Addressing Bullying
Bullying even in its least expressive form is detrimental to the psychological, physical and moral state of victims. It can be one of the effects or a combination of some of them, the result of which is not desirable to the concerned parties. As a result, there is always the need to address the problem of bullying in such a way that the victim gets assistance and, at the same time, the bully becomes relieved of the feeling or desire to bully. Hence, the need to address bullying is not just as a reactionary measure to address the psychological issues of the victim but also to check on the superiority complex and the identity crisis of the aggressor (Ertesvåg & Roland, 2015). For this reason, there is the need for objectivity in group screening, counseling and application of both practical and theoretical strategies in addressing the concerns of bullying.
To evaluate the impact of bullying and the instances of the same within the high school, the need for a comprehensive group screening arises. The group selection entails the whole process of checking on the cause, process and impact left on the victims. It does not leave the aggressors behind as well and puts them into focus since it aims at ensuring they also are well counseled so as to assure that they no longer practice demeaning others. While evaluating bullying in the school, the first thing will be to gain the confidence of the addressed audience. It will be done through indicating the fact that the addresser or the counselor is not alienated from the whole group. Engaging them in coming up with the rules that will govern the entire process helps have the students gain the confidence (Ertesvåg & Roland, 2015).
From this point of view, then investigation is done in two ways. The first way is to conduct an oral interview where the students will go through an oral question-answer sessions that will be done in the presence of all the students. After this, they are interviewed privately to allow them divulge information that they may fear to give in view of all students. Then, questioners will be given to both administrators in the school, teachers and students, who are expected to give their opinions on the whole issue of bullying in the school.
Upon gathering all the information, analysis is done and a report is compiled to help in selecting the strategies that will be used to solve the issue at hand. The report will be used to determine the kind of information the audience should receive from me as the counselor. The ease of counseling comes from the information obtained since the counseling addresses issues directly as raised by the victims and aggressors. It also helps in preparing the students both psychologically and emotionally. Those who need therapy within the group then are able to get the desired and appropriate services. Hence the group screening process is essential to allow the counseling process and provision of assistance to the affected persons.
It is important to realize that there have been numerous reports of the bullying instances in the institutions of high education and furthermore, in some cases, the reports of fatalities occur. There are some cases of injuries and violence that are another indicator of the need for addressing bullying. Additionally, some teachers have even gotten to the point of resorting to the structures of counseling that they desire to use to help the victims and aggressors.
Furthermore, checking the factor of self-esteem of the students indicates that some are afraid of other students who are perceived to be invincible hence making it very difficult to determine the affected (Ertesvåg & Roland, 2015). Due to the fear they experience, the bullied hide not wanting to expose their assailants. Hence there is the need to address the group and counsel them to reduce effects of bullying and also to support and uplift their self-esteem. The group counseling helps the victims and aggressors to change their attitude towards their perceived enemies. Therefore, even the process of group screening and dealing with bullying assessing and providing group counseling helps the group deal with the common fears and issues raised at the course of the whole issue.
There are many ethical and diversity issues that surround the whole problem of bullying among high school students. First and foremost, the diversity aspects conglomerated around this problem range from race, age, body size, disability to even class performance (Walton, 2011). Often, some traits are considered to be more superior to others. Basing on this, the people who consider themselves to be more advantaged seem to bully the others considered less happy lot in the group (Olweus, 2013). As the screening may indicate, the factors that will lead to the compromise of respect for every student may be caused by race. There is often a tendency to skew towards racism and the students who are not from some of “superior” races get harassed (Walton, 2011).
Those considered to be young are also factored in by the bullies as their possible victims. Those who cannot fight for themselves or who appear to be weaker than the rest of the group are more vulnerable to the bully’s acts, too. Hence, due to the diverse nature of the population of students, their composition is always less likely to miss out on a bully of some sort. Therefore, the diversity issues need to be addressed by the persons within whom bullying is observed and whom it affects (Olweus & Breivik, 2014).The ethical considerations that influence bullying need to be seen as well. In particular, the most common of them concern the way in which the issue gets handled. Upon realization that bullying of anyone has happened, dealing with it with should be a way that retains and upholds the dignity of both the victim and the bully. The ethics therefore calls for better ways of punishing those who bully others rather than the traditional dehumanizing ways (Hansen, 2014). In some places like in the Middle East or Africa, punishment could turn to violence against the aggressor. Avoiding such helps reduce dehumanization of the perpetrator. In other cases, legal action is taken against the assailants. Their age should matter to ensure that the treatment of juveniles and minors is not in a manner violating their rights. Concerning the harassed, it is likely that their self-esteem is affected by the harassment received from the bully. The issues mentioned above are the ethical matters that surround bullying (Walton & Goodfriend, 2015).
Some theoretical approaches can help in assessing groups and addressing the bullying. The restorative theory appears to be easy to use and is likely to produce positive changes faster than other methods. Hence, this approach applies the argument that more happiness is demonstrated by people when those in authority cooperate and lead the students. It further means that these individuals are more likely to show a positive change if the authorities were guiding or leading them to take part in the activities they do rather that the persons are doing them themselves (Skaar, Freedman, Carlon, & Watson, 2015). Hence, applying this theory, the leaders would not do all that they believe would help to bring change for the members but rather involve them. By involving the latter in the identification of the problem and the coming up with the ideas and solutions to bullying, they will take an initiative to ensure minimization of bullying. The approach will also help the students to foster relationships between themselves and develop tolerance. Application of this method has worked well in Philadelphia schools. Hence, it is an active and a practical way (Midgett, Doumas, Sears, Lundquist, & Hausheer, 2015).
The goal of this project is to ensure minimized occurrences of bullying among the students and to provide effective therapy for the affected persons before the screening.
The objectives are:
• to assess the level of bullying among high school students;
• to determine the impact of bullying on the student life;
• to identify the ethical, moral and diversity aspects surrounding the issue of bullying;
• to provide a solution to help reduce cases of bullying among the students;
• to provide counseling to those who have been affected by bullying, both the bullies and the victims (Pronk, Goossens, Olthof, De Mey, & Willemen, 2013).
Since bullying comes with trauma, disasters and crises, there is the need to prepare the group for such issues. The reason behind this idea is that bullying may at times get disastrous with violence experienced by the victim. It can also be caused by one’s attempt to teach the bully a lesson. Hence, the bullying cases may at times go sour hence leading to injuries. Other situations may involve emotional and psychological breakdowns. (Hansen, 2014). For the idea mentioned before to work, counseling will be done for the group to prepare them for the possible issues. Furthermore, tolerance will be encouraged and forgiveness being built as a virtue. A structure of counseling sessions will be constructed to involve bullies hence reduce chances of violence and possible retaliation. The bully will also get protection from violent tendencies of victims. Therapeutic sessions will be held to help contain and reduce self-esteem loss and similar crises. Here, the mentioned will contribute to ensuring that there are no possibilities of psychological breakdowns within the group. Issues of personality changes will also be addressed to help all members understand the place of the character (Olweus & Breivik, 2014).
In conclusion, the right approach to the group screening will in many ways help sustain the right attitude to combat bullying. It will also give the much-needed details and help in maintain sobriety hence reduce the possibility of disasters or unprecedented crises. Similarly, the right approach increases the productivity of processes of combating bullying, and it benefits both the victim as well as the bully.
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