Supporting Loudoun Youth by Becoming an ‘Upstander’

At least 12,000 students from 7th to 12th grades in Loudoun County are likely to be bullied this year.* That’s more than the population of Purcellville and Hamilton combined! And those 12,000 teens are two times as likely as others to have life-long psychological impacts and poor mental health outcomes, making it a significant public health concern, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). There are ways we can help Loudoun Youth by becoming an upstander rather than merely a bystander when we see bullying.

An upstander is a bystander who makes the choice to intervene on behalf of the victim in a bullying situation in person or online, according to Stop Bullying.

Bullying can take place anywhere – at school, on the playground, at a public event, etc. It also happens more often in digital form – on social media, through text messages, while gaming and on other apps. – making it almost impossible for a victim to escape. The ripple effect can create toxic environments for everyone exposed to it. 

Stop Bullying says that bystanders are present 80 percent of the time when an instance of bullying occurs, giving them the potential to turn a toxic environment into a positive one by standing up for the victim.

Upstanders can be anyone or can intervene anywhere, and studies have shown that when an upstander intervenes, bullying stops within 10 seconds more than half of the time. More importantly, victims who are defended and supported in a bullying situation are less anxious and depressed than those who don’t have an upstander.

It can be hard to know how to become an Upstander, so here are a few tips from Stop Bullying:

• Question the bullying behavior. Simple things like changing the subject or questioning the behavior can shift the focus.
  

• Bystanders can intervene as a group to show there are several people who don’t agree with the bullying.
  

• Walk with the person who is the target of bullying to help diffuse potential bullying interactions.
  

• Reach out to check in with the person who was bullied to let them know you do not agree with it and that you care. It makes a difference.

As a community, it is our responsibility to ensure that the 12,000 potential victims of bullying in Loudoun County know that they are surrounded by people who are willing to be their upstanders. 

*Haile G, Arockiaraj B, Zablotsky B, Ng AE. Bullying victimization among teenagers: United States, July 2021–December 2023. NCHS Data Brief, no 514. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2024. DOI: