Bullying Counseling can help you or your child, but first you must understand what bullying is. Bullying refers to unwelcome or unsolicited acts of violence, aggression, intimidation, harassment, verbal abuse, social exclusion, or sexual coercion, which are enacted with the intent to cause physical or psychological harm.
Although bullying most commonly occurs among elementary school-aged students, adolescents, and teens, harassment among adults in the workplace is common and has earned media attention in recent years.
In children, adolescents, or teens, victims of bullying are often selected on the basis of perceived differences or weakness. Risk factors for bullying include: minority status (racial, ethnic, or religious minorities or LGBTQ+ identification); low-income students; individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities; overweight or underweight children; transfer students; unpopular or polarizing adolescents; and individuals with mental health challenges (including anxiety, depression, self-harm, low self-esteem, etc.).
Bullying counseling is not limited to physical aggression. Bullying may include acts of verbal aggression, relational (or social) aggression, cyberbullying, workplace harassment, or physical assault, such as:
Children, adolescents, and teens are unlikely to confide in their parents that they being victimized by another student at school. Unspoken indicators of bullying may include:
Obvious (and not-so-obvious) signs that your child is bullying others may include:
Few things are as disempowering as witnessing your child being bullied and feeling unsupported or incapable of ensuring your child’s safety. Bullying counseling interventions that support adult and school-aged victims of bullying can enhance psychological well-being and encourage trauma recovery by:
People have a tendency to point fingers at the parents whenever a child misbehaves; but we know that you didn’t raise your little peanut to become a teenager who bullies others! Bullying Counseling interventions that identify and extinguish the characteristic behaviors of bullying can assist your child to: