Creating a safer campus community
Creating a safer campus community
Living Well expands support for faculty and staff through Green Dot
Living Well is expanding its support for Texas A&M University faculty and staff through Green Dot, a nationally recognized violence prevention and bystander intervention program.
Employee Wellness Specialist Madalyn Smith recently completed Green Dot facilitator training, hosted by Texas A&M Student Life, and is now equipped to provide Green Dot education and training opportunities for faculty and staff. The certification expands Living Well’s ability to support employee well-being by helping individuals recognize concerning situations, safely intervene and create more supportive environments across campus.
At Living Well, supporting employee well-being means more than promoting healthy habits. It means helping create a community where faculty and staff are safe, supported and empowered to thrive as a whole person — and together as a whole community.
“It was an honor and privilege to participate in the recent Green Dot Institute hosted at Texas A&M,” Smith said. “I am excited to be a part of the movement to make campus safer for students, staff and faculty.”
Green Dot provides individuals with the skills and knowledge to identify situations involving power-based personal violence and respond appropriately and safely. The program emphasizes both proactive strategies that help create safe spaces and reactive strategies that empower individuals to intervene when needed.
For Smith, becoming a facilitator was an opportunity to help create a safer campus and expand the ways she serves the Texas A&M community.
“I attended a Green Dot overview many years ago while working at another institution, and I was so grateful for everything I learned during that training,” Smith said. “When I was presented with the opportunity to become a facilitator for this incredible program, I knew I had to do it. I wanted to be a part of the team helping make campus safer for everyone.”
Having a Green Dot facilitator within Living Well reflects the program’s commitment to supporting the whole person. Safety, connection and belonging all play an important role in overall well-being, and Green Dot helps strengthen each of those areas by equipping individuals with practical tools to support others.
“If we want faculty, staff and students to thrive at Texas A&M, they must first feel safe,” Smith said. “Creating more and more green dots, or safe places, on campus will increase everyone’s ability to thrive.”
As a certified facilitator, Smith will help bring Green Dot education directly to faculty and staff, expanding access to violence prevention resources and bystander intervention training for employees across Texas A&M. While her primary focus will be faculty and staff, she can also provide Green Dot training for students.
“I look forward to training members of campus to increase their confidence in creating more proactive green dots (safe spaces) and more reactive green dots (bystander intervention) to decrease personal violence and improve safety for all,” said Smith.
The program reinforces a simple but powerful idea: creating a safer community is a shared responsibility. Small actions, whether checking in on a colleague, offering support or stepping forward when something feels wrong, can have a lasting impact on the people around us.
As Smith prepares to start sharing Green Dot principles with faculty and staff across campus, she hopes to empower more employees to recognize the difference they can make in the lives of those around them.
Through her Green Dot facilitator certification, Smith is helping connect Living Well’s mission of helping employees thrive with Green Dot’s mission of empowering individuals to create safer communities. Together, these efforts are helping faculty and staff feel more supported, connected and confident in caring for one another.
“Maroon and green look good together anyway, don’t they?” said Smith.
Her dedication to fostering a culture of care, safety and support for faculty and staff exemplifies that together, we stand as a force for good.
To learn more about Green Dot or request an overview or training for your department, visit the Green Dot website at https://greendot.tamu.edu/get-involved/.
