About Jeff Veley
Jeff Veley is a mental health professional that’s insanely entertaining. Despite extraordinary challenges, he learned how to make friends and manage enemies. Today, he’s a speaker who travels the globe empowering kids and grownups. His fun presentations inspire students to be resilient – teaching them how to leverage their adversities for psychological growth.
Jeff’s simple strategies for bullying prevention have reached 1 million people and earned two international awards for effectiveness in conflict resolution. As a result, he’s recognized as a Peace Ambassador by the United Nations. A social misfit turned social skills educator, Jeff is able to connect with kids from all walks of life and provide the skills necessary to overcome life’s challenges.
A Psychological Approach to Bullying & Conflict Resolution
The “Peace Sign Approach” simplifies responding to social aggression into simple steps.
Unlike traditional anti-bullying programs that focus on stopping “bullies”, rely on school-wide systems, and take significant time to implement, the “Peace Sign” is a psychological approach that empowers targets of social aggression. It can be put into effect immediately to help students stop mean behavior and resolve relational conflicts in as little as one week.
The “Peace Sign Approach” empowers students to face adversity, grow in resilience, and solve their own social problems. It is an effective approach for bullying prevention, intervention, and response.
- Golden Rule International Award recipient for effectiveness in conflict resolution.
- World Civility International Award recipient for excellence in bullying prevention.
“Our school counselor has been passionately reviewing the peace sign with many of our students. I am also glad to hear it is still beneficial to them even a year later!”
— Abby Giroux, Principal, All Saints Academy
FOR STUDENTS:
TWO STEPS TO STOP BULLYING AND
SOLVE SOCIAL PROBLEMS
FOR ADULTS:
FOUR STEPS TO RESPOND TO BULLYING
AND EMPOWER TARGETS OF AGGRESSION
The “Peace Sign Approach” is based on best practices including social and emotional learning, resilience education, cognitive behavior therapy, and rational emotive behavioral therapy.
It is in harmony with Love & Logic, WhyTry Resilience Education, PBIS, Character Education, Conscious Discipline, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Merrill’s Strong Kids, Bucket Fillers, The Four Agreements, The Golden Rule, and wisdom from the ages.
Letter from Jeff – Bullying Prevention Specialist
“Ignore it, walk away, tell an adult…” For years, kids have heard the same message when it comes to ending bullying, yet the problem has gotten worse. This year alone, 3.2 million young people will be victimized, making it the largest issue impacting youth in America. Today, 1 in 6 students (that’s 160,000) skipped school for fear of being bullied. Despite the millions of dollars spent on anti-bullying programs, the problem grows worse. What might happen if we taught kids how to solve their own social problems?
As someone who’s worked in the mental health field and was a victim myself, the response to bullying has always puzzled me. I was trained to help victims of trauma by equipping them with social and emotional skills. The goal was to help youth feel empowered to respond to adversity. It became clear that most anti-bullying programs weren’t helping victims directly. Instead the focus was to change the environment around the victim and eliminate social conflicts entirely. While these efforts were noble, often targets of aggression were left feeling hopeless, waiting for another person, policy, or program to solve their problem.
The “Peace Sign Approach” faces social aggression head-on. It provides targets with practical skills that they can use immediately to stop mean behavior and solve social conflicts. Rather than relying on others to stop negative behaviors, the “Peace Sign Approach” allows the victim to solve their own social problem, all while building their resilience and confidence.
Students who use the “Peace Sign Approach“ for one week, report that the behavior has stopped or dramatically decreased. This success-rate is unheard of in the anti-bullying industry. It is the reason why this approach has received two international awards for effectiveness in conflict resolution. It would be my honor to share it with your community.
Peace,
Jeff Veley
Youth Speaker|Social Skills Educator|Bullying Prevention Specialist
