"You have a great presence with kids-- Encore!"
Deb Dalton, Greenville Elementary, Nokesville, VA
Paul Hadfield, MS. LCPC
Who is Paul Hadfield?
- Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LCPC) who specializes in working with children and adolescents.
- A therapist at a Community Mental Health Private Practice in Frederick, MD.
- Writer, producer, and performer of children's assembly programs performed throughout the mid-Atlantic.
What is Paul's experience with bullying?
- Counsels children individually who have been bullied in school
- Served on the committee to oversee Maryland's Model Policy To Address Bullying, Harassment, or Intimidation
- Works with schools to implement a systemic approach to reduce bullying, including
- Forming a bullying prevention committee
- Educating teachers and parents about bullying
- Providing programs to raise bullying awareness, build bystander skills, and work out real problems through role-play
What has Paul discovered in his work with children, teachers, and administrators?
- Bullying is cloaked in secrecy: both victims and perpetrators have in interest in understating the problem
- Secrecy causes the problem to grow
- Engaging students, teachers, administrators and parents to discuss bullying in a fun and interractive way improves school climate and makes it easier to learn
- Dealing with the problem systemically as a community mental health issue is just as important as punishing perpetrators
What are the goals of The Bully Plan?
- Promote learning and an open dialogue about bullying
- Increase empathy and reduce mean behavior among students
- Help children to develop resilience, coping and bystander skills
- Inspire a feeling of unity among classmates
- Make students aware of school policies and resources
- To have fun