School Psychologist Corner

Who We Are

In addition to your counselors, EHS has two school psychologists who support our student community--Mrs. Cignarella and Dr. Pinho. Our hope is that this writing will provide you support through whatever this year brings, and can help us connect with more students and families in need of support. The best way to contact Mrs. Cignarella or Dr. Pinho is via email or (in the future) stopping by the counseling office.

New for October

Below, you'll learn the science behind what influences whether you would help someone being bullied or not and how to be an upstander to bullying. Additionally, there are 3 free apps to help support your mental health.

3 Free Apps to Support Mental Health

Calm Harm

Calm Harm is a great resource for those struggling with urges to self-harm. When feeling emotionally overwhelmed or numb, it can be difficult to make any decisions. Calm Harm provides you with a menu of good alternatives to ride out unsafe feelings, including express yourself, comfort, distract, release, and breathe, as well as a random option. Over time, you can learn what sorts of things work to help you and if there are patterns to how and when you feel upset.

From their website: "Calm Harm is an award-winning app developed for teenage mental health charity stem4 by Dr Nihara Krause, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, using the basic principles of an evidence-based therapy called Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)."

Safety Plan

Safety Plan provides resources related to suicide prevention, as well a personalized plan to develop to help yourself in times of crisis. Like with Calm Harm, Safety Plan recognizes that simple decisions can be overwhelming when you are upset, and encourages you to come up with a plan when you are calm. You can customize coping strategies that work for you, signs that you may be upset, import contacts for people who can support you, and a list of places you can use for distractions.

Clear Fear

Clear Fear uses principles of cognitive-behavioral therapy to help you reduce your physical responses to fear or anxiety, like panic attacks. It also helps you develop thinking strategies that can combat anxious thoughts.

Over time, you can learn about and recognize patterns in your anxious feelings, and learn to anticipate them before they start.

Please remember that although each of these three resources can help you become more independent in your coping, they are not meant to replace talking with a professional.

The Bystander Effect

Have you ever witnessed someone being bullied? Have you ever witnessed someone say something hurtful to someone else and said nothing? Have you seen someone in need and not stopped to help them? Chances are, you have. The Bystander Effect is a social phenomena and while people may think there is "safety in numbers" that doesn't hold true in every situation.

"The bystander effect occurs when the presence of others discourages an individual from intervening in an emergency situation, against a bully, or during an assault or other crime. The greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is for any one of them to provide help to a person in distress. People are more likely to take action in a crisis when there are few or no other witnesses present." (Psychology Today, 2020) Click on the Psychology Today link to learn more.

Cyber Bullying: How to Combat It By Being An Upstander

An upstander is essentially the opposite of a bystander. Upstanders will speak up and act when someone is in need. When one person chooses to do the right thing, you encourage others around you to do the right thing too. You can be an upstander in person AND online.

"Cyber Bullying involves using technology, like cell phones and the Internet, to bully or harass another person. It can include:

Sending mean messages or threats to a person’s email account or cell phone
Spreading rumors online or through texts
Posting hurtful or threatening messages on social networking sites or web pages
Stealing a person’s account information to break into their account and send damaging messages
Pretending to be someone else online to hurt another person
Taking unflattering pictures of a person and spreading them through cell phones or the Internet
Sexting, or circulating sexually suggestive pictures or messages about a person"

(bullyingstatistics.org, 2020)

If you witness any of these things happening to someone, don't just ignore it. It only takes ONE person to effect change. All it takes is a little courage.

Page updated

Report abuse