Breaking down bullying

“There is no future in being a bully.” This is the message from local TV personality Garth Riley, co-founder of Sticks and Stones May Break Your Bones Bully Defusing presentation.

Now in its third year, the program strives to inspire kids to stand on their own strengths and build their own identities in a very difficult era.
Today’s core presentation is a humour-filled, 55-minute, interactive talk. Kids learn to examine how their words affect both themselves and their intended targets and they also learn the value of their own self talk.

Working with his partner Jennifer Adamson, Riley’s first presentation took place at St. Bernadette’s Catholic School in Ajax. Student responses touched their hearts: “You made us understand that we give the power to the bully by allowing the words to ruin our day. Other children said: “I learned not to bully because I see how words hurt people even though I thought I was joking.”

From there, endorsements flowed in from school boards, presentation after presentation, as students began to apply the principles taught to them.

Years of studying human behaviour and cognitive science has allowed Riley to distinguish a connection between how we think and the effect it has on the body. This program has developed a way to help kids acknowledge that body-mind connection and achieve positive results.
Perhaps it is Riley’s own personal experiences that reach the kids the most. It is hard to imagine that a person who today stands 6’6” tall and weighs 290lbs was bullied as a child. By the fourth grade, Riley had experienced racial discrimination, religious persecution, racial segregation, physical bullying and an alcoholic step father who used words tear him down. Students are inspired by his courage to tell his story.

Often they receive feedback from students like this Grade 4 student: “Everything that has happened to Garth has happened to me.”

Riley is motivated by the encouragement, praise and gratitude that comes from the children in Grades 4 through 12. They have read over 260,000 surveys and are compelled and encouraged to continue this mission.
Sticks and Stones looks at the person, not the label. Bullying is a behaviour brought on by feeling powerless. As Joe Hircock from the Durham District School Board said: “[This program] provides each student with a framework of strength to stand up to bullies by establishing their own personal identity and confidence everyday,”

“We have all been victims at one point but it is our resiliency that we really need to focus on,” said Riley. This program teaches kids that bullying is ineffective and that inner confidence is the antidote.

This program has been described as “a tool in the box of life” and it is appropriate to have the proper tool for the appropriate challenge.
The program is offered to any school that invites them to be a part of their community — across the nation.

A DVD of the presentation is also available online. See first-hand what the program entails. For further information please visit www.sticksandstonesmaybreakmybones.com.