Yesterday evening, Rebecca Rialon Berry, PhD, a child psychologist from Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, participated in a San Jose Mercury News live chat covering topics such as how to recognize that a child has experienced a traumatic event and how to help teens manage their online presence.
A transcript of the chat is now available on the newspaper's website. During the chat, Berry discussed the issue of empowering teens to be proactive in preventing, or notifying adults about, harmful online or in-person interactions. Below is her exchange with reporter Katy Murphy:
Murphy: Even if a child isn’t being bullied or bullying others, he or she might see it happening -- online or in person. What effect do these harmful interactions have on bystanders, and what do you recommend that teens do if they see harmful images or messages shared?
Berry: Bystanders can have a very helpful role in preventing or stopping cyber bullying. Encourage youth who see online activity that might appear to be cyber bullying to print out the message, post, tweet, or email and share this with an adult ... Adults can respond to receiving such messages by validating the teen's openness to speak up and with encouragement to the teen to continue communicating about online activities that he/she does not feel is productive or healthy.
The full chat is worth taking a moment to read.
Previously: Packard Children’s Hospital psychologist to discuss helping children coping with trauma, Talking to children about school shootings and Talking to little ones about 9/11
