Initiatives rallying support against bullying tend to bring to mind the victims of bullies.
An individual, youth or adult, who's being tormented verbally, physically or virtually, understandably would benefit from support and guidance.
But efforts also include considering where the tormentors are coming from ó a person doesn't generally become a bully overnight. Oftentimes bullies have suffered at the hands of others as well.
Not that that's an excuse, as some victims of abuse never end up repeating the cycle. However, it's only fair, especially at a young, impressionable age, to at the least make an attempt to reach out to the bully, who might feel just as isolated as his or her target.
Bullying is not a widespread scourge at the Sundre High School, said Ryan Sande, family school wellness worker.
But the school is not immune either.
Staff and students try to keep an eye out for any bullying behaviour to diffuse potentially serious conflicts before they escalate, said Sande, adding efforts are made to reach victims as well as bullies.
Whether you're a victim or a bully, there's things going on that are difficult. The school is more centred on the idea of helping all the parties involved, which might mean getting parents involved as well as the students to help resolve issues, he said.
Students are also encouraged not to provide any kind of retort to the taunts or actions of a bully, who often seeks some kind of reaction, but to instead approach an adult they can trust for help and support, he said.
"Talk to somebody you feel comfortable talking to," he advises victims of bullying.
Staff and students have good relationships within the school, and know to use that to their advantage to let others know what's going on, he said.
"Students feel they can talk to adults when they need to."
However, cyber bullying, which has a reach that extends far beyond school grounds, is a different ball of wax.
If there's cyber bullying going on in the evenings or outside of school, that's something parents should be aware of, said Sande.
"Have good enough relationships with your kids to know what they're accessing on the Internet, who are they interacting with and how are they interacting."
Cyber bullying is a risk that becomes heightened when students are left to their own devices unsupervised and alone with technology. Responsible digital citizenship is important, and that message is communicated in the school, he said.
Events like Pink Shirt Day help promote awareness about the issue within the whole student body, and provide an opportunity for the youth to remind themselves to be aware of what's going on around them, he said.
"My hope would be that other students can recognize what's going on if we haven't been able to draw attention to it so it can be dealt with."
Bullying is described by the RCMP as situations when there is an imbalance of power and someone purposely and repeatedly says or does hurtful things to someone else, said Cpl. Joe Mandel of the Sundre RCMP detachment.
There's physical bullying, which aside from any kind of assault includes spitting or breaking another's belongings, verbal, which includes name calling and threats, as well as social bullying, which includes spreading rumours or humiliating another, he said.
"This form of bullying is most common among girls," he said about social bullying.
In the digital age, there is of course also cyber bullying, which "involves the use of communication technologies such as Internet, social networking sites, websites, email, text messaging and instant messaging to repeatedly intimidate or harass others."
This includes posting embarrassing or compromising photos of someone online, creating a website to make fun of others and pretending to be someone else by using that person's name, he said.
"Bullying can be a traumatic experience, and some forms of bullying can even be considered illegal."
Threats of death or serious bodily harm, criminal harassment, assaults and distribution of intimate images without consent can fall into that category, he said.
For all of these criminal offences, it is important to notify your local police detachment ó Sundre's can be reached at 403-638-3675 ó or report it to CYBERTIP.CA. Based on the available information, police will decide if an investigation is warranted and whether charges may be laid, he said.
