10 Ways to Disarm a Bully

Click here to download this outline as a nice shiny pdf document you can share with faculty, parents, and students.

1. If you are getting bullied or you see someone else being bullied, always tell an adult. This can be a teacher, coach, or parent. Be truthful with them and let them know exactly what happened.

2. For every negative thing someone says about you, think three positive things about yourself.

3. Surround yourself with people who want to be friends with you because of who you are. These people will reinforce the positive feelings you have about yourself.

4. Be calm and understanding (yes I know that’s hard!) Here is a script to help you when someone says something mean or tries to put you down. Say to them: “I understand that’s how you feel about me and that’s okay because it’s your opinion. But I want you to know that I really like who I am and the things you are saying to me aren’t going to change how I feel about myself.” If they keep saying stuff to you, don’t lose your cool. Just keep saying that line and let them know they are wasting their time.

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Overcoming fear of failure – what every teen needs to know

Failure. It’s in the movies we watch, books we read, and inspirational stories we see in the news. It’s what makes life hard in the moment, but looking back we find great satisfaction in what we were able to accomplish because of the life lessons we gained from it.

Maybe Thomas Edison said it best with his invention of the light bulb, “I have not failed. I just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Or Henry Ford when he said, “the only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” Or perhaps you can relate to Winston Churchill when he said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

We can rattle off quote after quote and story after story, but how can we give the teens and young adults in our life a tool or skill they can put into practice every time they may be worried, feel pressured, or anticipate hitting a road block?

Here is a 5 step process you can teach them that will positively change their mindset, the way they feel about themselves, their behavior, and the outcome:

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Quadzilla & Fox Chase 5k

While July is normally a bit slow for speaking, it has been a crazy month for HCM Foundation events. And by crazy I mean crazy good. We had two of our biggest fundraisers in July (Quadzilla a 15k trail race and Fox Chase 5k run) and raised $17,000 for our service programs. The foundation works with local social workers and hospitals in order to find patients and families significantly impacted by cancer. Then we use our funds to help with bills such as rent/mortgage, prescriptions, electric/water, transportation costs to treatment, etc. We will help up to $500 and while that doesn’t sound like a lot, let me give you an idea of what it can do. Two weeks ago we helped a patient get her electric turned back on. She has been in and out of the hospital for a month and a half, not able to work, and fell behind on her bills. Last week I was talking with a single mother battling breast cancer the last few years.

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