By Stephanie Elam & Yvonne Beltzer

NBCLosAngeles.com

updated 10/6/2011 1:16:20 PM ET

Every day, more than 100,000 students skip school in the United States because they fear bullying by their classmates.

This is National Bullying Prevention Month and a motivational speaker who calls himself “Mr. Mojo” is touring the country to try to change that.

“Mr. Mojo,” who is also known as Travis Brown, brought his anti-bullying pitch Wednesday to a private school in Chatsworth, Sierra Canyon School.

Brown spoke to students in grades seven through 12 at the behest of senior Corinne Foxx, who had surveyed her schoolmates and found more than a quarter of them believed bullying was a problem at the school.

Brown said he plans to hit more than 200 schools during his 75 day tour. He said he is trying to empower students to believe in themselves and take a stand.

“They can truly make a difference in this new social epidemic of bullying,” he said.

Brown said he used “mojo” as a way to connect to kids

But what exactly is “mojo”?

Brown explained it is the “highest level of positive attitude, positive energy and positive results.”

“When you pull all of that together and then the kids, I tell them you have mojo swag,” Brown said.

Corinne Foxx, whose father is the actor Jamie Foxx, said she wanted the anti-bullying tour to come to her school and speak to her classmates because “they listen better to someone else’s voice.”

“I wanted to create an environment that was safe at our school,” she said, admitting she, too, had been the victim of bullying.

Her father said fame and fortune don’t stop bullying.

“Kids will go through the same things” whether or not the family is well-off or well known, he said.

He said he was proud of his daughter for trying to help.

“I’m sure that what she’s doing here this week is helping somebody, somewhere quietly,” he said.

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Are You a Bully?

Mojo Press, 2011 (www.NoBullyingTour.com

The topic of bullying is hard to ignore these days. In fact, a lot of us are probably tired of hearing about it, but if you don’t want to hear about it, then it’s time to join in and put a stop to it.  Many of us read or listen to some of the news on bullying, but since we do not think it involves us we do not put a lot of time or thought into the problem.  The reality is, some of us are more a part of it than we think.  In fact, some of us are the bullies!

“So what is a bully,” you ask?  According to Meriam-Webster a bully is: a blustering browbeating person; especially : one habitually cruel to others who are weaker.   You are probably saying to yourself; “I don’t pick on people smaller than me.  I am not cruel to people, and I don’t even know what a blustering browbeating person is.”  That does not mean you are not a bully. Schools and states are making new rules and even laws that define bullying in simpler terms.  Have you ever teased someone over and over again?  Have you ever intimidated someone to get them to do what you want?  Have you ridiculed someone or harassed them?   If so you are a bully and being a bully and it is not ok.  (Indiana Code 20-33)

Many of us have done things like this, and we excuse it by saying that it was just a joke, or we were just kidding around, but the person on the other end likely doesn’t feel that way.  Remember, Mr. Mojo said bullying can be physical, verbal and cyber and they are all unacceptable.  Don’t be the person that just jokes around one too many times and helps push someone to their breaking point.  Take a stand against bullying by changing your own behavior first, and leading by example to help others do the same.

What I learned at ASCA!

Click Here to Watch the No Bullying Talk

I have spent most of the summer preparing for my upcoming anti-bullying tour that will include approximately 200 schools in 75 days from August through November. As I am sure all of you love what you do and the impact you make everyday I too am extremely  passionate about my opportunity to impact the lives of almost 400,000 students per year with my powerful message: “MOJO UP- Leaders Taking A Stand Against Bullying”!

So what does that have to do with ASCA? Although, bullying is a heavily talked about topic in schools and in the media, it appears that many people only talk about it!  At the ASCA conference it was talked about a great deal as well, however after having hundreds of conversations, attending workshops and small group chat sessions I realized that counselors do more than just talk about it. You are in the heat of the battle everyday working with students to make a real positive difference with students in many ways including bullying! So it was refreshing to walk away from this conference and realize that I have thousands of counselors all over this country on the same mission I am, “to change the world one student at a time”. I learned that the counselors care, and are trying to find ways to open up the hearts and minds of students to show them all that they can be and the opportunities they have in life.

My anti-bullying tour is committed to do the same exact things. Yes, I do talk about what bullying is and the impact it has on all of us, however the main focus is getting all students to understand they are good enough, valuable enough and the have abilities to help make a positive difference in this world. MOJO UP – is the term I use to inspire each student to take a stand for themselves, their classmates and do something big everyday! I feel blessed to know that every school I go to this year has a great counselor in it, and I will not be alone in this fight! That you will be their to reinforce this positive message and help these students everyday!

THANK YOU for doing what you do, and THANK YOU for helping me on my mission to change the world one student at a time!

Mr. MOJO- America’s Youth Leadership & Anti-Bullying Coach

What Would Your Child Do?

On Sunday June 12, 2011 Dateline NBC aired a special on bullying.  Students were unknowingly put in situations where someone around them was being bullied as there parents sat in another room and watched via hidden cameras.  All parents were hopeful that their children would respond in an appropriate way, but had to anxiously await the reality of how their child would respond, impromptu, in a bullying scenario.

