In 2012 A 15 year old female student in Washburn was sent to Tennesseee hospital after being injured in a fight. Three juvenile girls were arrested for assault. Friends and family of the hospitalized girl said she was a victim of bullying. Another 15 year old from the same county Colt Jones took his own life and friends and family said bullying lead to his death.
Consultation Case Stud
#1) Enter the system:
Bullying happens in every school and in every community. As a consultant in Washburn, Tennessee, I would want to get together with people in the community who have strong desire to eliminate and tackle bullying in this city. Our main focus is to determine that bullying is not always visible and easily recognize and most of the time it happens without people noticing it. What are the signs of bullying? Is there a monitoring system in place in our school district to spot and recognize bullying? Are there any awareness programs and resources for parents to help support and encourage their child that is being bullied? I would ask questions about the problem is? Why did the problem get to far and what can we do to avoid devastating consequences like what happened to Colt. What is our mission and goals? It it necessary to reduce existing bullying problems with students, to prevent the rise of new bullying problems and to achieve better peer to peer interactions at schools? Barriers may be that families may not want to participate because they don’t have enough tools and resources in an on-going communication about ways to eliminate bullying in this community.
#2) Address and Diagnose the Problem:
In determining the problem and making a diagnosis, it is important to define bullying. Bullying is not about leadership and superiority but more about abuse of power. It is belittling and humiliating others to give power to the abuser. I would encourage teachers and parents to watch out for presentation of bullying in kids. Asking question would be useful if there are uncertainty about the diagnosis. Questions like do you like your school? Do you have friends? Is there anyone whom you don’t like or who doesn’t like you or tease you all the time? Is there anyone who makes your life a challenge? The results of those questions may demonstrate a child who is being bullied. On the other hand if the child is the bully, the behavior needs to stop immediately. #3) Formulate a Plan:
Having made the diagnosis, the more difficult problem is how to handle it. As the consultant and counselor in the community, It is important to raise awareness and monitor where bullying is happening. I would focus on Washburn where there was the 15 yr old who took his own life because of bullying. Why did it lead to that? First I would reassure the children in the community that the right thing to do is to share the information and that denial will not make the problem go away. I would suggest for parents not to confront the bully directly because this will not be productive at all. I would suggest multidisciplinary approach and different social teaching in this community. My team and I would sit down with students and ask them to write essays about bullying so that they thing about it and see it from both side of the issue. Understanding the way the victim feels and severe impact it may produce such an empathy that no one would really wish to do that to others. Media presentation in schools would also be on the plan, focusing on creating a safe place for children that involves a continued effort on the whole