Bullying Prevention

 

Most students experience an incident of bullying in school at least once. Bullying is thought to be the most prevalent form of violence suffered by children. School Social Workers intervene  with the bully by providing social skills education, provide support to the victims of bullying, and assist schools in implementing school-wide and community anti-bullying interventions. In today's schools School Social Workers and most educators are aware of how bullying affects the social and emotional health of students and students' ability to focus on academic achievement. Successful anti-bullying programs have the following key elements:

 

• School-wide program implementation.

• Prevention interventions with all students.

• Identification of ways to express emotions healthfully.

• Education on replacement behaviors to bullying.

• Work with victims of bullying.

• Family and community involvement.

• Building staff acceptance and "buy in" of the program.

• Awareness that change in behavior will take time and persistence.