Posts by Ari Magnusson

Last month, an MGH Life Skills program colleague sent me an article from the Journal of Family Practice (“What family physicians can do to combat bullying” (2017;66:82-89)) and the Editor-in-Chief’s associated commentary (“It’s time to screen for bullying” (2017;66:66)). The articles described the harm of bullying and the need for doctors to screen their pediatric patients…

Last week I spent time at a Boston, Massachusetts, K–8 school that is implementing the CirclePoint Bullying Prevention Program. I visited several classes, and in each one, the teachers and I talked to the students about what bullying is, what they can do about bullying (whether they are targets or bystanders), and how adults can…

With the use of Twitter by public officials putting cyberbullying back into the headlines, just a reminder that when kids use electronic channels to bully others, the best consequence is to take away their electronic device or online access or to restrict the applications used (e.g., Twitter, texting, Instagram, email) for a period of time.…

In December, I spoke with a group of 6th grade students about bullying at the Edwards Middle School in Charlestown, Massachusetts. At the end of the discussion, the students’ teacher gave them a challenge. She said that the easiest thing any student could do to help with bullying is to just say “hi” to those…