Military Briefs and Training
Dr. John Foubert is a frequent speaker on military bases on topics such as:
Rape Prevention
Bystander Intervention
The Harms of Pornography
How Trauma Effects the Brain and Body
PTSD and Rape Survivor Behavior & Memory
Perpetrator Behavior
Understanding the Rape Survivor Experience
Dr. Foubert has extensive experience working with the military in addition to his role as a college professor and dean who studies sexual assault prevention and the harms of pornography. From 2017-2022 Dr. Foubert served the U.S. Army G1, Army Resilience Directorate, as their Highly Qualified Expert (HQE) for Rape Prevention as part of the Senior Executive Service (SES). Part of his duties included training military personnel about the topics mentioned above.
In addition, Dr. Foubert briefed the leaders of SAPRO at the Pentagon about how to prevent sexual violence. In addition, he has testified before Congress, briefing the House Armed Services Committee subcommittee on Military Personnel regarding how to prevent rape in the military.
Dr. Foubert worked as a consultant for a decade with the U.S. Naval Academy. He was a chief architect and author of the USNA SHAPE program -- a 16 part educational program for midshipmen about sexual violence. He also partnered with the U.S. Army in Europe (USAREUR) to write a military-specific rape prevention program. At the end of this work, he briefed 4 star General Carter Hamm on the findings, demonstrating significantly improved attitudes, likelihood of raping, and bystander intervention among non-commissioned officers.
Below are several programs he often presents to military audiences:
Understanding Rape Survivor Experiences and Bystander Intervention
This brief opens with a non-confrontational tone, defining rape and sexual assault. Next, participants view a 15 minute video where a police trainer describes a rape experience that is used to develop participant's understanding of and empathy toward female and male rape survivors. Participants learn to help a survivors recover from a rape experience who comes to them seeking assistance and support. Participants also engage in an interactive discussion of bystander intervention scenarios involving alcohol and sexual assault. Peer-reviewed articles have shown that this brief not only teaches participants how to help survivors recover from rape and but it also increases participants' empathy toward rape survivors. In addition, high risk men who see the brief commit 40% fewer incidents of sexual assault than men who don't. This brief can be presented to any size audience. A ‘train the trainers’ workshop can be done for anywhere from 4-20 trainers in 15 hours – usually over 2 days.
Time: 1 hour presentation or 15 hour train-the-trainers.
Rape Trauma and The Brain: How to Interpret Statements Made by Survivors
The point of this session is to teach participants how the brain and body react to sexual trauma, and why those who survive rape act and say things that can be counterintuitive. In this session, research is reviewed regarding what happens in a trauma survivor’s brain during an assault. This is done so that participants can better understand the sometimes confusing reactions that people have to being sexually assaulted. A real-world case of trauma caused by rape is then reviewed as a way to exemplify the material. Next, the presenter reviews the stages of PTSD and, in an interactive fashion, has participants compare a case study of rape to the stages of PTSD. Participants come up with dialogues that are likely to be used by rape survivors in various stages of PTSD. This is done so that participants can understand how survivors often change how they describe the assault and, at times, may even deny that it occurred.
Time: This session takes 60-75 minutes to present. Time for Q&A can be added as desired.
How Pornography Harms: What Everyone Should Know
Pornography is menacing people, relationships, society, and especially our children. In this brief, Dr. Foubert brings a scholarly perspective to the complex threat pornography poses: how it affects the brain, how it is a recipe for sexual violence, how it leads to depression, anxiety, sexual dysfunction, and lower life satisfaction. This lively brief shares the results of extensive research and interviews with people who have a wide variety of experiences with pornography. Information on how to get help with troublesome pornography use is included. This provocative brief will give you a lot to think about.
Time: This session takes about 60 minutes to present, you can add time for Q&A as desired.
Survivor and Perpetrator Characteristics: What You Should Know
A discussion of the common characteristics of survivors and the common characteristics of perpetrators are reviewed, in order to advance participants’ understanding of who is most likely to assault and be assaulted. A video clip is used to teach audience members the techniques often used by perpetrators. An interactive dialogue then takes place about these perpetrator characteristics, helping participants determine the kind of behavior that can hurt morale in a unit.
Time: This material takes about 30 minutes to present.
How to Improve Bystander Intervention Training
In this session, Dr. Foubert does an interactive review of the research on what tends to make bystander intervention training most effective. In particular, research has shown that preceding bystander intervention training with a powerful empathy component can lead to attitude and behavior change. This session is especially helpful for those who implement, or who have oversight over bystander intervention training.
Time: This material takes about 30 minutes to present.
See a sample of Dr. Foubert's training at the SHARP Command Forum at Ft. Bliss:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcZmiD2mN8o&t=6s
Sample venues where Dr. Foubert has presented:
U.S. Army Ft. Campbell
Air Force National Discussion on Sexual Assault and Harassment
U.S. Army SHARP Ready & Resilience Directorate
U.S. Army Ft. Bliss
U.S. Army SHARP Program Improvement Forum
Conference of every 2, 3, and 4 star General in U.S. Army
U.S. Army Ft. Eustis
U.S. Naval Academy
U.S. Army Ft. Sill
U.S. Army Senior Leader Forum, U.S. Army Europe
The White House
The United States Congress
The United States Coast Guard Academy
