School Counseling Group Sessions on Bullying Prevention

School Counseling as a Preventive Measure

School counseling has historically been considered an ancillary part of education — nice to have, but not truly necessary (Scarborough & Luke, 2008). It has often been among the first programs cut when school budgets require trimming. Today, however, school counselors are expected to promote the academic, career, and personal/social development of students (Van Velsor, 2009). Although many recognize the connection between academic and career development on one hand and personal and social growth on the other, school counselors are still largely expected to justify their work through its contribution to academic achievement (Van Velsor, 2009).

School counselors face many demands on their time that fall outside the scope of direct counseling, including serving as testing coordinators, special education team leaders, and administrators of retests (Bostick & Anderson, 2009). Because of these competing demands, counselors frequently turn to group counseling as a means of reaching more students within the time available. Group counseling provides a framework for addressing issues such as prevention, problem-focused support, and psychoeducational programming (Steen & Bauman, 2007). Research finds that small group counseling in schools helps change students' attitudes, perspectives, values, and behaviors in an efficient manner. By working together in a group, students learn they are not alone in facing particular problems. They also develop positive peer interaction skills and benefit from role modeling. Participation in school counseling groups supports improvement in self-esteem while simultaneously providing instruction on the topic under study (Steen & Bauman, 2007).

The topic selected for this curriculum is bullying at the late elementary level, addressed as a social development issue. Children in this age group are not always conscious of how their behavior affects their peers. A school counselor at this level may work in group sessions every day of the week across different grade levels; for grades 3 through 5, common concerns center on social development.

Cognitive theory is the preferred counseling framework for this curriculum. Based on Piaget's theory of development, children in the elementary years are capable of logical reasoning about situations and events (Meyers et al., 2002). Working with younger students on social issues functions primarily as a preventive technique rather than the rehabilitative approach more commonly needed with older age groups. Time is a critical factor during the school day — teachers are reluctant to release students from instruction unless the benefit to academic progress is clear (Steen & Kaffenberger, 2007). Research by Steen and Kaffenberger (2007) indicates that 80% of students who need academic help also require support in social and emotional development. When a counselor addresses social and emotional growth, students show improvements in academic behaviors such as attending to tasks, raising their hands before speaking, and completing assignments. This demonstrates that social-emotional work yields dividends in the academic domain as well. Group sessions at the elementary level typically occur during lunch or recess time (Steen & Kaffenberger, 2007).

Because academic success is the primary concern of teachers and administrators, school counselors focus on issues that may impede that success (Young et al., 2009). Every school aims to empower students to take on new challenges, and school personnel want each student to feel safe enough to function at full capacity (Young et al., 2009).

The first session on bullying opens with the counselor introducing the concept of confidentiality. Students need to know that what is shared in the group stays within the group, with the exceptions that disclosures must be shared if someone is at risk of harming himself or another person, or if a child is in danger at home. Any other disclosure requires the child's full consent (Huss, Bryant, & Mulet, 2008).

The counselor then leads a discussion on what bullying means. Bullying is defined as any hurtful or aggressive act toward an individual or group that is both purposeful and repeated (Quiroz et al., 2006). Using a whiteboard, the counselor records instances of bullying that students have witnessed or experienced. The counselor also introduces the concept of indirect bullying (Quiroz et al., 2006) and discusses the school's zero-tolerance policy and what it means in practice.

The discussion then turns to the reasons bullies bully. These reasons — including the desire for control, revenge, envy, and emotional distress — are recorded on the board (Turkel, 2006). The counselor also addresses the long-term consequences for bullies: greater likelihood of involvement in violent acts, illegal activity, harassment of others, and weapons possession (Turkel, 2006). Trigger factors for bullying behavior often involve race, ethnic diversity, language, and religion (Turkel, 2006).

Bullying: Session One

This session uses the topic of bullying to help build social and emotional intelligence. Social intelligence is the ability to understand and get along with others (Van Velsor, 2009). Emotional intelligence encompasses awareness and appropriate expression of one's feelings, the ability to understand others and maintain satisfying relationships, the capacity to adapt to change, and the ability to demonstrate positive emotions (Van Velsor, 2009). Each session can serve as an opportunity to model positive relationship-building with diverse populations. Schools increasingly reflect the world's ethnic and cultural diversity (Roaten & Schmidt, 2009), and bullying often occurs precisely because someone is perceived as different.

After students contribute to the group's definition and understanding of bullying, the counselor can lead activities that allow students to experience what it feels like to be the target of mistreatment — for example, role-playing scenarios involving racial difference, disability, or physical size. Following these activities, the counselor must debrief the group carefully, allowing students to process their emotional responses to feeling different.

