Growing up isn’t easy.
From recess skirmishes and name calling to harrowing and sometimes relentless online bullying, targets can feel isolated, vulnerable, wounded and alone.
Stop Bullying.gov said about 26.3% of middle school students reported being victims of bullies. Nationwide 19.2% of students aged 12 to 18 – or those in Grades 6 to 12 – reported having been bullied during 2021 and 2022.
“The fact is more people are becoming more aware of injustices even if they have not experienced it directly. Developing a larger sense of empathy to see beyond their own group or tribe” is part of The Peace Center mission, according to its Executive Director Danny Thomas.
Middle school is the time between elementary and high school – and it’s among most vulnerable times for girls, Thomas said.
“A lot of people don’t even know about The Peace Center,” said Bucks County Sheriff Frederick A. Harran. “Every piece of the puzzle helps. If you get someone else involved to help, it’s a positive thing.”
Girls Unlimited
Girls Unlimited empowers students to better understand the root causes of bullying, become more resilient by increasing their self esteem, and to be more empathetic, Thomas said.
Bucks County has 13 school districts with more than 96,000 students attending public and private schools across 270 school buildings, the Bucks County Intermediate Unit website notes.
This year Pennsbury and Centennial school districts will host Girls Unlimited, a five-session program, with sessions lasting 45 minutes each.
Dana Bedden, superintendent at Centennial School District in Warminster, said The Peace Center and Centennial have a longstanding partnership.
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He said Centennial has two middle school buildings with about 700 students each.
“Girls Unlimited goes to the female perspective and personalizes what females need. As the father of a young lady there is uniqueness that needs to be recognized and honored,” he said.
Because school-aged children are still developmentally evolving, they may lack appropriate restraint when communicating with peers and others.
Bedden said Girls Unlimited helps participants learn to communicate better. They develop more self esteem. This increased self respect can help them during difficult conversations.
“What I hear [from] girls is they become a little more aware of social and emotional strategies to deal with life circumstances” after attending the Girls Unlimited program, he said.
Statistics on the Rise
In its September 2024 report, the Yale School of Medicine said deaths by suicide have increased nationwide among youth and preteen children – and among those as young as 8 years old.
Thomas said greater national awareness of the risks to youngsters from bullying behaviors has increased program requests.
He said the death in 2023 of Adrianna Kuch, a freshman student at Central Regional School District in Bayville, New Jersey, who was repeatedly bullied, physically assaulted in a school building, and then died by suicide in her home after one of the attacks spiked interest in The Peace Center’s programs. Students in Grades 7 to 12 attend Central Regional.
“In the middle school [years] … students are in a place where they are shaping their minds and beginning to think for themselves,” Bedden explained.
“Girls Unlimited is the one [program] folks latch onto because Mean Girls is a thing,” Thomas said, referring to the 2004 film.
The film is based on the book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman, a self-help book about how to handle high school social cliques, school bullying, and the resulting devastating results that can occur.
Thomas said bullying can impact how targets of bullies raise their own children.
“From my days in Bensalem as the chief of police there were a lot of neighbors that couldn’t get along, and there was nothing the police could do. When we couldn’t help we’d refer them to The Peace Center. They are good at mediating,” Sheriff Harran said.
Lingering Pandemic Impacts
Pre Covid-19, Thomas said about nine school districts were hosting Girls Unlimited programs.
“We’re only a few years past a pandemic where youngsters and adults did not interact beyond people inside their bubble. We all became a little bit stunted in how we relate to other people,” Thomas explained.
Thomas said “breaking the cycle” is part of our county commissioners’ approach to addressing the mental health and well-being of Bucks County residents.
“The Peace Center’s work is critical to improving lives and shaping the caring community Bucks County residents know and love. That’s why the commissioners were delighted to host the Peace Center at our January 22 meeting to spotlight the center’s anti-bullying efforts,” said Diane Ellis-Marseglia, a county commissioner and vice chair of the board.
Thomas said the Bullying Prevention Resource Center is a result of public/private collaborations. The county contributes some funding to the initiative, he added.
“If you don’t do some sort of restorative practice you don’t change the behavior. It just lays low to come out at a different time,” Thomas said.
He said commissioners also provide referrals to The Peace Center “so folks who have been referred to the juvenile justice system” can take advantage of programs to improve their behaviors.
“For me the goal is how to promote building relationships … We find people [online and through social media] who agree with us and the fact that they agree with us is more important than our neighbors who don’t agree with us” and who live next door, Thomas said.
