Queen’s University bullying prevention expert Wendy Craig (Psychology) is joining forces with Facebook and a number of other agencies to launch the Be Bold: Stop Bullying Campaign during Bullying Awareness Week.

Dr. Craig is the scientific co-director of Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network (PREVNet), the Queen’s-based Canadian authority on research and resources for bullying prevention in partnership with York University.

“PREVNet is pleased to partner with Facebook on this very important social media initiative,” says Dr. Craig. “In order to address electronic bullying, we need to engage with youth in the online medium where they are socializing and interacting.”

The campaign centres on an interactive social media pledge app that enables teens, parents and educators to make a personal commitment to help stop bullying. Using the app, they can share their pledge and stories with friends and family, recruit others to join them in this commitment and start their own school-based bullying prevention groups on Facebook.

“Promoting safety, online and off, is a top priority for Facebook,” says Jordan Banks, Managing Director, Facebook Canada. “Our goal with Be Bold: Stop Bullying is to raise awareness of the simple, yet powerful, actions that teens, parents and educators can take to prevent bullying.”

Other partners in the campaign include the Family Channel, Concerned Children’s Advertisers, Kids Help Phone, MediaSmarts, Free The Children and STOPcyberbullying.org.