Overall, the students responded as typical bystanders do.  Many of them ignored the situation, some tried to redirect the bullies by changing the subject or shifting gears, some joined the bullies in their antagonizing, but few spoke up on their own.  One child, out of dozens, truly spoke up and spoke out against the bully.  A handful gingerly tried to be nice to the person being bullied and then others followed suit, but most admitted it was uncomfortable and they were not sure what to do.

As a parent it can be difficult to know how to properly address this at home.  Many parents don’t have the answers.  If you are not sure that your child knows how to stand up to bullies, or how to keep from being a bystander or a promoter, ask Mr. Mojo.  Mr. Mojo’s No Bullying Tour will address all of these issues.  Encourage your child’s school to host Mr. Mojo that your student and their classmates know how to put an end to bullying in their school.

Join Mr MOJO on his journey to change the world one teenager at a time. His Fall Anti-Bullying tour will begin on August 4th and run through November 21st!

Watch Anti-Bullying Video here: http://youtu.be/f_LN7UEYNT0

Length: 45, 60 and 90 minute increments

Presentation Format:Large Audience Keynote

Description:

“Leaders Taking A Stand Against Bullying will change the culture in your school forever!  Mr. MOJO’s inspiring message will reveal the untold truth about about how often most of us bully or allow bullying to happen around us each day.

Mr. MOJO will break down how to identify the 5 different roles we play in the bullying process, spotlight the physical, mental & cyber forces of daily bullying and uncover how what we think is “normal” is causing most of the problems we face with bullying! This presentation is guaranteed to have your students cheering, crying and committing to changing the way they treat people by taking a stand to stop bullying!

Key messages your students will learn:

• The definitions of the Bully, Bullied, Bystander, Promotor & MOJO Maker
• How to heal the pain from being bullied or being the bully
• What Cyber bullying is and how to avoid making a life changing mistake
• How to handle bullying attacks to your “core”
• Simple things to help stop bullying in your school everyday

To Book this Convo at your school email BookMrMojo@NoBullyingTour.com

www.NoBullyingTour.com

Can They Count on You?

Research has found that bullying is most likely to occur in schools where there is a lack of adult supervision during breaks, where teachers and students are indifferent to or accept bullying behavior, and where rules against bullying are not consistently enforced. (Olweus, Limber, & Mihalic, 1999)  This begs the question: Can your students count on you?

We know that the epidemic of bullying is keeping kids from coming to school, creating feelings of being unsafe in school, and in turn affecting grades and test scores.  If students could count on those around them during the school day, these feelings of insecurity may begin to diminish.  Imagine, how much more confident a child would feel walking into a classroom knowing that the adult in the room would stand up for them.  Think of how many more students would confidently go to the cafeteria during lunch if they knew their peers would stand by them.

Students, teachers, and administrators alike must stop being bystanders.  Educate your staff and your student body on how to effectively speak out, stand up, and put a stop to bullying.  The burden of putting an end to bullying is not as difficult as it may seem.  Through education, empowerment, and inspiration a school climate can be changed in a positive way.

To develop this type of change in your school, book Mr. Mojo today.  Be a part of his 2011 fall No Bullying Tour!

Bullying At School Linked To Violence At Home

Article Date: 24 Apr 2011 – 8:00 PDT

Bullies and those being bullied are more likely to be experiencing family violence at home, a new report issued by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and prepared together with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health has found. The researchers found that among middle and high school pupils across the state, encounters of family violence were more common among young people who had both taken part in bullying and been victims of it.

Since the two suicides in 2009 – Phoebe Prince, 15, in South Hadley, and Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, in Springfield – bullying has been a big theme in Massachusetts, leading to anti-bullying laws in 2010 which ban bullying both online and in schools. Since the new legislation, schools have had to develop bullying intervention and prevention policies.

The CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) report explains that a growing body of evidence has been linking family violence with bullying. The authors write that they gathered and analyzed data from the Massachusetts Youth Health Survey (2009), an anonymous, paper and pencil survey carried out every 24 months.

There are considerable differences in risk factors contributing to individuals involved in varying categories of bullying, compared to those who have never been active bullies or victims of it.

The AORs (adjusted odds ratios) for middle school pupils for being physically hurt by a member of the family were:

2.9 for victims

4.4 for bullies

5 for bully victims

For being witnesses of family violence the AORs were:

2.6 for victims

2.9 for bullies

3.9 for bully victims

The authors say adjustments were made for factors which might alter the figures, such as the individuals age, sex, race and ethnicity.

The AORs for high school pupils for witnessing violence in the family were:

2.8 for victims

3.8 for bullies

5.4 for bully victims

For being witnesses of family violence the AORs were:

2.3 for victims

2.7 for bullies

6.8 for bully victims

In order to develop effective bullying intervention and prevention strategies, the authors say schools and health departments are finding that it is vital to include involvements in families.

The Massachusetts Youth Health Survey defines bullying as being “repeatedly teased, threatened, hit, kicked, or excluded by another student or group of students.”

