Event Information

In September 2004, a concept was brought before members of our community by members of the American Association of University Women and the League of Women Voters requesting input on how our children can deal with bullying and relational aggression they deal with on a daily basis. This community wide concern resulted in the formation of Partnership for Creating Positive Relationships (PCPR). During the initial two years of our existence, PCPR provided professional development opportunities to our schools in Ross and surrounding counties, two conferences and formed The Ophelia Project® of South Central Ohio, which is the seventh of nine programs in the United States and Canada.

Research has shown that over 160,000 children miss school each day due to bullying and it is estimated that up to 25% of visits to the doctor each day are related to children suffering from the side affect of bullying! Imagine being too afraid or too sick to go to school! Imagine being too afraid to answer the phone or turn on your computer for fear of being bullied! This is called cyberbullying and it is on the increase and is destroying the innocence of our children!

The Ophelia Project of South Central Ohio provides information to the community about bullying as well as ways to deal with it in a positive manner. Currently we offer mentoring programs, book clubs, annual conferences, speaking engagements as well as our newest program called Fitness 4 Fun. We have partnered with the Body Zone Total Fitness, Ltd. to create a camp that will work with children ages 6-18 and focus on weight management and bullying.

Please find more information on the Body Zone’s website and click on the Ophelia link. There is also a link on that website for the Fitness 4 Fun program. More information from the national Ophelia website can be found here.

On September 8, 2007, we will hold our 3rd annual “Putting the Breaks on Bullying” conference at Ohio University-Chillicothe. Sameer Hinduja PhD and Justin Patchin PhD will come to Ross County to spend time in several of our middle schools and do a full day conference on cyberbullying and MySpace. These two researchers specialize in cyberbullying and have written numerous articles and books about the subject. Visit their website.

The course will start and finish at the city pool with an aid station along the flood wall.

For more information, please contact Jaclyn A. Clipner, Director at 740-649-3462.

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