As concerns about youth mental health continue to rise, schools across Oakland County have been implementing anti-bullying programs designed not only to discipline harmful behavior, but to prevent it before it starts.

As part of Anti-Bullying Week, which runs from Feb 23-27, and efforts to end bullying and harassment, districts are highlighting programs designed to make a difference in hallways and classrooms.

UMatter is a mental health initiative, primarily driven by the non-profit group Friendship Circle of Michigan, based in West Bloomfield. It is focused on preventing teen suicide, reducing social isolation, and promoting mental wellness through peer-to-peer support, workshops, and school-based UMatter Weeks.

UMatter programs have been going on at Royal Oak High School for nine years.

Last year during UMatter week at the high school, 64 events were held with 850 students participating in programs led by both teachers and students.

“Last year at the high school we put on a social panel with five students who sat on the panel and spoke on how they made positive social connections when they faced social issues that were difficult for them and had social conflicts,” said Emily Wade, a special education social worker at the high school. “But UMatter is mostly student-led, so the students drive how it goes and what it looks like so it is really about what they need.”

“Seeing older students be part of panels after going through UMatter weeks for a year or two, they utilize the lessons they have learned in guiding the younger students through what we expect in our climate and culture,” said Principal Don Loomis.

Leadership teams along with student surveys and direct feedback to teachers and administrators help to shape programs and messages on areas like bullying and mental health.

“The most important part of our UMatter week is that our students are shaping what UMatter week looks like through their focus areas and the things they want to focus on by hearing things through friends or other people that they know that are having their challenges a looking for tools to deal with that,” said Loomis.

Programs teaching art therapy, creating vision boards with positive images, words and affirmations and teaching students that physical wellness can help with their mental wellness are a few of the UMatter week activities.

“We had teachers talk about their experience in overcoming things. We had a panel on social anxiety where kids got to share their experiences and how they dealt with them,” said Wade. “We also have a lot of small activities also. It has become this great thing where students and staff combine to meet each other’s needs.”

There is also a panel of special education students who talk about their experiences with acceptance and fitting in.

“They get interviewed in front of at least ten classes and talk about their experiences in unified sports,” said Wade. “Watching these what we would consider neurotypical students and general education students listen to them is fascinating because they kind of change their mindset in how they view other students and that really creates a supportive culture.”

In Bloomfield Hills administrators conduct grade-level meetings at the start of the year and mid-year to reinforce expectations around peer interactions, respectful behavior, and what constitutes bullying.

They promote a culture of “See Something, Say Something” and encourage students to be “Upstanders rather than bystanders” throughout the district and students are regularly reminded how to report concerns safely and confidentially.

The district has also implemented prevention efforts addressing both in-person behavior and online conduct, with an emphasis on digital citizenship and responsible social media use.

“Bloomfield Hills takes bullying prevention and student well-being very seriously,” the district said in a statement. “Across all grade levels, we approach this work proactively and consistently throughout the year, not as a one-time event, but as an ongoing commitment to student culture.”

A 2025 national survey of 3,466 students ages 13 to 17 conducted by the Cyberbullying Research Center found 58% of the students reported they experienced cyberbullying at some point in their lifetimes.

About 33% said they had been cyberbullied in the most recent 30 days. The most commonly-reported forms of cyberbullying included: being excluded from a text or group chat (32.5%), mean or hurtful comments posted online (31.6%), being embarrassed or humiliated online (31.3%), and rumors spread online (29.2%).

Adolescent boys are more likely to have experienced cyberbullying than girls as a target – 36.6% vs. 28.6% and as an aggressor – 21.7% vs. 10.4%.

Carrie Laurence, counselor at Royal Oak Middle School, started the UMatter program at the high school nine years ago and brought her ideas and programs with her when she moved to the middle school four years ago.

During their UMatter week, held back in November 2025, they also held workshops and activities.

“I feel this program really offers strong supports for anti-bullying,” said Laurence. “It teaches students how to be respectful, responsible and safe. Families and students have stated it has been very impactful and each year we add more to it.”

The middle school was selected as a 2025 SET SEG (School Employers Trust – School Employers Group) Foundation Educational Excellence Award winner, earning the school a $2,500 grant for their UMatter program.

“We are always learning what to add with speakers, art therapy and therapy dogs,” said principal Kristin Meldrum. “The grant helps to get even more students involved.”

Meldrum said there are no hard numbers to validate the success of the UMatter program and other initiatives, such as their Character Strong program, at the middle school, but she can see the results.

“Data-wise, as a principal, I have seen suspensions go down,” said Meldrum. “A lot of what we do is a proactive approach to anti-bullying. I think schools in general only have the adult capacity to be reactive unfortunately.”

She added, “The most powerful thing to come out of UMatter week is at the end we do have an uptick in students saying ‘I need help’, but that is what we want.”

At Larson Middle School in Troy, principal Brian Zawislak is working with the Farmington-based non-profit group Defeat the Label to implement their “Upstander program”

The Upstander program coordinates with the Matthew Epling Safe School Law, enacted in Michigan in 2011, which mandates that all public K-12 school districts adopt and implement comprehensive policies prohibiting bullying and cyberbullying.

Upstander is a year-long program of interactive workshops that provide education and promote team building and advocacy for the issue. A total of eight workshops are conducted on a bi-weekly basis, over the course of the school year, and are presented and led by a team from Defeat the Label.

“We have what we call our four R’s – responsibility, resilience, respect and relationships and within their curriculum those words permeated throughout, so we thought it was a perfect fit for us,” said Zawislak. “We are giving it a run here at Larson and if it goes well I think other middle schools in the district might pick it up.”

Zawislak has already begun to see results during the first year at Larson.

“We have had a great response with a lot less incidents reported,” he said. “A point of pride has been when (Label Executive Director) Jamie (Greene Kaniarz) reported some of the preliminary data to us and said a vast majority of students here feel comfortable going to an adult to talk about their issues.”