We get it: We live in Wisconsin. As fun as it is to go out and have a drink with friends, it's also important to consider safety, which is why Bolton Refuge House has brought the Safe Bar Training Program to the Chippewa Valley to help improve safety in restaurants and bars when it comes to drinking etiquette and preventing sexual assault. 

Advocates – such as Mobile Sexual Assault Victim Advocate Katelyn Wonderlin – were trained by the Safe Bar Network to educate local eateries on safety when it comes to potential sexual assault while consuming alcohol. 

“It’s really based on talking about both things that you’ve noticed, really drawing the expertise on the staff themselves,” Wonderlin said, "while also drawing on the facts and statistics of sexual assault.”

During this training, advocates and staff of the restaurants discuss past incidents they have noticed, what they could do in the future, and how to initiate a bystander intervention. 

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What this training is getting at is how we can create that community culture of ‘it’s all of our responsibility to prevent someone from getting hurt,’ but also be the supportive person for someone who has survived sexual violence.

Katelyn Wonderlin

Bolton REfuge House

As Wonderlin puts it, bystander intervention doesn’t have to be loud or aggressive; it can simply be coming up with an excuse to pull someone aside and ask if they are alright. Restaurant staff are encouraged to brainstorm their own methods to discretely check with each other and their customers in times of tension. 

“Doing something is better than doing nothing,” Wonderlin said.

This is a free training that Bolton Refuge House offers to anyone interested, in an effort to make the training accessible. Other states have even implemented this program into businesses such as hair salons. You can sign up by calling Bolton House or going onto their website to learn more. 

“What this training is getting at is how we can create that community culture of, ‘It’s all of our responsibility to prevent someone from getting hurt,’ but also be the supportive person for someone who has survived sexual violence,” Wonderlin said. “To create a culture change where that is something that we all respect.”

Learn more about Bolton Refuge House and the Safe Bar Program at boltonrefuge.org.