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Because bullying can generate pain for the children that experience it and all the other children in the group, including the ones that use bullying behaviors
And because it can have life-long effects …
At our NGO we help about 200 children in schools with an artistic research-based anti-bullying program unique in the world and very effective.
“bully victims are perhaps the most vulnerable group of all. They are at a great risk for health problems in adulthood, over six times more likely to be diagnosed with serious illness, smoke regularly, or develop a psychiatric disorder compared to those not involved in bullying” – Mikulak, A. “Far from being harmless, the effects of bullying last well into adulthood”
Would you be willing to help by giving a donation?
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Because many teachers told us how much they would need it, we intend to bring this program into as many schools as we can, with the help of volunteers and partner organizations.
We skillfully combine art, stories, metaphors to put very effective science on the language of children, parents, teenagers and teachers so we can help reduce bullying in schools.
All this while helping the all the children increase life-long soft skills, especially the children that use bullying behaviors and their victims.
Us and the experienced psychologists we work with believe every child that uses bullying behaviors can become a strong individual that can help the society a lot. As well as the victims or the children that sometimes may witness bullying.
Our program is designed to be very effective, integrating multiple components that children and teachers love.
With our live shows, movies apps and interactive lessons we involve the children that bully, the victims, the bystanders, the teachers and the parents.
Powerful stories tell the children and teachers how bullying can have lasting effects for victims, children that use it, and anybody that tolerates or sees it and the society we all live in.
They all get a chance to learn what is bullying, why it hurts and what are the unpleasant effects for the people that use it, for the victims or anybody that know or witness a bullying behavior.
We also address online bullying, isolation of some children, passive-aggressive behaviors and many other types of bullying on the language of the children.
All children and teachers play games to train the use of skills like compassion, emotional awareness and management, even for emotions like anger.
Teachers and adults involved learn to use compassion for the children that use bullying behaviors and to understand and work with the deep psychological causes of bullying. This helps them get on the same page with the children and really help them change behaviors by helping them develop emotional intelligence, care and compassion and a strong sense of teams.
Children that use behaviors that fall into bullying category learn about emotions, compassion for self and for the others, learn to adapt to different groups and places (at home versus at school), learn to feel the warmth and benefits of a caring team, how it feels to be bullied, how they may feel powerful when they use bullying behaviors and what they can do to feel powerful in other ways. They also learn from powerful stories how it feels like to be visited by guilt after years and years and be sorry for what someone did (stories told by people they respect and see as role-models).
The victims of bullying learn to increase inner super-powers of emotional intelligence like emotional management, social skills and courage. Courage to ask for help to the group, to the teachers and to stand up whenever they can. They also learn that it’s perfectly normal to say no when something is disturbing or hurting them, even if it may seem strange to others. They learn how to deal with bullying behaviors and how to avoid mistakes that may escalade aggression, all while doing their best to keep a good self-image. They lean they’re not to blame, also learning how they can change the role of the victim. It’s normal to change what we don’t like and we can go for what’s good for us. In the schools we work with this is more and more possible.
The bystanders learn how they can benefit from protecting the children that don’t seem to fit in, how to help them “fit in” the group and how to help the children that use bullying behaviors. They all learn that these children that seem to “be strange” have lots of qualities, they can benefit the group a lot, and how good it can feel to help a fellow human being. 🙂
It usually comes as a big surprise to the children when we tell them how witnessing aggression can also hurt us. This tends to be a strong motivator, as it is to understand that bullying can have long-lasting effects and it’s not “just a game”.
It helps a lot when children experience themselves how well it feels to be included in a loving compassionate team, showing the power of such teams and helping the children develop compassion for self and for the others.
A big part of the program is helping people understand and use the bigger “power for and with the people” instead of “power against the people”.
Children also learn the benefits of compassion for self and for others, as well as the benefits of less traumatic experiences.
With a simple metaphor we also explain to children how repeated bulling can be a microtrauma and grow to generate a lot of pain and self-doubt and even cripple some people for life.
We also help children train their inner super-powers of emotional intelligence – a growing body of research suggests it can help reduce bullying a lot.
To keep our program effective and only based on research and proven results we don’t use government funds, grants or any other funds that may come with string attached and may prevent our program from helping as many children as we can.
This program can be continued with the money from donations 🙂 If you liked or it helped you, please consider donating 🙂
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Please find below two studies on the topic of bullying. You can also find a huge body of research on the dedicated page on this website 🙂
“A Study of Emotional Intelligence, Experienced Bullying and Psychological Well-Being among Secondary School Students from Boarding Schools © The International Journal of Indian Psychology, ISSN 2348-5396 (e)| ISSN: 2349-3429“
Thus, the hypothesis was supported. It has been well known that bullying at a young age presents a problem for children, parents and teachers alike. However, bully victims are perhaps the most vulnerable group of all. They are at a great risk for health problems in adulthood, over six times more likely to be diagnosed with serious illness, smoke regularly, or develop a psychiatric disorder compared to those not involved in bullying. (Mikulak, 2013) – Mikulak, A. “Far from being harmless, the effects of bullying last well into adulthood”
No significant gender differences were observed. Emotional intelligence was found to be positively correlated with psychological well-being and Experienced Bullying was found to be negatively correlated with well-being.
Date: 2016
Source: https://www.ijip.in/Archive/v3i4/18.01.193.20160304.pdf
Replace Bullying with Kindness
In addition, of course, anti-bullying programs should not exist for just one week or one month; instead, there must be consistent and on-going reminders of the importance of kindness.
In fact, some data suggests that a kindness campaign might have more effect than zero-tolerance policies rules, reducing bullying at some schools by as much as 40%. Taking the positive approach (please do this) appears to be more efficacious than the negative (don’t do this).
Therefore, to begin—teachers must be vigilant. If the school does not have a positive kindness campaign in the offing, start one in your classroom. It will spread.
Keep an eye always on the subtle behaviors you may miss—in the hallways, out at recess, during lunch break and then use the witnessed moment as an opportunity to teach and praise the appropriate behavior.
And, the solution should focus on both the perpetrator and the victim. For example, the instigator should learn strategies to control their anger and not blame others for their problems. Victims, on the other hand, need interventions that speak to self-efficacy and not to blame themselves. And, by-standers need to learn that witnessing an event is not a neutral response and that they need to oppose bullying behaviors actively.
It would appear that taking a page from the research of Durlack and Weissberg is appropriate here. Schools can begin a formalized social and emotional learning (SEL) program—one that teaches a new lesson every week, and that is also woven into the curriculum of the students.
Source: https://www.6seconds.org/2015/10/06/bully-proof-your-kids-with-emotional-intelligence/
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