"That morning I got to school, I was talking to God, 'I'm here. I'm ready to face people. I want you to be by my side all this day. I don't want to be alone in this.'"
Lily was very shy and had no friends when she arrived at her new school. That made her an easy target for school bullies. Her senior year was going well until her best friend and boyfriend betrayed her. He began bullying Lily on the internet.
The pictures her boyfriend posted spread campus-wide in minutes. For Lily, it was absolutely devasting, "I trusted him with private stuff. One day, while I was in class, I found out that he bullied me on the internet. He posted my private [photos] on the internet... I thought about it - suiciding, but I had no plan to suicide."
The Principal told Lily to stay home for two weeks and referred her to a Catholic Charities Trauma Counselor.
Even though Lily's Clinical Case Manager Angela was comforted to know that Lily didn't have a plan for suicide, she still had her create a list of people she trusted, in the event ever thought of hurting herself.
Angela provided counseling to Lily at home and partnered with the school community to repair the harmful climate.
After two weeks, Lily felt comfortable to go back to school.
"That morning I got to school, I was talking to God, 'I'm here. I'm ready to face people. I want you to be by my side all this day. I don't want to be alone in this.' That's when [other students] came up to me, they were hugging me."
To Angela, Lily thanks her for "always being here. Thanks for always hearing me."
