This perhaps isn't the best place for it, but I'm in need of advice and can't really turn to family or friends on this one. My cousin and I have always been very close friends. She's 16 and a wonderful girl, but lately she's been depressed. She's still at high school and is relentlessly being tortured psychologically by other girls. Bullied basically. And it's led to self-harming incidents and the like. My aunt and uncle know, and have tried to help, but I think they see it more as a cry for attention.
To be honest, that's what I thought it was first too. But the more she opened up about it, the more I realised that it was a kind of release for her, a way of focusing her mind away from the torment to which she's being subjected. She doesn't feel comfortable telling her parents the whole story and she's chosen to confide in me and my Girlfriend, and we agree that we now owe the girl some sort of duty of care. She's a smart, funny, beautiful young girl who has just had her self-esteem and worth crushed by others at her school. She's begged me not to go to her teachers with the issues as she believes it will make things worse. The thing is, she's not some naive kid, she's very mature for her age, and I've made her delete some of her social media presence after some of the things she's showed us. It's beyond bullying, it's like a structure of persistent torment and an attempt to destroy her. And me asking her to spend less time online isn't stopping what's happening when she's in school.
I've seen some shit in my day and taken a few batterings in my time, but it seems worse than ever now, and it's an entire cadre of similar aged girls who are all taking out their petty insecurities on her. I'm fully of the opinion it's all jealousy and spite, but the awful things they've been saying seem to have gotten to her and warped her own sense of self. It's got to the point where my girlfriend is stressed over it too and feels she needs to be in near-permanent contact with her to make sure she doesn't self-harm or worse, because I genuinely believe it's a concern.
She's depressed, and I was wondering if anyone with any sort of experience close to this or even just an outside perspective can offer some advice. It's increasingly concerning me as you read more and more about young girls taking their lives in situations identical to this. And the girls are often similar; pretty, talented and without a nasty bone in their body or the nature to want to hurt people back.
Our options, I think, stand as thus: Try and get her professional help, someone safe to speak to outside of myself and my girlfriend, who are the only people who know the extent of her problems.
Talk to my aunt and uncle and make them truly see what's going on isn't a teenage angst phase and it's serious.
Go to the school and confront authority figures. It may not be my place to do this but someone has to assume responsibility for the girl and protect her.
Try and get her to a new school.
She's depressed, and has one year left. She's doing her GCSEs and like all kids that age, see them as the be all and end all. Her grades have already started to slide because she gets physically ill knowing she has to go back to that place. Add on top of that that my missus is frequently stressed out about it and is a big worrier. Thanks for sticking with the long post, may not be the appropriate place for it, but advice is much appreciated.
