Author Archive

I have also introduced another new workshop/training session titled: Employers’ guide to responding to workplace bullying. This session too is based on my new book “How to stand up to workplace bullying and take on an unjust employer”.

In this session the focus is on the employers – what all employers should know about how to respond to workplace bullying incidents between employees as well as between employees and supervisors. Improper handling of these situations can be harmful to the organization. It is also important that all employers have a thorough understanding as to what kinds of things might constitute ‘harassment’ and what kinds of impact that might have.

Harassment in the workplace can come in various shapes and forms. However, in general it is about treating everyone the same way (i.e., fairly) no matter who the individual might be and how different he/she might be from others. If an organization is not able to maintain a well-established approach in this regard, it may have to deal with difficult situations that might be significantly unproductive for the organization. First of all it creates a negative environment that contributes to under-achievement as a company. It can also be damaging financially if the victim decides to fight back in terms of a lawsuit. In general, it can cause several different outcomes that are typically negative for the company. That is why training in this area is critical for all employers. It’s important for all organizations to have appropriate processes and procedures in place so that difficult situations can be handled through a well-established framework.

I have now introduced a new workshop/training session titled: Employees’ guide to responding to workplace bullying. This session is based on my new book “How to stand up to workplace bullying and take on an unjust employer”.

In this session the focus is on the employees – what all employees should know about what constitutes workplace bullying and how to respond to harassment in the workplace. It focuses on the kinds of instruments available to employees to battle against workplace bullying. It is important that all employees have a thorough understanding as to what kinds of things might constitute ‘harassment’ and what kinds of impact that might have.

Harassment in the workplace can come in various shapes and forms. However, in general it is about treating everyone the same way (i.e., fairly) no matter who the individual might be and how different he/she might be from others. As we all know, employees can be different from each other in many different ways. That is why it is critical to make sure they are all treated fairly and similarly. If an organization is not able to maintain a well-established approach in this regard, it may have to deal with difficult situations that might be significantly unproductive for the organization. In general, it can cause several different outcomes that are typically negative for the company. That is why training in this area is critical for all employees. It is also critical for employees to understand what kinds of options they have in dealing with workplace bullying and harassment.

My new book about bullying and harassment in the workplace has just been released. The title of the book is “How to stand up to workplace bullying and take on an unjust employer”.

Bullying and harassment in the workplace is a critical issue in our society today affecting countless individuals around the country. In many cases it has caused significant distress for affected employees, ultimately leading to depression and other serious related mental health disorders. Even for the employers, it can result in several different outcomes that are typically negative for the companies.

This book presents a captivating true account story that provides key information, salient advice, and guidance on what workplace bullying is, how it can impact both the employees and employers, how it happens, what to do about it, and how to prevent it. This book forms the basis of the training sessions and workshops I offer to organizations for both employees as well as for mangers and employers.

It is important that all employees have a thorough understanding as to what kinds of things might constitute ‘harassment’ and what kinds of impact that might have. It is also critical for employees to understand what kinds of options they have in dealing with workplace bullying and harassment.

On the flip side, if an organization is not able to maintain a well-established approach in this regard, it may have to deal with difficult situations that might be significantly unproductive (and/or financially damaging) for the organization.

As I speak about long term impact of bullying at conferences for school social workers, school psychologists, school counselors, etc, I consistently hear from the attendees that most schools are still not doing enough in their bullying prevention programs. Many school board and administration officials are still not convinced about the priority. Clearly, we have a lot more work to do yet.

On many occasions I receive calls and emails from school social workers, school psychologists, and school counselors trying to get me to come to their schools to speak to the students, teachers, other school staff and to parents. But in most cases it doesn’t work out because the person asking for it is not able to convince their school principal to approve the funding needed to make this happen. I would estimate that about one in ten is eventually able to get enough funding approved to be able to make this work.

I do understand that school administration officials (such as school board officials, school principals, etc) have to deal with a lot of funding requests coming in from various directions. But I do believe that these officials do not truly understand the long term impacts of bullying that can derail an individual over the rest of his/her life. These officials are generally focused on making things better for the children, but their priority on bullying prevention will not change until and unless they feel convinced about the devastating long term impact bullying can have on an individual.

Just received confirmation that I will be speaking at the Washington School Counselors Association conference in Seattle, WA, on March 2, 2017. The topic of my presentation will be based on my second book “Father Figure – My Mission to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse”. This is yet another example of a school counselors association finding this topic to be important and appropriate for its members. This is an exciting development since, as I have mentioned earlier, school professionals such as school counselors, school social workers, school psychologists, can have a significant role in prevention of child sexual abuse.

My approach has always been to write about real life events and then talk about the stories. When I speak to groups of people I make sure to explain it very carefully that although I would be talking about a story, there is a very critical purpose in presenting and discussing the story. Talking about a story is often one of best ways to discuss the underlying issues and how we can possibly do something about them. In my speaking process I try to make it clear what I am trying to address as I speak about the story. Then once the story has been presented, I discuss the learning points and go on to the next stage of discussing issues such as what else could have been done that was not done in the story and what we can do as a group to improve our actions to make things better for the future. The story is simply a vehicle to get to the key issues that we need to focus on. So far I have found my approach to be effective as members of audiences often linger on for hours for continued discussions.

