Cyber-Bullying Taking Tolls on Mental Health

St Patrick’s University Hospital (SPUH) is Ireland's biggest independent mental health service provider. In recent months, they've noticed the increased effects cyber bullying has been having. Four out of every five teenagers seen by SPUH were recent victims of cyber bullying.

The problem, as Prof. Jim Lucey notes, is that cyber bullying could worsen pre-existing mental health problems. And that, unlike bullying in schools, there's no escape. Once something is online it's there for good. Just a week ago a teenager from Leitrim country, Ireland took her life. The investigation continues looking into bullying comments made about her on the social media site "ask.fm".

Below are some tips that can be found in the article from the Irish Examiner. 


Online Safety Tips: 

* Open conversations from an early age about responsible use of the internet are key. Young people are the experts and the internet is no longer based on a desktop. 

* Talk to young people about the impact of words written online. Explain hurtful things have just as negative an effect online as offline. 

* Build up trust with young people, so they know they have a trusted adult to talk to if they come across something online that upsets them. 

* You won’t be able to control everything young people do and say, so ensure they know how to stay safe and are aware of dangers such as sharing too much information or in-person meetings with strangers they met online; 

* Teach children about responsible commenting that respects others’ rights not to be harmed. 

* Ensure they can block/report. 



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Cyber Bullying Story - Ryan Halligan

Check out this video, it's really too bad. But a father who lost his son to bullying shares his story, and gives advice to a group of kids to not follow in his 13 year-old sons, or his son's bullies, footsteps. It's really too bad when someone so young chooses to take their life because of a bully. 

"What a terrible mistake my son made. And I pray that any person in this audience that feels the way Ryan felt, that you give life a chance. And I promise you things work out in the long run. You haven't lived long enough to know that this is such a short period of your life... Sure it might have been a hell-hole, but it's not forever and things do get better if you give it a chance."   - John Halligan

MAKE A VIDEO - WIN MONEY!

That's right! It's a 

STOP BULLYING VIDEO CHALLENGE! 

There's just under a month to make your anti-bullying video and enter to win!

Deadline is Sunday October 14th! After judging the winner will be announced December 20th! 

There's a $2,000 cash Grand Prize, and two $500 Honorable Mentions.

Open for kids aged 13-18 to make a 30-60 second video that will "inform and motivate youth to prevent bullying, and that promotes an environment where kindness and respect for others matters" focusing on doing more than being just a bystander when it comes to bullying!

Go check out the rest of the rules and enter for your chance to win!


Click Here To Enter!

Be Involved With Your Children To Spot Bullying

The amount of bullying that occurs nowadays has skyrocketed since years past, but what's made such a difference in our society that people are more likely to, or more comfortable, bullying now?

Children today grow up with the internet and cell phones. They're constantly on social media sites, have access to just about everything online, including from phones (though if you ask me, *children* should NOT have cell phones anyway) and they're constantly texting. Kids use to have to meet face to face with other people, hang out with their friends outside and away from the computer. Are we as a society teaching inappropriate social behavior? Could the ruthlessness of adolescences be because they can do anything and everything from behind a screen? Who needs to say anything to your face when they can post it on your Facebook or send it to you in e-mail or text message.

Maybe parents need to start participating more in their children's lives instead of using the computer as a babysitter. Talk to your kids more often, ask them about their day.  Limit the use of computers and cell phones, and monitor what they do when they are using them. You might spot that they're being bullied online, or maybe even that they are the bully. As a parent, you have the power to influence their lives in a way like no one else. So step up, and help put a stop to bullying.


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Texas Woman Can't Gain Weight, Bullied Over Looks

Lizzie Velasquez gets a lot of stares. The 23-year-old senior at Texas State University stands 5 feet, 2 inches tall and weighs just 58 pounds.

"I can't gain weight," said Velasquez, describing the rare syndrome that blocks her body from storing fat. As a result, Velasquez is skin and bones despite eating around the clock.

