Anglophone South Takes On Bullying

The Canadian Red Cross is taking a different approach to bullying, and is including our local schools as they do it.

This week, 13 teachers from the Anglophone South School District are being trained in the "Beyond The Hurt" program, an anti-bullying campaign that looks at more modern resources to deal with the issue.
Guidance Counsellor at St. Stephen High School Jennifer Grant tells Tide News her school has made changes to deal with bullying like re-arranging the locker areas and installing cameras, and they are going on 12 years with their anti-harrassment group. However, she adds, bullting used to be physical and verbal, now it is taking a modern face in the digital world.

Grant says through facebook messages, improper texting, and the fact that many bullies feel safe behind a computer screen, cyber-bullying can create a viscious cycle very quickly. She says bullies are getting braver through cyber-bullying because they don't have to physically see the effects they cause on their victims.

Red Cross Instructor Stacy Coy tells Tide News what they have found is youth need to be engaged in the solutions. She says instead of having an adult deliver bullying-prevention presentations, they have a student deliver the presentations.
Here, they are training teachers within those schools to do the training with the students so those students can then make the presentations to their peers.

Coy says since the program began in 2003, many teachers are saying the kids within their schools seem kinder to each other and they seem understand the impact of their actions.

(Top Picture - Guidance Counsellor at SSHS, Jennifer Grant, Bottom Picture - Canadian Red Cross Instructor Stacy Coy in a training session with the teachers)