Heber Springs Teens Fight Bullying

Speak Life” was developed by Heber Springs Teens in response to a growing need to support the children in our community in a real and tangible way and to address the issue of bullying among our children.

Our organization recognizes that kids today face obstacles and circumstances that previous generations did not encounter. Our goal is redirect the negative influences and information into positive concepts that will change hearts and attitudes and have a lasting impression on the kids that need it the most.

Our goal is to connect these kids, first and foremost, to each other by developing character building strategies and opportunities for them to get to know each other in a new way. Secondly, we will attempt to give them a greater sense of responsibility in our community by involving them in service opportunities, community involvement skill building and even internships and jobs opportunities for the teenagers.

We feel that this part of our program is vital to giving our children purpose and a greater sense of being connected to the breadth and scope of what they can accomplish as an individual and as being connected to a group. The third tier of our program will create opportunities for our children to be the difference. We will encourage the children of our community to be the organizers, administrators and directors of their own programs and show them that they can be the greatest difference in making substantial changes for the better in their school, their community and on into their future.

A great number of benefits have been reported to support teaching kindness in schools such as happy, caring children and an increase in peer acceptance, improvement in self-esteem, a better sense of belonging and reduced depression, all leading to an overall goal of a reduction in bullying among peers.