Earlier in the year 2016, I had received a wonderful set of comments from a middle school student after one of my presentations on long term impact of bullying. I wanted to share her comments here:

“Thank you for coming to our school last Friday at C-I. I believe most of us did learn a valuable lesson. I have been bullied by a group of girls at my school because I decided not to do basketball this year but do dance. Every time I would go into the locker rooms they would yell at me and call me a traitor. They stopped bullying me, and they stopped ignoring me. Now they even let me be a starter in volleyball. People have talked to them about bullying before, your story stopped everything, maybe we are not as best of friends as we used to, but now I am not being bullied. Thank you so much, now I can actually have fun without them following me and taunting me. Also other people in my grade have injured themselves because someone was bullying them, now those people who were bullied are actually happy for once. Now they don’t treat each other differently because they are different. You also influenced how people talk. Now at practice we banned the can’t word, ugly word, and any other word that would hurt someone’s feelings. I don’t know how many times I can thank you. I hope you keep influencing people’s lives.”

Comments like this keep me going and keep me working hard to prevent bullying and child sexual abuse. It’s always good to know that all the efforts you put in do make some positive impact on people.

I recently received confirmation that I will be speaking at the Kentucky School Counselors Association conference in Lexington, KY, on Feb 23, 2017. The topic of my presentation will be “Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse – Role of a School Counselor”. I am looking forward to this opportunity to speak to another group of school counselors on this topic, which is based on my second book.

This is an important topic for school counselors and I look for every opportunity I can get to speak at conferences like this. I am glad to see that more and more school counselor organizations are coming to the realization that this is an important topic and that school counselors can learn something from these presentations. The last presentation I had made in front of school counselors was in November 2016 at the West Virginia Counseling Association conference in Daniels, WV. It was very well attended and there were a lot of interesting and engaging conversations.

As always, I strongly believe that almost everyone in our society has a responsibility when it comes to prevention of child sexual abuse. Children can use all the help they can get. We all need to keep our eyes and ears open to look for opportunities to help. It’s even more important for folks who are in contact with children on a daily basis. That is why presentations like this are critical for professionals such as school counselors, school social workers, school psychologists, teachers and others who come in contact with children on a regular basis.

During the year 2016 I have observed that many schools are putting together programs that encourage acceptance of diversity. This is a very good sign because one of the key reasons for bullying is that someone is perceived as being different in some way. That’s why in many of my presentations I make the point that it’s okay to be different and that it’s our differences that make us strong.

In these presentations I focus on the fact that ability to accept differences in people and to promote unbiased positive interactions are key ingredients for overall success for students and for all of us as a society. It is not a difficult concept – if on a regular basis a child is concerned about having to deal with negative issues/events/incidents because he or she is perceived to be ‘different’, it is simply not possible for the child to focus on important academic and social aspects of school life. All school staff, students, and parents need to have a common goal – to maintain a safe environment for all children. The parents share this task when the children are not at school. Their combined effectiveness determines the longer term negative or positive impact for the children.

When we talk about a safe environment in schools we must include discussions about creating and maintaining an atmosphere where ALL children can feel free to be themselves and learn most effectively at their own pace. It should be an environment where no children will feel the need to wonder if he or she is different from others and what that would mean. If all school staff, students, and parents can work together to develop a culture where differences in people are accepted as a normal way of life, then all children will be able to attain a strong emotional health and it will have a long lasting positive impact. On the other hand, if a child has to face negative environment on a regular basis because he or she is perceived as being ‘different’, it can lead to long lasting negative impact far beyond the school years.

I wish everyone a wonderful Holiday Season and a Happy New Year. For me, it has been an eventful year with lots of activities around the country. I am looking forward to an exciting 2017 and am hoping to continue my efforts in prevention of bullying and child sexual abuse.

It is exciting to note that I have already received confirmation that I will get an opportunity to speak about prevention of child sexual abuse at three conferences early in the year. I will be speaking at the Kentucky School Counselors Association conference in Lexington, KY, in February 2017. I will then be speaking at the Washington School Counselors Association Conference in Seattle, WA, in March 2017. Following that, I will also be speaking at the Illinois School Counselors Association Conference in Rosemont, IL, in April 2017. It’s good to see that several of the school counselor organizations find my topic of prevention of child sexual abuse to be an appropriate discussion area for their conferences.

My next book is about to be released soon. The title of the book is “How to stand up to workplace bullying and take on an unjust employer”. I hope to be able to start speaking on this topic as well in 2017.

I wanted to share this wonderful review I recently received on my second book “Father Figure – My Mission to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse”. It made my day:

“Sumi Mukherjee is an amazing man. I met him at a “Children’s Network Conference” as he was speaking on the topic of bullying. I have just finished reading his book, “Father Figure” Sumi’s true story of trying to save 2 sisters from sexual abuse. Many people don’t realize that predators reside as neighbors, uncles, boyfriends, grandfather’s even fathers. This book is very spellbinding and keeps you on the edge of your seat as you don’t know what is going to happen. It brings about awareness that your children can never be too protected and to keep them safe. Also, it makes you realize that as mothers, we need to keep our eyes open and inform our children that their body is sacred and no one should invade that. Teach them “to tell someone”. I admire Sumi for writing this wonderful book and I look forward to his next one.”

The most important thing about this review is that the reviewer points out a few of the key messages discussed in my book:

• Many people don’t realize that the abuser can be someone who might be within the family circle or a close friend or relative
• Children can never be “too protected”
• Children must be taught properly about this issue