Coping With School Bullying

Is your child dealing with a bully at school, on their team, or online? Therapy can help them learn how to cope with it effectively.

Bullying is an ongoing approach that one (or more) individual takes to harm someone physically or emotionally. This bullying is due to a bully perceiving that a victim has a particular weakness they can take advantage of during the ongoing process. Unfortunately, it can happen between two or more people at any age. Cyberbullying and other forms of school-aged bullying have recently been in the news due to the unfortunate suicides. There are several things you can do immediately to support your child. However, if these efforts are not enough, therapy can help you and your child learn to cope with a bully, how to advocate for solutions, and how to overcome and move on with the situation.

Types of Bullying

Bullying can take two different forms: physical or emotional. Many adults deal with bullying in the workplace; this type of behavior encompasses hostility, gossip, sexual harassment, and much more. Children deal with bullying at school, sports, after-school activities, etc. Bullying can be especially difficult for children who believe they are powerless to do anything. In Montgomery County, bullying and harassment can often be subtle and online. Teasing that can be denied as “just joking” and calling out another child’s flaws in public can still be very painful, causing distress about which parents are justified to be concerned.

Effects of Bullying

The effects of bullying can range from lowered self-esteem to fear of a location (e.g., work, school, etc.). It has also been found that children who are bullied in school may suffer from abnormal development of social skills. Bullied children and adults are also known to have a lowered quality of life and are more likely to become depressed and withdrawn. Unfortunately, suicide and suicide attempts are high among children and adults who are systematically bullied, whether physically or emotionally.

How Child and Adolescent Counseling Can Help

Emotional and physical bullying can take a toll on the quality of life of a child or an adult. Learning how to stop bullying or deal with bullies is more manageable with professional counseling services. The victims of bullying need to find the right environment in which they can give voice to their concerns, emotional state, and much more. Child counselors may provide a safe environment to talk about things they cannot voice outside of the office.

Since many bullied people tend to internalize their problems, a child counselor at Kentlands Psychology can help. Victims of bullying often feel powerless, angry, shameful, anxious, fearful, and do not know how to deal with these mixed emotions. Professional counseling can teach victims to recognize bullying and deal with the resulting emotions. Counseling can also prepare the victim of bullying to voice their concerns to those in a position to help. Often, victims of bullying need help to move forward after the bullying has occurred. A qualified therapist at Kentlands Psychotherapy can help a bullied child get their life and emotions back on track.


Our Child and Adolescent therapists are here to support you and your child.

Request a Call to Learn More


Child and Adolescent Clinicians

Minimum* Age Accepted

Clinician

Preschoolers/Elementary/Middle & HS (2-16)Daniela Nogales, LCPC
Elementary and above (5+)Elsy Estrada, LMSW
Elementary (5-12)Jessica Stutzman, PhD
Elementary and Middle & HS (5-18)Jacy Perkins, PMH, CNS-BC
Elementary and above (6+) (Testing and Assessment)Megan Burleson, PhD
Elementary and above (6+) (Testing and Assessment)Julie Mudryj, PsyD
Elementary and above (10+)Jacqueline Flores, LCSW-C
Middle and High Schoolers (11+) (Psychotherapy & Executive Functioning Coaching)Megan Burleson, PhD
Middle Schoolers and above (12-30)Jess payne, LCSW-C
Middle Schoolers (for Medication Mgmt only)Russell Carr, MD
High Schoolers and above (for Medication Mgmt only)Brent Donmoyer, PMHNP
High Schoolers and above (14+)Nicole Beane, LCSW-C
Late High Schoolers and above (16+)Johanna Koenig, LCSW-C

We are intimately familiar with the pressures on students attending our Montgomery County, Maryland Schools. Grade performance, fitting in, keeping up with the Jones, keeping up with teacher/parent/future college expectations, etc., can result in what is known as the “W” schools (Whitman, Walter Johnson, Wooten) pressure cooker.

We’ve worked with many families from Gaithersburg, Rockville, North Potomac, Potomac, and North Bethesda. Let us share with your family the strategies we’ve learned that have been most effective in helping kids deal with teasing, harassment, and intimidation. Coping with school bullying can done. We can help.

Don’t let these tensions get out of control. Give us a call. We can help.

It's not an easy time to be a kid. Perhaps it never is, but now it's especially true. Let us help you understand and support your child's needs.

Is your teen struggling with school, in their relationships with friends, with you? Do they seem irritable, withdrawn, unmotivated, sad? Our therapist know how to help.

Are you looking to make some aspect of your otherwise good relationship better? Maybe you’ve tried all the strategies that make sense to you.