For many in the community, this week has been one of pain and shock, amidst a multitude of unresolved emotions and traumas. David Urbanke’s post about his experience at GL was heartbreaking and powerful. And the nearly 400+ posts in response, detailing the trauma and unseen anguish felt and experienced by marginalized students and alumni within the BHPS community touched us in many of the same ways that it resonated with other alumni and Berkeley Heights/Mountainside community members. We felt lost, disheartened, and helpless. After processing and reflecting, we slowly became energized and inspired as we began to think about how to move forward with concrete steps.
To David:
Thank you for being brave enough to raise awareness in this town by sharing your story. It could not have been easy to be so open and vulnerable, but for you to recognize the importance of sharing your story speaks volumes to your character and to your commitment to making a difference in our community. We are incredibly grateful to you and are inspired by your strength, empathy, and compassion.
To the hundreds of alumni and current students:
We’re listening. We recognize that bullying is a large umbrella term that is the manifestation of systemic issues, not the root. We read your comments and your stories, and we’re so sorry for everything you’ve been through/are going through; we know your trauma is not just unfortunate. It’s real and we want to try to help start the healing process. Petitions have been circulating and the community is calling for change. We at Unfiltered, believe in restorative justice: we want to create tangible progress and support systems from, for, and within the community.
In going through the comments and stories, we read that students didn’t feel seen or heard. They had no one to turn to when they were struggling; and at many times, we felt the same way. Clubs like SAGA were held up as examples of supportive opportunities at school. We 100% support the mission of SAGA and feel that additional emotional support from individuals with shared experiences would be greatly beneficial. David has been a one-person outlet these past few days, absorbing and responding to each and every story, comment, and individual. We can only imagine the emotional capacity required to respond to hundreds of messages in only a few days, but we were inspired by David and the many other alum who reached out to us after his post.
BH Unfiltered is launching the GL Alumni Mentorship (GLAM) Network, aimed at providing current students and alumni with a means of community and connection.
Quite simply, we want our fellow students and future generations to know that they’re not alone. There’s someone to talk to who’s been through it. There is an opportunity to talk about it and to talk through it with someone who gets it. The GLAM Network will match youth who may have thoughts/questions about and/or are struggling with their different and intersecting identities (not limited to sexual orientation/identity, race, ethnicity etc.) with mentors from the GL alumni community. Small discussion groups/restorative circles will be led virtually by mentors. We also see this as an opportunity for mentors to connect and share with each other in a space that promotes respect and healing, while also promoting progress and action.
If you are interested in participating as either a mentor or a mentee, please fill out this short Google Form. We are hoping to collect responses and begin our mentorship groups by February 2021 - we hope you’ll join us in taking these next steps!