"My stomach is so small that I can't eat that much," she said. "So about 30 minutes after eating I'm ready to eat again. I snack a lot just to keep my energy up."

The cause of Velasquez's syndrome – so rare that it has no name – is a mystery. Only two other people are known to have it, and countless genetic tests have turned up nothing.

"She's missing all of her adipose tissue," said Dr. Atul Chopra, a resident in medical genetics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, describing the layer of cells under the skin that plump up with dietary fat. "We just don't know why."

Velasquez was born by emergency C-section weighing just less than three pounds – half of what was expected for the 36-week pregnancy. And ever since, she's been poked, prodded and stared out by dozens of doctors trying to diagnose and treat her mysterious condition.

"Once I got to about age 13, I kind of got tired of it," said Velasquez, who besides her frail frame and blindness in her right eye is surprisingly healthy. "I realized I don't really want a cure for this syndrome. If a doctor found a magic pill or some surgery that would help me gain weight, I wouldn't want it. All the struggles I've had made me who I am today."

Those struggles have been many. Velasquez is still bullied because of her gaunt look, but says her elementary school years were the worst.

"I felt like some sort of monster," she said, recalling her first day of kindergarten. "I never told anyone how bad I was being picked on because I was embarrassed. When I would take a bath at night, that's when I would cry."

Every September, Velasquez's dad, Lupe – a teacher at her school – would stand up in front of her class and say, "This is Lizzie. She's just like you guys, she just looks a little different," Velasquez said. "It was a huge help."

Now Velasquez is using her victory over bullying to inspire others. On top of a full course load, she's penned two books and delivered motivational speeches to young students across Texas. She also made an "It Gets Better" YouTube video with nearly 2.5 million views.

"I tell everyone, 'Even though you don't have my syndrome, you might be able to relate to the struggles I've had,'" she said, explaining how talking about bullying is therapeutic for her, too. "It's kind of the grown-up version of my dad coming to class."

Velasquez's mom, Rita, couldn't be prouder.

"How she has the courage to get up and talk to crowds of people is beyond me because I'm terrified of doing anything like that," she said. "The confidence she has, it just amazes me. Sometimes I'm insecure about the way I look, and she says, 'Mom, don't be that way.'"

In December, Velasquez will graduate and focus all her time on helping others overcome bullying. She maintains that she doesn't want a cure for her syndrome, but adds that she'd love to have a name for it.

"I'd like a diagnosis – a name so I can say, 'this is what I have,'" she said, joking that the syndrome should be named after her.

Velasquez is still participating in some genetic studies with hopes of helping other people with weight-regulation disorders.

"We might be able to find an abnormal gene or set of genes that have not in the past been associated with weight," said Baylor's Chopra, who is currently sequencing Velasquez's genome. "This would not only help Lizzie, but might also be being to people who are obese."

Regardless of what the studies find, Velasquez looks forward to living a long and normal life surrounded by supportive family and friends.

"They often forget I have a syndrome," she said, describing how her girlfriends will distract her from strangers' stares. "They'll say, 'Don't be so into yourself. They're staring at us."

Click here to read the original article.

Bullying Victim Not Allowed Back In School

A painful example that bullying is not just a problem felt here in the US. 

Loujain Hussain and her family had to meet with the Abu Dhabi Educational Council (Adec) to determine whether or not she would be allowed to stay enrolled at her school. Loujain was a victim of bullying back in April. The 11 year-old was brutally beaten by a group of older students which ended up leaving Loujain in a coma for about three weeks. She suffered a severe brain hemorrhage and permanent damage to her left field of vision in both eyes. 

Her school worries that if she comes back, they won't be able to take responsibility for her in the possibility another incident occurs. Doctors also say it's best if she starts over at another school for fear of bringing back traumatizing memories.

One of the Adec representatives states, "“A girl her age just wants to be around friends at her old school."



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The Trevor Project

Check out this great organization dedicated to helping prevent bullying. Named The Trevor Project after the early 90's movie TREVOR, it provides "crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth."

