According to the report School Violence and Bullying (UNESCO, 2017), this violence is a worldwide health problem that affects about 246 million children and young people every year. It includes physical, psychological violence, and sexual violence. Extensive research states the impact of social relationships on individuals’ health and well-being. The quality of the relationships established can affect immune function, regulation of stress, mood, motivation, coping skills, eating and exercise habits, endocrine function, and nervous system activity (Pietromonaco & Collins,2017). A close social relationship including any form of violence is toxic and can have a negative impact on the mental and physical health of the person who suffers (Pietromonaco & Collins, 2017). Several studies have reported the consequences of bullying and school violence on children and adolescents' mental health (Le et al., 2019; Lien et al., 2009). Being bullied has been associated with anxiety and depression symptoms,  severe mental health problems, and risk of suicidal ideation (Bannik et al., 2014; Ringdal et al.; 2020; Wu et al., 2016; Zhan et al. 2020). On the other side, research shows that quality relationships can increase life satisfaction (Zhang, et al. 2020) and lead to healthier biological profiles. According to (Racionero Plaza, 2018; Ríos-González, 2021) close social relations are seen as extremely necessary for an individual’s health, development, and survival through the entire lifespan. In this framework, it is necessary to study the impact of bullying on children’s mental health during the period of bullying and its possible consequences in adulthood wellbeing. 

In this paper, we present the results of a study of the strategy Zero Violence Brave Club (Roca-Campos, et al. 2021) to combat bullying specifically the results related to the impact of the Zero Violence Brave Club on children's mental health and psychological wellbeing. This strategy is based on a successful educational action (Flecha, 2015) called Dialogic Model of Violence Prevention (DMVP) which have contributed to improving coexistence and reducing bullying due to fostering deliberative processes in defining the school's rules among the different agents, including families, teachers, and pupils (Duque, et al. 2021). The strategy Zero Violence Brave Club was developed in different schools—both public and private—in pre-primary, primary, and secondary education. It is based on how students take a stance against violence and report it whenever it occurs, while they place value on friendship (Ríos-González, 2021). In this club, students learn to defend and support victims and to isolate students who behave violently. The Zero Violence Brave Club program opens up a space of dialogic leadership in which students share daily situations and conflicts about feelings and values, where the ethos shows a clear positioning for eradicating violence. The Zero Violence Brave Club in schools is operationalized as groups of children with nonviolent values. They support any child in their class or school who wants to avoid the aggressions they receive from other children in the school, acting as a peaceful shield against the aggressors. They are called brave because they work respectfully and without violence, and one cannot be part of the club if having violent behavior.

This study is developed following the Communicative Methodology of Research (CMR) (Gó), characterized by the inclusion of egalitarian dialogue among the participating agents throughout the research process. This dialogue enables researchers and end-users to interpret social reality dialogically (Gómez, 2019) and create knowledge to transform inequalities and specifically in this case to overcome school violence (Padrós, 2014). The objective of this study was to analyze the impact of the Zero Violence Brave Club on children's mental health and psychological wellbeing. For this purpose, a sample of seven purposively sampled schools was selected in Valencia (Spain) to collect the data. The criteria selection was: a) have been implementing the Zero Violence Brave Club in at least one classroom for 2 years; b) diversity in terms of socioeconomic status of its students, size, location (urban and rural), ownership (public or private), religious or lay background, and population served; and (c) schools involved in a seminar in which teachers receive training on bullying prevention based on scientific evidence. 10 online interviews will be held with 10 teachers (six women and 4 men). Participants were provided informed consent that included complete information about the purpose of the study. All the participant's teachers had been developing the Zero Violence Brave Club in their schools for 2 or 3 years and could inform about children's interactions and dialogues and the effects of this strategy on their pupils. They were teaching in different educational levels: primary education, secondary education, and training courses addressed to students with special needs, to facilitate the transition to adult life. Therefore, the age of the students they worked with ranged from 6 to 21 years.

The results show that the Zero Violence Brave Club promotes healthy relationships. It is reflected in the promotion of feelings and attitudes of solidarity. Many teachers report that the feeling of loneliness among victims and those that defend them has been reduced. This solidarity has often been translated into peer support that has made it possible to break the silence about bullying situations at present or lived in the past. This solidarity has also created new opportunities to develop friendships. children about their freedom to choose the people with whom they want to relate, and particularly how to choose their friends. Students in the club learned to identify peers who will treat them properly or badly and select their friends accordingly. Teachers were also positive about the fact that the context created by the Zero Violence Brave Club provided children with the opportunity to decide about their classroom's rules, and always link these to nonviolence. For instance, a primary education teacher explained how a rule agreed in the community—“I like you to treat me well”—helps children to choose their friendships freely and based on respect and care for others. Finally, there’s evidence regarding children feeling safer, less fearful, more confident, and empowered to explain violent episodes, to face aggressors, or to participate in certain activities that are indicators of psychological wellbeing. According to these results, we conclude that the Zero Violence Brave Club contributed to improving children's mental health and psychological wellbeing, particularly bullying victims.

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