Posts by CBPP Admin

Late one Saturday night last year, I received an email from a student—let’s call her Mary. Mary had found out that some kids in her school had a video of her that was extremely embarrassing. She was mortified about returning to school on Monday. She thought this video would define who she was until the…

By Ari Magnusson I recently spoke to the head of a school in advance of a professional development engagement. She was describing the school’s existing policies and procedures so I would have a good understanding of the current bullying prevention environment when I spoke to the school’s educators. She mentioned that the school uses “hot…

By Ari Magnusson The notion of a “power imbalance” is one of the most problematic errors in the definition of bullying. This notion, which was first proposed by researcher Dan Olweus decades ago and has been included in definitions of bullying by academics ever since, posits that bullying involves an imbalance of power, such as…

By Ari Magnusson Many definitions of bullying, such as the one found on stopbullying[dot]gov, state that those who bully others intend to cause harm. The idea is that the kids who are using physical intimidation, verbal aggression such as mocking and insults, and relational aggression to leave someone socially isolated are trying to inflict emotional…

Surveys show that almost all children are bullied at some point during their school years. Being bullied makes a child feel miserable. A bullied child not only feels flawed, but also feels rejected by peers. But more than just making a child deeply unhappy, bullying also negatively affects a child’s academic performance. Research shows that…

By Ari Magnusson The results are in: 100% of the students in Boston-area schools who were taught about bullying prevention during this past spring term of Massachusetts General Hospital’s Life Skills program said they now know how to resolve a bullying problem on their own. In addition to supporting the CirclePoint program, I am also…

On February 28, 2018, in response to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, a group of experts on school violence formed the Interdisciplinary Group on Preventing School and Community Violence and published an 8-point “call-to-action” to prevent school and community violence. Two of the eight points were directly related to proactive bullying prevention: “A national…

Ari Magnusson has been invited by the Charlestown branch of the Boston Public Library to facilitate a discussion on bullying with parents. Ari will talk about what bullying is, why kids do it, and proactive and reactive actions that parents can take to help their children prevent and stop bullying. Ari and BPL librarian Eileen…

Ari Magnusson will be giving his talk “Bullying Secrets Revealed: Why Kids Do It and What You Can Do to Stop It” to the students at the Youth Zone Summer Program in Revere, Massachusetts, in early August. The summer program, sponsored by Massachusetts General Hospital, is attended by about 60 middle school students.

The CirclePoint team has been busy this summer, completely rewriting the CirclePoint Guide for Educators. Whereas the pilot edition contained all the ideas, theories, and proposals for the program, the new edition is based on the practical information and solutions that were found to be effective in practice. The new edition also segregates information for…