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Suicide and mental health are issues in Ripon, too

Ripon Commonwealth Press - 5/17/2017

TO THE EDITOR:

With May being mental health and suicide awareness month; I wanted to raise awareness to bullying and suicide both of which I am very passionate about.

Our schools and community need to wake up and realize that this is a problem even in Ripon. We all need to say, "enough is enough" and make a zero tolerance stand on bullying.

Parents of both the victims and the bullies should never think that this cannot happen to my child or my child would never do that.

Kids are kids, and since we can't be next to them 24/7, others can have an influence on them that is contrary to how we raised them.

Parents need to talk to their children about bullying and the effects that it can cause.

Here are some facts on bullying.

1. One in 4 teachers see nothing wrong with bullying and will only intervene 4 percent of the time.

2. Over 67 percent of students believe that schools respond poorly to bullying with a high percentage of students believing that adults help is infrequent and ineffective.

3. Harassment and bullying have been linked to 75 percent of school shootings.

4. It is estimated that 160,000 children miss school every day due to fear of being bullied.

5. About 47 teens are bullied every 5 minutes

6. Every 30 minutes a teenager attempts suicide. (The leading cause of death among children under the age of 14 is suicide.)

7. Many children will have a chronic state of anxiety and depression.

It should sadden all of us to see and hear that children are ending their life because they feel this is the only way to stop the day to day torment.

If your child is being bullied, please report it and get them help. If they don't want to get help from a school counselor then get them help from outside of the school. I know firsthand of many people that still to this day live with the affects of being bullied.

I, and I hope many others, will stand up and be the voices for those children who are afraid and ashamed to speak up about this issue.

"Children can not get a quality education if they don't first feel safe at school." -Arne Duncan, former U.S. Secretary of Education - Shannon Grandt

416 E. Sullivan St.