St. Joseph School District counselors are tackling the issue of bullying during October as part of National Bullying Prevention Month.

“Bullying is something that happens. It’s been around forever and it continues to happen,” said Kim Hill, St. Joseph School District Coordinator of Counseling. “We’re always trying to prevent bullying and teach students how they can help.”

She said there are many different activities that are taking place in St. Joseph schools this months to bring awareness to bullying. She said speakers have been at several schools talking about the issues and counselors have worked on awareness projects.

“Social media has definitely added a new component to bullying. It’s providing another venue where bullying can take place,” said Hill. “Now there is 24/7 access to social media where students can continue to cyber bully outside of a school setting.”

Now, the counseling department is taking to social media asking people to get involved. Wednesday on Twitter @Counseling_CHS let the public know about a phone application which could help parents approach the subject of bullying with their children.

“It talks about how 15 minutes a day of conversation with a parent can really help with the prevention and dealing with bullying,” said Hill. “It will help with conversation starters and will even send you a reminder to your phone to have that conversation with that child each day when they come home from school.”

The free app is provided by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. For more information on that app click here.

Hill said when dealing with bullying it’s important not to use labels like “victim” or “bully.”

“When you label students as either the victim or the bully you’re not taking into account the fact that they can change their behavior,” she said.

Hill said if there is a situation of bullying at school to let school counselors know about the issue. Another online resource for bully prevention is stopbullying.gov.