I am excited to have an opportunity to speak at the Utah School Counselors Association conference in Ogden, UT, on Friday October 12, 2018, on the topic of “PTSD from bullying triggers obsessive compulsive disorder”. This will be another opportunity to make the point to a group of school counselors that bullying during school years can lead to devastating mental illness for victims.
Many school counselors do understand the possible significant long term impact of bullying. However, I am aware that there are still some school staff members who do not believe that bullying can cause any significant long term damage. They believe that once you are out of school, whatever happened during the school years fade away quickly. Unfortunately that is not the case for many victims of bullying.
Every child has his or her unique personality. There are some children who can ignore the bullying and can move on without allowing it to impact themselves. They are the lucky ones. But there are many others who are not able to ignore it, and consequently, have to live with the long term impact. It’s not their fault that they are not able to ignore the bullying. The responsibility does not fall on them. The responsibility of maintaining a safe school environment falls on all school staff and the parents. It is critical that ALL school staff understand that ALL children deserves a non-threatening school environment.
I look forward to a good presentation with some interesting follow-up discussions.