One of the crucial roles in preventing cyberbullying belongs to schools and its administrators in intervention, investigation and reporting when it happens.
Both prevention and intervention have an important role in every anti-cyber bullying program. Intervention actions take place when cyberbullying incidences occur and they are meant to support the cyber victims and provide counseling to cyber bullies while prevention actions aim to prevent cyberbullying incidents from happening (Tanrikulu, 2017). To prevent any kind of harmful and unwanted behavior, which includes bullying in any kind of form, creating a positive and safe school environment is an essential step.
Ortega Ruiz et al. (2012) made the following set of recommendations for the schools: creating a safe school atmosphere, raising the teaching personnel‟s, non-teaching personnel‟s and the awareness of students about cyberbullying problems and appropriate online behavior, collaborating with other parties (parents, organizations, the community) and developing anti-cyberbullying polices. Some of those strategies are universal and are applicable for both types of bullying – both cyber and traditional, but the prominence for the “cyber part” has to be specifically emphasized and be very well distinct in the schools programs for anti-bullying. Schools also need to make sure that their administrators, personal and educators are educated to recognize, properly react and report cyberbullying following the given guidelines from the school policies.
One of the ways to ensure the most effective reach to students is through peer leader students who could go into classes and speak about the dangers of cyberbullying, its effects and the problems it causes. Also, it is important to address the feeling of empathy and work with students on its development which can also be done through small group counseling (Paolini, 2018).
Additionally, small group counseling with victims of bullying can help them to increase their self-worth, help them do deal with being bullied more efficiently and being able to separate the person (their bully) from the problem (bullying) (Paolini, 2018).
Parental education on cyberbullying as well as their training on how to handle certain situations should be one of the components of every schools anti-cyberbullying policy (Zych et al., 2015). Counselors should also facilitate and lead workshops for parents to educate them about the dangers followed by cyberbullying. Other ideas for workshops could include developing skills such as “self-esteem, social skills building, decision making, conflict resolution, empathy and compassion, resilience, assertiveness, and stress management”
(Beaty & Alexeyev, 2008 as cited in Paolini 2018, p. 4). Working and participating in a group discussion is good for mutual support, inspiring communication and self-discovery as well as switching focus from cyberbullying and its consequences to personal goals and self-development.
Some of the prevention methods can include working with students on enhancing empathy, developing relationships and communication with their parents (Ang & Goh, 2010), as well as raising the general awareness of cyberbullying (Cassidy et al., 2012). For parents, monitoring children‟s social media and technology usage should also be discussed, as well as the ways to limit children‟s access to technology and consider joining or visiting the same social media sites to be able to monitor their posts.
As for examples of intervention strategies, some of them are: asking a trusted adult for help after being cyberbullied (Machackova et al., 2013), working together on coping strategies, learning how to block perpetrators, and finding ways to file a report to the police or social media companies (Riebel et
al., 2009). Other ways counselors can help both victims and bullies is through behavioral therapy, counseling sessions and reality therapy (Sabella, 2012).
These can help bullies to self-reflect and to take the accountability for their behaviors as well as make them realize the consequences those behaviors have caused, while at the same time help the victims to feel empowered, back in control and to face their fears.
Although cyberbullying still needs to be studied more in order to be dealt with more effectively, some efforts have already been showed to be very successful. For instance, teaching students about, but also showing them
“accountability, empathy, communication, assertiveness, setting goals that are strengths based, fostering optimism and the importance of having a positive mindset”(Paolini, 2018, p.6), has shown to help students in decreasing behaviors related to cyberbullying. In addition, working closely with students, either through small group counseling or peer leadership, to build their self-worth, compassion, empathy, social skills and emotion regulation, was shown to be effective when it comes to creating constructive behaviors. Engaging in an open dialogue with both students and their parents (of the victims and bullies) is crucial to gather all necessary information, but also a great way to find the source of the problem, become confident with reporting problems and unwanted behaviors and working together on a solution (Paolini, 2018).When cyberbullying occurs, the bully (or bullies) and the victim (or victims) are not the only stakeholders in the process because others can help with preventing or successfully intervening in the situation.
For instance, bystanders who are present when cyberbullying is happening might provide support to the victims and encourage them to speak to trusted adult and seek for help. Developing a positive relationship between all students, including empathy and care for others can be very important in stopping the cyberbullying when it occurs but also in preventing it from happening in the first place. Whether they are witnessing it in real life or in the cyber space, bystanders can take various amounts of actions to help the victim.
Sometimes, the information about the cyberbullying will emerge too late to
responsible adults for them to prevent it, but during the intervention, school administrators, parents and other relevant stakeholders might rely on bystanders to step in and provide help.
Teachers who are working directly with students every day could be in possession of some valuable information that could help in getting better insight of the situation and its resolutions. Parents should observe warning signs associated with cyberbullying and by openly communicating with their children, be aware that have they been involved in cyberbullying – whether as bullies, victims or bystanders.