Support for Bullied Teen Who Makes Passionate Cry for Help Online

Elise Solé
Updated

A heartbreaking video of a 16-year-old girl begging her bullies to stop their torment has gone viral and, as a result, thousands have rallied to support the devastated teen.

Dana Hamrick is a junior at Harry S. Truman High School in Taylor, Mich. On Wednesday, she uploaded a five-minute video (warning: It contains strong language) in which she tearfully shares her experiences of being bullied at school. It has since been shared 2,500 times, viewed more than 85,000 times, and has racked up numerous comments.

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Hamrick describes various scenarios in which she’s teased by students and dismissed by teachers. “Do you know how bad I feel?” she says in the video. “People make fun of the way I look.… This school sucks. I don’t want to go there anymore, but I don’t have a choice.”

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The Facebook comments are overwhelmingly positive, with many calling Hamrick “beautiful” and recalling their own experiences of being bullied in school. The commenters include four current and former Truman students, one of whom said she wound up transferring because she “couldn’t take it.”

High school student Dana Hamrick’s anti-bullying video goes viral. (Photo: Dana Hamrick)

In an email to Yahoo Parenting, Teresa Winnie, assistant superintendent of the Taylor School District, says that when the school discovered the video, it immediately offered assistance to Hamrick, inquiring which students were involved in the harassment and contacting Hamrick’s parents. “Per district policy, interventions were put in place several months ago to address this student’s needs,” Winnie adds. “At no time following that were incidents of bullying reported to any school personnel. Furthermore, the student refused help from counselors, teachers, and social workers on different occasions when it was offered and could not provide the school with any specific names of students bothering her. As a follow-up measure, her parent was contacted, and a meeting was scheduled.”

Winnie further describes school policies to deal with bullying, which include student support groups led by social workers, teacher training on relationship building, and social media campaigns. Hamrick and her mother did not return Yahoo Parenting’s requests for comment.

Hamrick’s anguish is apparent, but without knowing what the school specifically did to intervene, it’s tough to weigh in. “There are lots of different bullying and violence prevention programs that are effective in reducing peer harassment, but every school has different policies,” Paul Boxer, associate professor of psychology at Rutgers University in Newark, N.J., tells Yahoo Parenting. “And sometimes you can have the best program in place, but teachers still can’t identify bullying when they see it. But it’s still happening in stairwells and on playgrounds.”

If Hamrick did reject help, it could be because mental health services are often stigmatized in high school, or she could have been afraid of retaliation by her peers. “In that case, the school would have little options at that point,” says Boxer. “If a teacher presses too hard, it could be seen as harassment.”

Turning to social media is one way to spread awareness, but as Boxer points out, “If someone is simply sharing their sad experience, it may result in voyeurism from others who enjoy watching an emotional display.” Boxer also debunks the idea that social media is a trigger for bullying. “It’s just another medium that bullies use,” he says. “Those are the same kids who back in the day threw eggs at kids’ houses or made prank phone calls.”

According to Boxer, bullying prevention programs that focus on social skills, character development, and conflict resolution should be in place, and laws should be passed to make schools liable if anti-bullying procedures aren’t followed. “There’s also value in teaching other kids to intervene when they see others being bullied,” he says. “These types of programs absolutely work.”

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