The session closes with a discussion of what students should do when they witness bullying. The school must offer a safe environment in which students can report bullying without fear of negative repercussions, and clear steps must be available to address bullying behavior when it occurs. Students leave the session understanding that bullying is wrong (Quiroz et al., 2006).

Session two opens with a reminder about confidentiality, followed by a brief review of the previous session. The counselor asks whether any students have witnessed bullying since the last meeting, what they did about it, and how taking action made them feel.

The counselor introduces cyberbullying by inviting students to define it in their own words, recording their responses on the board. Prompting questions include: Have you ever taken an unflattering photo of someone and sent it from your phone? Have you ever sent a text calling someone ugly or fat? Have you used online platforms to spread information about someone else? These examples help students recognize cyberbullying behavior they may already have encountered or participated in (Wired Safety Group, 2010). The counselor emphasizes that once a message is released into the digital world, it is impossible to retract and impossible to control how far it spreads.

The session then shifts to strategies for stopping cyberbullying. What should a student do if someone sends a negative image of another person? The counselor teaches the "stop, block, and tell" approach (Wired Safety Group, 2010) so that students can be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. The session concludes with a brief overview of the laws relating to cyberbullying and an invitation for students to make a personal pledge to stop cyberbullying (Wired Safety Group, 2010).

Session three begins with the standard confidentiality reminder, followed by a brief review of bullying and cyberbullying. The counselor checks in with students about any incidents of either type they may have encountered during the week and how they responded.

The focus of this session shifts toward positive action. The counselor introduces the concept of Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) and invites students to share acts of kindness they have experienced, recording these on the board. The group discusses how those acts made them feel, and reflects on how the school's atmosphere might change if students chose kindness over cruelty. Teaching children to perform acts of kindness reshapes the way they think about other people, encouraging them to seek ways to make others feel good rather than to hurt them. The counselor connects this theme back to earlier sessions by reminding students that some bullying arises from ethnic and cultural differences, and frames this session's activities as an opportunity to extend acceptance to those who differ by race, ability, gender, or religion (Singh et al., 2010).

The counselor can collaborate with school personnel to plan a RAK week, during which students document their kind deeds on a large banner (RAK Foundation, 2010). Suggested activities include reading books aloud for the school library — recording them so younger students can listen at any time — and organizing food drives for families in need (RAK Foundation, 2010). Throughout these activities, discussion about how each act makes the student feel reinforces the positive behavior.

Follow-up activities ask students to compare how bullying and cyberbullying make a person feel versus how performing a random act of kindness feels. These lists are written side by side on the board, and students are asked which they prefer. The session concludes with a discussion of the Golden Rule: what does it mean? If you insult someone, do they respond kindly or harshly? What happens when you smile at people in the hallway? Do you want others to play pranks on you, or to help you when you are struggling?

Session four opens with a confidentiality reminder and a review of all three prior sessions — bullying, cyberbullying, and random acts of kindness. The counselor introduces volunteering by asking students to define the term, listing their examples on the board. The discussion addresses the benefits of volunteering and how it can change lives, including the volunteer's own. Volunteering is framed as an extended form of RAK: students can choose organizations aligned with their own interests (Kids Health, 2010).

Piaget and Cognitive Learning Theory

Roaten, G., & Schmidt, E. (2009). Using experiential activities with adolescents to promote respect for diversity. Professional School Counseling, 12(4), 309–314.

Scarborough, J., & Luke, M. (2008). School counselors walking the walk and talking the talk: A grounded theory of effective program implementation. Professional School Counseling, 11(6), 404–416.

Singh, A., Urbano, A., Haston, M., & McMahon, E. (2010). School counselors' strategies for social justice change: A grounded theory of what works in the real world. Professional School Counseling, 13(3), 135–146.

Steen, S., Bauman, S., & Smith, J. (2007). Professional school counselors and the practice of group work. Professional School Counseling, 11(2), 72–80.

Steen, S., & Kaffenberger, C. (2007). Integrating academic interventions into small group counseling in elementary school. Professional School Counseling, 10(5), 516–519.

Conclusion

Turkel, A. (2007). Sugar and spice and puppy dogs' tails: The psychodynamics of bullying. Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry, 35(2), 243–259.

Van Velsor, P. (2009). School counselors as social-emotional learning consultants: Where do we begin? Professional School Counseling, 13(1), 50–59.

Wired Safety Group. (2010). Stop cyberbullying. Retrieved March 4, 2010, from http://stopcyberbullying.org/

Young, A., Hardy, V., Hamilton, C., Biernesser, K., et al. (2009). Empowering students: Using data to transform a bullying prevention and intervention program. Professional School Counseling, 12(6), 413–421.