In the Massachusetts Youth Health Survey, which involves hundreds of schools in the state, pupils were asked two questions (among many):

Over the last year, how often have you been bullied at school?
They could answer from 0 to at least 12 times.
Pupils who said they had been bullied at least once were categorized as victims.

“Did you do any of the following over the last year? a) Bully or push someone around, and b) Initiate or start a physical fight with someone.
This second question was asked immediately after the student answered the first.
Students answered with a simple yes or no to both questions. An individual who answered yes to question “a” was categorized as a bully. Those who answered yes to question “b” were not classed as bullies because there was not enough deter to determine.

The researchers gathered the data they received from the two bullying questions and created four categories:

Bullies – those who had bullied, but had not been bullied

Victims – those who had been bullied, but had not bullied

Bully-victims – those who had bullied and had also been bullied

Neither – those who had neither been bullied nor bullied

Below are some highlighted results from this study:

Victims of bullying – 26.8% of middle school and 15.6% of high school students

Victims – 7.5%% of middle school and 8.4% of high school students

Bully victims – 9.6% of middle school and 6.5% of high school students. There was no significant difference between male and female rates.

Neither – 50.6% of middle school and 69.5% of high school students.

Males bullies – 9.9% of middle school and 12.1% of high school students

Female bullies – 5% of middle school and 4.8% of high school students

Male victims – 24.1% of middle school and 13.3% of high school students

Female victims – 29.8% of middle school and 17.8% of high school students

A higher percentage of bully-victims were exposed to violent family encounters compared to bullies.

Anxiety and depression are two mental health disorders that are being diagnosed more and more in children these days.  Mental health concerns in children have become so prominent that the NYU Child Study Center is promoting “Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week.”   The goal is to increase awareness and develop more resources to help children suffering from these disorders.

So how does this tie into bullying you may ask.  Working to curb the prevalence of bullying in schools can have a direct impact on mental health.  Research shows that children who have been bullied often times suffer from anxiety and depression.  So there is a direct correlation between putting an end to bullying and being preventative in our efforts toward children’s mental health concerns.

The parallel is simple.  Decrease bullying and you decrease the effects.  Therefore, you decrease the risk of children suffering from anxiety and depression.  Let us be proactive in our quest, rather than being reactive.  Take a stand against bullying.  Provide students, teachers and parents with the tools they need to be preventative in their efforts against bullying.  We will likely see that as we get a handle on bullying we also begin to affect mental health.

Article written by Mrmojo@NoBullyingTour.com

Is Your School Failing? AYP’s Link to Bullying

Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), a cornerstone of the Federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act used to evaluate the success of schools nation wide, has school personnel around the country on edge.  If a school continually fails to meet AYP standards, it can be deemed a failing school and eventually be shut down completely.  As many of us know, when a school fails, a community fails, and the children that live in that community are bound to fail as well.

So how does this tie into bullying you ask? It is a very straight forward correlation.  AYP is measured by English/Reading, and Mathematics proficiency and graduation rates.  Therefore, students must reach a certain skill level in both Math and English.  To learn these facts they must be taught.  In order to be taught they must be exposed to educational opportunities in their local public schools.  In turn, students must attend school to be exposed to the information to reach the proficiency level, which will be measured by a standardized test given during the school day.  Simple, right?  Not so fast.

One hundred and sixty thousand students stay home from school each day in the United States due to the fear of being bullied.  When students are not at school they are not exposed to the information. When they are not exposed to the information they do not become proficient in those areas.  When students do not become proficient and/or are absent on the day of the test the school takes a hit on it’s AYP score.  So as you can see, there is a clear, but astounding correlation between bullying and AYP.

Stop the bullying in your school today! Invest in the future of your students and your school by hosting OPERATION MOJO’s NO BULLY TOUR.(www.NoBullyingTour.com)  Help your students feel safe at school, and in turn see improvements in your AYP indicators.

NO Bullying Tour.com

Just teasing, taunting, all in good humor? Not so fast.  For the critics out there that think bullying is just a normal childhood experience; take at look at this:  Every half an hour, there is a youth suicidal death that has resulted from bullying (Marr & Field, 2001).  I’m not sure about you, but I’ve never considered suicide a normal part of childhood.  As a matter of fact, it pains me to know that there are even more children out there who have considered suicide, attempted and not completed it, or have gone unreported in the statistics.

Let’s take it one step further and acknowledge that these suicidal thoughts do not only reside in the hearts of those that are bullied, but also those that bully.  Bullies [themselves] are at a higher risk for suicide ideations, suicide attempts, and completed suicides. Bullies may be 2 to 9 times at greater risk for suicide when compared to their non-bullying peers (Kim & Leventhal, 2008).

My mission as I travel across this country with my Operation Mojo NO Bullying Tour is to positively affect the lives of all children.  It is not just the bullied that are suffering.  As you see above, this epidemic is threatening the lives of both the bullied and the bully.  My message is intended to empower the bully to face their pain and walk away from their demons and to build up the confidence of the bullied so that they value themselves as they face each new day.  I charge you to join me in helping to heal the pain of all those children besieged by this epidemic. MOJO UP and make sure the schools in your community are a part of the Fall Operation MOJO -No Bullying tour!