Episode 47: Overcoming Bullying with Andi Kay, Founder & Executive Director of Bloom Foundation

Episode 47: Overcoming Bullying with Andi Kay, Founder & Executive Director of Bloom Foundation

On Episode 47 of the Mainspring Family Wellness Podcast, Kristen & Jenna host a constructive conversation about bullying with Andi Kay, the Founder and Executive Director of Bloom Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping middle school and high school girls overcome bullying by providing recovery programs rich in social-emotional learning, self-care, and discovery. Andi shares with our audience her own personal journey with experiencing cyberbullying as a teen, how she came to start Bloom Foundation, the ever-evolving state of bullying today and offers some helpful emotional tools and resources in support of parents with children experiencing bullying.

 

02:38

[Andi describes her firsthand experience with bullying as a child]

 

04:21

[Andi talks about the emergence of cyberbullying as part of her experience and describes the emotional impact on her wellbeing and the beginning of her recovery]

 

06:34

[Andi explains what inspired her to start her anti-bullying organization]

 

08:29

[Andi defines the term bullying]

 

08:57

[Jenna and Andi dive deeper into what is and what is not bullying]

 

12:04

[Kristen leads the conversation on the parental scenario if your child is the aggressor and not the recipient]

 

14:21

[Andi shares the importance of defining and identifying bullying but the emotional difficulty of being able to do so given that is a spectrum of aggression]  

 

15:33

[Andi shares a Bloom Foundation participant’s letter to herself after going through the program]

 

18:46

[Jenna, Kristen and Andi discuss the role of social media in the evolving world of cyberbullying]

 

21:23

[Andi gives an overview of programs available at Bloom Foundation]

 

24:04

[Andi provides some thoughtful support around parenting a bullied child]

 

28:08

[Andi offers some thoughts around finding alternative places of “belonging” to counter a bullying experience]

 

28:34

[Jenna & Kristen reflect on the activities they participated in as adolescents that really helped shape their perspective on self and belonging]

 

32:31

[Jenna, Kristen & Andi discuss the idea of “finding your tribe” and the definition of friendship as it supports children’s upbringing and adolescent years]

 

35:16

[Andi shares on how to find Bloom Foundation for resources to support someone experiencing bullying]

 

GUEST: Andi Kay

After experiencing cyberbullying firsthand in 2009, Andi researched bullying during her studies at the University of California, Irvine. For over 10 years, Andi has studied bullying and its impact on both children and teenagers. In 2017, Andi founded Bloom Foundation, a 501(c)3 organization that provides social-emotional learning programs to girls experiencing bullying. The mission of Bloom Foundation is to help middle school and high school girls grow through challenges by building emotional resilience and overcoming bullying so that they can bloom with confidence as leaders of the community. Andi currently serves as the Founder and Executive Director of Bloom Foundation.

 

Connect with Bloom Foundation:

Website: Bloom Foundation

Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

 

Connect with Mainspring Family Wellness:

Website: Mainspring Family Wellness

Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

 

Connect with Kristen & Jenna:

Kristen: LinkedIn

Jenna: LinkedIn