Bullying poses extreme harm for victims
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Ronan High School junior Shantay Cran has had her ups and downs throughout her life. For most of her young-adult life, she has been a victim to relentless bullying in school. The 16 year old says the ill-treatment that began around middle school has lessened recently, but at one point was a major issue for the student, to the point that it was taking a physical toll on her.
“At one point I wanted to give up on life,” Cran said.
Cran said that groups of kids would gather together to start rumors about her. One rumor spread was that Cran had diseases. Her peers also made fun of her hair, saying it was greasy, she never washed, and she always wore the same clothing.
“Anytime I’d enter a room I’d be called out,” she said. “I went from a 4.0 grade point average to low grades, even F’s. The problem was that I didn’t care about anything anymore.”
As the bullying worsened, Cran isolated herself from her peers, becoming a shut-in, she says.
“I felt I wasn’t good enough to go out and have fun with other people,” Cran said. “That’s when I began cutting myself.”
“Cutting” is a form of self-injury where someone makes small cuts on his or her body, usually the arms and legs. It's difficult for many people to understand, but for some children, cutting helps them control their emotional pain, psychologists say.
Cran says by cutting herself, she took away the pain she felt on the outside.
“I did it so I could concentrate on other things,” she said.
Reaching her breaking point, Cran tried to seek help from school staff. She said she doesn’t know why, but reaching out didn’t really help, and for some unknown reason seemed to make the bullying worse.
Since then, Cran says the teasing has gotten better, but sometimes they still get carried away.
“It’s not as bad as it was,” Cran said. “But sometimes they keep going.”
“The middle to high school transition is unnerving (for students) to find the right places and get settled in,” Western Montana Medical Health Center employee Cheryl “Montana” said. Cheryl uses Montana as a last name to protect her identity at the medical health center. “The school tries to help with in and out-of-school therapy, but it’s a very difficult problem to solve.”
“Montana” added that most of these students feel alone, and have a hard time opening up to others and talk about their problems. This makes combating bullying and successfully helping victims even harder for school therapists.
According to Ronan Middle School counselor Don Jenkins, bullying is a nationwide problem. He says smaller towns like Ronan see less bullying than larger cities, but the problem still exists.
From his experience, he says early signs of bullying begin with laughing and making fun of others in kindergarten.
Bullying progressively worsens as they grow older until they become juniors and seniors in high school, then it becomes less of an issue.
Jenkins is in his first year as a counselor for the Ronan School District, and has been impressed with the district’s bully program called Olweus.
This program uses a step-by-step guide to respond to bullies and their victims. According to Jenkins, once an incident is reported, everyone involved is brought in to discuss the matter. Jenkins then performs a follow-up to see if the problem has been solved.
“It’s a really neat program,” Jenkins said. “It’s much better than the old system I used. This system pulls bullies immediately in to talk about the incident. This helps put the crunch on them.”
Teachers are also instructed on how to notice any warning signs that might arise, and pick up on a red flags early.
“Treatment from bullies can blast a child’s self esteem,” Jenkins said. “If a bully is telling them hurtful things, the child makes sense of who they are by accepting them as defencencies, which can carry into adulthood. It can have a devastating affect.”
If a student does fall victim to bullying, Jenkins says they should never hesitate to seek help from any adult staff member at the school.
“Students should be able to go to any teacher, counselor or adult in the school,” he said. “Students should always feel safe at school.”
The Olweus program is part of a four-year grant called Safe Schools and Healthy Kids. Ronan School District is one of three schools in Montana that are currently utilizing the grant.