The movie TREVOR is about a boy who has a crush on the most popular boy in school. Though when his classmates discover this, he is teased and mocked to the point of wanting to commit suicide.

When the movie was aired, the filmmakers decided they wanted to have a hotline for young people to call if they were having similar issues, so they could have someone to talk to. When they couldn't find a hotline, they started their own, and thus The Trevor Project was created. 

This is a great resource for anyone who is part of the LGBTQ community who wants someone to talk to. They also have their own social media network, TrevorSpace so that you can speak to others who are also being teased and get advice, or just make friends.


Check it out!
The Trevor Project

Bullies Bind Teen Girl In Plastic Wrap From Above Her Chin To Waist So She COULDN’T Get Free

Bullies bind teen girl in plastic wrap from above her chin to waist so she COULDN’T get free!

Melanie Conn, 13, was bound with plastic wrap from above her chin to her waist by two boys as she waited for her school bus at an Ormond Beach stop. Conn and her mother showed the plastic wrap she had been bound in.

A 13-year-old girl is still shaken after two bullies wound her up in plastic wrap last week on her way to school.

Middle school student Melanie Conn was waiting at the bus stop in Ormond Beach, Fla., on Thursday when two boys who have threatened her before cornered her and wound Saran wrap around her body, circling her ten to fifteen times — so tightly she couldn’t move her arms.

"It was kind of scary,” she told Orlando's WKMG-TV. “But then, shocking at the same time."

Conn said she was bound tightly in the plastic wrap from her waist up to her face, above her chin, so tightly she couldn’t move her arms.

"It's childish; it's at the same time very scary," her mother Holley Angerson-Conn told the TV station. "This isn't a joke. This could have become very serious, if they would have had a little bit more and no one had been able to get it off of her."

While Angerson-Conn blames the school for not taking action against the bullies sooner, even after a school staffer on the bus heard them taunt her daughter, the school district maintains it is handling the situation and has disciplined both boys involved.

"Volusia County Schools take every reported incident of bullying seriously, fully investigate them and if substantiated, takes disciplinary action," District spokeswoman Nancy Walt said in a statement to WKMG.

Meanwhile, the mother of one of the bullies acknowledged and apologized for their action, though she declined to be identified in an interview with the TV station.

"I feel that the boys were wrong for doing it," she said, though she claimed her son had also been a victim.

"He's been harassed all the other school years," she said. "That's why I don't understand why he's doing it."

She claims her son was only given a 10-day suspension from the school bus, while Wait told WKMG that the girl will no longer have to share the bus with them.

The ida that this could happen again has rattled Conn and her mother, who want more to be done.

"My daughter still has to go to that bus stop every day," Angerson-Conn said. "Is this just the beginning?What's next?"

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Autistic Kids Targeted More Often By School Bullies

As if bullies weren't ruthless enough to pick on someone just because they're different, this article shows that even those with mental disorders have no protection against some people. A field study was done that brought to light that kids with autism are bullied far more often than than the average child. While only about 10% of children in the general population reported being bullied, a staggering 46% of the autistic population of middle and high school children were victimized within the past year. Though parents believe that the number are actually higher. "Impaired language skills and inability to read social cues also mean that many autistic children are bullied without ever realizing it or being able to report it." 

 Some cases of autism leave the person incapable of leading a normal life, disabling them and preventing them from even being able to talk in some cases. In about two-thirds of cases, those affected can still carry on fairly normal lives but tend to have behavioral issues that might make them more socially awkward which, as this article shows, makes them prime targets for bullies. 

A lot of school have been updating their bullying policies recently as bullying has become a major issue in schools throughout the country. Some school even set forth bullying programs that help teach students as a whole about the effects of bullying. "Research finds that the best anti-bullying programs are comprehensive, involving the entire school and not just individual students. Programs that work well tend to encourage a warm school environment in which diversity is celebrated."  I think it would be a good idea of programs like this were instilled in every school in the country, and help put a stop to bullying nationwide.


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