Enabling Youth To Stop Bullying

New research on bullying prevention suggests using peers that have group influence. Princeton, Rutgers, and Yale researchers found that while awareness campaigns have their place in bullying prevention, peer support or peer pressure used in a positive way can squash bullying incidents. This technique also includes social media sites such as Instagram, which may also help with the most prevalent kind of bullying, online bullying.

In graduate school, one of the many ideas I researched for my research project was bullying within the middle schools. Bullying begins to be a big issue in middle school. In my advanced policy class, we were doing community policy projects and one issue suggested to work on was the need for non-suicidal self injury (NSSI) education for youth. Northeast Wisconsin has seen a higher than average number of suicides in youth but much more of an incidence of self harming behaviors.

I have a bundle of research sources for the possible causes of self harm and different programs that have been implemented to curb the issue. Bullying and emotional regulation being big causes for NSSI in youth. One thought I had was creating a theater play acting out real life stories of youth. It is called social theatre. Social theatre has been used in social justice and awareness campaigns. My published poetic works have been used in such a manner in regards to LGBT youth. 

I like this newer approach and I also like that it aims to use social media and online networks. Young people are more apt to following along rather than using critical thinking skills. That comes from the overabundance of digital communication and the way the developing brain works.

http://www.socialworktoday.com/news/dn_010816.shtml?platform=hootsuite