East Central Mental Health Hosts Anti-Bullying Summit for College Students
East Central Mental Health and Troy University officials are tackling bullying among college students with an anti-bullying summit.
Whether it’s verbally, physically, or online, these students are putting their concerns on the table when it comes to bullying.
“I don’t think some people know exactly what bullying is and if more people came to stuff like this there would be less bullying on this campus,” says Hanna Leigh.
This anti-bullying summit bridges the gap between students, faculty and staff to discuss something that is visible on most college campuses.
“There are lifelong issues that are a result of harassment or bullying such as mental health issues, relationship issues., just an inability to be successful and be productive as an adult,” says Dr. Sharrieonda Crawford.
“I don’t think it’s a very sensitive problem here or more here than it would be anywhere but it still is a problem,” says Julious Boggus.
One of the biggest forms of bullying? Cyber bullying.
“When it is cyber related the victim can’t get away from it. They can’t look at text messages or get on social media without seeing these demeaning texts or facebook pages, or demeaning photos that have been put up,” says Crawford.
University officials say the purpose of the summit is to make troy a more positive environment for everyone.
“No matter how small it’s still something that the university and the student body should address. Because even if it’s just one person, that one person is still going through something that only a few people can imagine,” says Boggus.
Organizers of Thursday’s summit hope that the discussion can also be taken into the troy community in the future, to get the public involved in fighting against bullying among the youth.
