From the Office of School Counselor, Mrs. Trem

Monthly Mental Health Spotlight: Bullying Awareness

Hello everyone, Happy October, and Happy Friday! Today we had another successful Popcorn Friday, and I enjoyed spending time with our middle school students at lunch. I also began my October school counselor lesson to our 8th graders this week on Learning Styles. I will continue the lesson next week with our 7th graders, so tune back next week for a lesson recap!

For today's newsletter, I wanted to highlight bullying awareness as Bullying Prevention Month draws to a close. This is important to our school counseling team because we are passionate about cultivating a culture of Christlike compassion, respect, and kindness here at GCCS, and this is made possible through our awesome students! Bullying is a word that gets thrown around a lot, and I am intentional when working with students to empasize the difference between bullying and conflict. While conflicts are an inevitable part of relationships and are often problems that arise from a disagreement, difference in beliefs/opinions, or a misunderstanding, bullying is more severe issue that is defined by the American Psychological Association as "persistent threatening and aggressive physical behavior or verbal abuse directed toward other people, especially those who are younger, smaller, weaker, or in some other situation of relative disadvantage." Also, keep in mind that there are four main types of bullying: physical, verbal, social, and cyber.

There are three factors that combine to create a bullying scenario:

1. Imbalance of Power: ex. older vs. younger, larger vs. smaller, group vs. individual, or well-known student vs. unknown student

2. Repeated: ex. happens every day, happens at repeated times of the day, predictable, or happens at the same location every day

3. Causes Fear or Harm: ex. physical markings, negative change in self-esteem, withdrawn, or afraid to go to school

This month, I would encourage you to talk to your student about the subject of bullying. Ask them if they have ever seen or experienced bulling at school or online. If they are being bullied, you can support them by listening to them, making a plan for their next steps, and identifying other trusted people who could help at school, such as myself, a teacher, or an administrator. Sometimes students don’t want to come forward about bullying issues, but it is important for us to be made aware so we can take steps to keeping that student safe, both emotionally and physically!

Additionally, you can help keep our school safe by empowering your student to use their voice and to speak up when they see bullying! Whether it is taking place in school or online, I have told all students that they can report bullying behavior anonymously in my office. I don’t want the fear of retaliation or becoming the target of bullying themselves to be the reason why students don’t speak out. And remember, all it takes is one person’s bravery -- being an upstander instead of a bystander -- to help someone out and make a lasting impact on their life!

Lastly, be on the lookout for changes in your child's behavior. This can be an indicator of them experiencing bullying. If you suspect this might be going on, have an honest, open conversation with your student about what has been going on, or encourage them to talk to another trusted adult if they won’t open up to you. 

You can find more information about the warning signs of bullying behavior, as well as what to do if your child is displaying bullying behavior, at a helpful article from Nationwide Children’s Hospital linked here. You can also read a faith-based article on how to approach the topic of bullying from a biblical standpoint here. If you have any concerns about bullying behavior at our school, don’t hesitate to reach out to me or our middle school administration. Thank you for playing a role in keeping our school safe, and have a wonderful weekend! 🙂

Blessings,

Mrs. Trem 

htremitiedi@grovecitychristian.org 

614-875-3000 #2211