of bullying and why one is innocuous and the other dangerous; the two types of popular students; the typical profile of the bullied child; how to intervene with a bullied student one-on-one; how to intervene in a bullying situation with a group or in the classroom; programs that can be implemented institutionally that help to shift the social dynamic of the school from the inside out;  curriculum enhancements that provide teachers with creative new approaches for incorporating anti-bullying messages into established lesson plans and subject matter; why traditional punishment doesn’t always work and can even lead to incidents of school violence; a new form of discipline called Compassionate Discipline Driven by Curiosity that offers a creative, and effective alternative to traditional punishment; among other detailed information. 

I also share deeply personal insights such as: the worst mistakes my teachers made and how I wish they would have handled things differently; the most common complaints I hear from bullied students today, and what they want their teachers to know but don’t have the courage to tell them.  At the end of this workshop, teachers will have concrete knowledge about what to do to help both the bullies and the victims in their classrooms.  They will have scripted verbiage, specific strategies, easily implementable programs with guidelines and creative suggestions, and other valuable tools that only someone who was bullied and survived, and is working with thousands of other students who are going through the same thing she once did could provide.  This is an honest and exciting workshop that not only informs participants, but also celebrates their energy and commitment to youth.

Note on Teacher Workshop:  it’s strongly recommended all faculty members who will be attending the teacher workshop attend the student presentation first—when they hear for themselves what I went through and witness first-hand their students’ response to my story, it elevates their trust in me to another level and sets the tone for a richer workshop experience.
The Parent/Family Seminar
My objective is to impact students by also enlisting the informed support of those who have the greatest influence in their lives—their peers, their teachers, and of course, their parents.  The Parent/Family Seminar is a two-hour evening seminar open to the public.  The reason I like to keep it open to the public is that it generates wonderful PR for the school district and sends a message to the community that bullying prevention is everyone’s responsibility and not only our nation’s schools.

The Parent/Family seminar is divided into three parts: an annotated version of my student seminar during which parents not only experience what their children did earlier in the day but they learn how their children responded, thus sparking healthy parent/child dialogue; a comprehensive workshop describing the warning signs your child may be a bully or a victim, how to intervene successfully, how to deal with the parents of the bullies and/or victim, how to deal with the school, how to find and work with a qualified therapist, why some children are targeted by bullies more than others, how to spot the warning signs your child may be suicidal due to bullying or may be contemplating violence, where to turn for support, how to help your child create an interim social life until issues at school can be resolved, and other vital information.

I also share deeply personal insights about the mistakes my own parents made and how to avoid them, as well as what my parents did that worked and why.  I also reveal wonderful ideas that I’ve learned from other parents whom I’ve met working in schools across the country. Lastly, I do a book signing, which I typically arrange through whatever local bookstore the school district has a relationship with.  Afterwards, I stay and meet with any families who want time alone with me to talk.

We often get asked if this is an appropriate event for kids-not only is it appropriate for children but we encourage parents to bring their children. This event is rated PG.

Note on the Parent/Family Seminar: it isn’t only parents who attend this seminar—often Adult Survivors of Peer Abuse who live in the community will attend—many of them can be wonderful resources in the school district’s anti-bullying efforts.

A Sampling of Select Available Offerings
Note:  For pricing specifics please contact our office as pricing may vary, depending on time of year, duration of speaking engagement, among other considerations.

Outlined below are some package options we offer.  Bear in mind we can tailor Jodee’s presentations to fit your specific needs and focus.

I offer an innovative approach to bullying and peer abuse – an approach from the perspective of a survivor, who to this day, still copes with the aftermath of the abuse that she endured.

How many teachers, counselors, and administrators, are “Adult Survivors of Peer Abuse” that have never come to terms with the fact that they were bullied? What about the adults who were the bullies – those rare few who have the courage to admit it, and carry the burden of guilt every day? How many adult bullies work in the American school system now? These adults teach our children, but what are they teaching? What messages are they verbally and silently sending? It’s NOTJust Joking Around!™ is the only program that teaches and supports faculty and staff as they reconcile their own feelings about the issue. Even for adults, change comes from the inside out, not the outside in.

When working with a student, I understand that motivation for change must be found within, and supported by those around. With the guidance and compassion that can only come from a survivor, I welcome the continued opportunity to help provide our youth an emotionally safe environment to learn. If they are afraid to come to school, and afraid at school and after school how can they possibly focus on their studies? A confident child is harder to bully, a compassionate child will not bully.

FOLLOW UP

Personal consultations by phone with Jodee for individuals and families are available by appointment.

Schools and organizations often schedule consulting hours when booking seminars and workshops.


For availability and consulting fees, please contact
The Blanco Group.