WRAL’s Dan Haggerty talks to local students about their experiences with bullying in light of the recent suicide of a 13-year-old student at Wendell Middle School.
Credible news coverage. >> Okay, folks. hello. Welcome home. I’m DAN HAGGERTY. This is where we spend a little more time on the story. For anything important to you and this community, email DAN at WRAL DOT COM. Please join the conversation as we continue to discuss children and their mental health. And the timing of this is no coincidence. A whisper of tragedy when the eighth grade boy pictured on your screen commits suicide at Wendell Middle School at just 13 years old. We have a segment online last night. We discussed the difficulties families have in finding care and getting appointments with therapists. You can find it in the details section of the WRAL website. I’ll look into it. I just got this email from JC. He wouldn’t say mental health issues or awareness aren’t valid concerns, but Dunn said. But to connect it with the death of that little boy. And the pandemic seemed a little out of place to me. Ask your county school administrator what they have to say specifically about Austin Pendergrass and his bullying situation. Austin’s grieving mother said her son had been bullied. But we don’t know any specifics or details about what was going on in his life or in his mind. I understand your desire to know more that it might help in some way, but as a journalist in this case, it is not my responsibility to investigate this family tragedy in the media, nor my responsibility to speculate about it. No. But we know that bullying can contribute to the situation, and we had two children in our group panel, and both 7th and 8th graders talked about their experiences of being bullied at school. If I say something to the teachers or the school, do you notice a change or it just seems to go nowhere? >> I want to join it in third grade, but my mother Even after, almost nothing changed. >> Bullied from 3rd grade to 4th grade Me and my principles. we were really close. So I know that’s not the case for everyone.It took a while for things to change. For me they finally changed. >> OK, SO 1 PERSON SAW CHANGE. 1 person saw no change results. Very, very each situation is unique and complex. Again, we’re dealing with kids and schools, but things have changed a lot since my generation went to school. They are campaigning against expanding Phase 2 programs that teach kindness and emotional management. They start in kindergarten. There are tips on bullying and guidelines for investigating it. And we interview educators to find out what we’re looking at from 2020 to 2022. He is one in about three teachers in our state. Think of bullying as an after-school problem. Said it was a problem. bullying. It’s always public. They may be hidden from school, peers and parents on social media. A bully can take them home and be waiting for them when they wake up in the morning and glance at their phone. Let’s talk about room phones and this mental health report from the Child Psychiatric Institute, which considers more than half a dozen studies on smartphones and social media. There was also evidence that excessive use negatively affected self-esteem and life satisfaction. This social media use is also associated with an increase in mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, and suicide. Ali. Junior high school freshman. He said yes or other people already know they have their own phones, social media accounts etc. Like 95, many people have social media I know that >> And understand the phone all day long. >> Just a little side note for the little girls out there. Lily’s mom was sitting right next to her. She is the director of her WAKE mental health program. mat. She joins there and her daughter ends Lily who doesn’t have social media. That’s why her chief medical officer at one of the nation’s best hospitals specializing in behavioral and mental health doesn’t allow her daughter to use her social media. She seems to recognize what others ignore. oh i don’t care TIKTOK is really fun. Please let me know what you think about all this. Email DAN at WRAL DOT COM. Please help me navigate this topic. You can always find me on social media, search DAN HAGGERTY. Yes I understand the irony. And I am well aware of the complexity of this issue, and the need to have these conversations heard, is that in the last two days so many people have shared their very personal difficulties with me electronically. I shared it with you via email. Someone called my desk today to tell me the painful story of my daughter and her struggles with mental health and how they are finding care. After changing the figure, we have to face this cause of the national suicide prevention line rising by 45%. We can look at this stat in a few different ways, but it’s clear that more people are looking for help. 9 1 day should be a number that everyone knows is automatic. I keep receiving emails.continue this