Bullying Can Lead to Self Harm

Each year 1 in 5 females and 1 in 7 males engage in self injury.  Many teens who self harm report being bullied before they started using self harm as a coping strategy for dealing with difficult emotions.  Self harm is one of the many negative results of bullying.  As elementary counselors we need to continue to provide leadership to in school-wide anti-bullying efforts.  To reduce bullying and mitigate its harmful effects all staff must be trained and on board about the importance of receiving bullying reports and developing interventions that reduce bullying behavior. We need to empower students to respond assertively to bullying.  Urge students to speak up and challenge mean behavior.  Teach the students to say "How do you think it is okay to say or do that to me?" or "Talking that way is not right, leave them alone" (for upstanders).