Girl in fall may be bully victim – Befrienders

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KOTA KINABALU: The 15-year-old girl who survived a fall from a building near Cyber City at Jalan Lintas, Kepayan on August 18, might have been a victim of school bullies, said Befrienders KK chairperson Datin Seri Siti Rubiah Bte Abdul Samad.

“School bullying is rampant in schools nowadays as seen from many YouTube videos going viral. It seems that the youth are now acting more aggressively which could stem from emotional inadequacies or domestic problems,” said Siti Rubiah yesterday.

According to her, the aggressor enjoys feeling superior and in control and think it makes them more popular. They possess leadership skills but an aggressive leader is not necessary a successful leader. Bullies are people with moral and emotional issues, without respect for others. They tend to dislike school, have emotional instability, have an inflated view of themselves and poor anger management skills. They need to bully others to feel good about themselves. This applies to their supporters too.

Befrienders KK hopes that school counselors can play a more effective role to help counsel students as well as teaching bullies to manage their anger and to be more mentally healthy.

“We are glad that the Education Ministry is presently holding a Psychosocial Tour 6 for school counselors to update their skills in handling psychological problems. We hope that schools will also be willing to participate in workshops to promote mental health and expose students on maintaining positive emotional skills,” said Siti Rubiah in a statement yesterday.

She stressed that schools should play their role and be more open in ways in ensuring the well-being of their students and promote a mentally healthy environment for their students to study in.

Many schools in Singapore and Australia inculcate positive sychology and well-being classes in their curriculum, she said.

Siti Rubiah was commenting on the incident on Monday when the girl allegedly leapt from the first floor of the building at Kepayan Perdana as her elder sister watched in horror.

Before the 11.57pm incident, the girl had asked her elder sister to accompany her to the commercial centre to meet her friend.

After reaching the commercial centre, she walked up to the first floor of the commercial centre while her sister waited on the ground floor.

Several minutes later, the elder sister saw her climbing onto the railing and jumping to the ground.

City police chief Assistant Commissioner M. Chandra said initial police investigation found the victim was suffering from depression.

Meanwhile, Siti Rubiah disclosed that Befrienders KK has obtained permission from the Education Ministry and the State Education Department to conduct workshops at schools.

Students are taught how to recognize and identify their feelings and emotions, self-assessment, communication skills, recognizing depression and how to manage emotions. All these topics are connected to life coping skills.

This is the third year that Befrienders KK conducted mental health workshops at schools in Sabah.

“We have approached six schools but only three schools accepted and the recent workshop was concluded at SMK Tansau, Putatan. We hope more schools will invite us to conduct talks on mental health,” she said.

Befrienders KK also operates a listening helpline where trained volunteers listen to those who need an empathetic ear for them to pour out their feelings. All calls are not recorded.

Call Befrienders KK at 088-255788 (7pm to 10pm, daily) or email: [email protected] or send us message at Facebook.com/befrienderskk.