As part of a wider initiative to recognize National Bullying Prevention Month, Resilience Academy staff welcomed a representative from the Grace Smith House last week to speak with students for two workshops centered on bullying and cyberbullying.
Grace Smith House is a private nonprofit that provides services to victims of domestic violence. The organization’s Development Associate Nikki V. (staff use only first names and last initials for safety purposes), noted that one in five teenagers have experienced some form of bullying or cyberbullying, but that number is likely higher as it often goes unreported. Bullying is when one person or a group of people repeatedly targets someone else or a group in a harmful way and cyberbullying is the same, just with using technology.
“The bullying happens on purpose, it’s not a one-time accident … It’s repeated, so it happens over and over and over again and there’s a power imbalance,” Nikki explained. “Bullying is what we call a learned behavior … they’re seeing it from somewhere else, so that could be at home, with older siblings, even online.”
Nikki highlighted forms of cyberbullying and indirect bullying, which is not done in front of someone’s face, including leaking personal information, spreading rumors and sending anonymous, but threatening messages. She added that cyberbullying is often difficult to notice and report if a message or post is deleted.
“They might feel like they have to look over their shoulder constantly because they have no idea who’s doing it,” Nikki said about victims of cyberbullying. “You try to just unwind by going on TikTok and you’re getting messages from the people that are bullying you and it feels like every time you’ve blocked an account, another one pops up; it can make someone feel really alone.”
To close out the workshop, Nikki asked students to remember these four words if someone talks with them about being bullied: listen, believe, validate and support.
“This might be the first time they’re ever sharing their experience, so how you respond matters,” she said. “You can bring them to somebody that you trust if they don’t have anybody else that they trust.”
Senior Christina Leone appreciated attending the workshop, especially how it highlighted indirect bullying.
“That’s not talked about a lot or noticed by a lot of people,” Leone said of indirect bullying. “I liked that it covered how the different kinds of bullying happen.”