About Safe School Ambassadors

Senate Bill 7026 – Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, has prompted a new emphasis on school safety and mental health. To foster both, Safe Schools offers SSA training in elementary, middle, and high schools.

The School District of Palm Beach County began the implementation of the Safe School Ambassadors ® Program (SSA), in 2000. SSA is an international program that enables schools to develop a cadre of motivated, trained, and supported student opinion leaders who de-escalate conflict and reduce exclusion, cruel humor, bullying, and other forms of mistreatment on their campuses.

Characteristics of SSAs

Students who join SSA exhibit strong social and emotional competencies of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. They are socially confident individuals who have the inner strength to express an opinion or take an action that contradicts the opinions and actions of friends. SSAs are able to tune in to social and interpersonal indicators of stress and they are willing to help when they recognize that stress exists.

SSAs Reasonable Allies; Skilled Listeners; Gently Guides; Persuasive Diplomats; and Ethical Interventionists.

SSAs are not: Bodyguards; Safety Patrols; Hall Monitors; Social Police; or Spies.

SSAs from grades 4-12 are recruited, trained, and supported by Safe Schools’ personnel in conjunction with school staff. Training sessions typically take place on the school’s campus and include initial training and 30-40 minute follow-up support meetings that take place every two to three weeks during non-academic times. Most schools maintain a group of 25-40 SSAs.

Mediation is a method of solving interpersonal problems with the help of a neutral third party who guides a strategic conversation between disputants or people in the disagreement. Some advantages of using mediation are listed below.

The details of the process are private. Mediators are not allowed to report details of the discussion to outside parties, including referring supervisors, without the permission of the disputants.

The disputants retain the power to plan their own remedies rather than having decisions imposed by others.

Future interaction between disputants tends to be much more positive by virtue of having resolved issues together.

What is Peer Mediation?

Peer mediation is mediation conducted by trained students for their classmates, under the supervision of adult counselors. Trainers from The Department of Safe Schools assist school staff in the process of identifying, training, and supporting peer mediators.

Who is Eligible for Services?

Restorative Circles provide a structured process of resolving differences and building relationships within groups of people.

Ask about Mediation, Peer Mediation, and Restorative Circles at your child’s school.

• Recognize the early signs of mental illness and distress.
• Conduct a compassionate conversation with a young person in need of assistance.
• Refer a young person to sources of help within the school District and the community.
• Intervene successfully in both crisis situations, i.e., non-suicidal self-harm, panic attacks, suicidal ideation, and non-crisis situations.

This highly interactive class is taught in full-day or half-day formats. Participants who complete the face-to-face and follow-up components are eligible to receive 16 in-service points. All levels and categories of employees  and community members are encouraged to participate.