Helping young women deal with bullying

As the topic of bullying remains in the forefront in the wake of the local death of Williamsville North High School student  Jamey Rodemeyer  a private school in Amherst will be screening a documentary about  bulling. 

The Park School will feature "Finding Kind".   It focuses on girl to girl aggression and bullying.    WBFO'S Eileen Buckley talked to young women who are the filmakers of "Finding Kind".

Lauren Parsekian and Molly Thompson are 2009 graduates of Pepperdine University  in Malibu, California.  

Like Rodemeyer, Parsekian says middle-school bullying made her suicidal -- but fortunately -- she survived.

"Was actually driven to the point in seventh grade to take my life as a result of bullying, which is obviously is such a serious topic we are hearing about every other week," said Parsekian.

But Thompson also experienced bullying.

"My junior year of high school, I had an experience with this issue and so it made me wan to be a part of it and do whatever I can to help help other girls and women not to every have to feel this way," said Thompson.

So Parsekian and Thompson set out on a mission to find common ground for those who are bullied and the bullies. They travel across the U.S. with their mothers  interviewing girls and women about their experiences.

In the past couple of years  Parsekian and Thompson  have talked to hundred of thousands of females finding bullying and mean girls a universal issue.

"It doesn't matter what community we are in or what sort of girls we are talking to," said Pareskian.

The film features interviews with various experts in education and psychology explaining the bullying situations --that can lead to anxiety, depression, self-hatred, eating disorders and suicide.  

"We've  heard countless stories of you know kind of these viscous plots that girls create to kind of take down another girl.  And I think that's the thoughtfulness and the dramatic plots that girls create is what makes it different than the boys.  When boys fight, they argue about it and it could drag on and arguments could keep happening, but one thing they don't do is create these seniors and put these girls in horrific situations," said Thompson.

Screening of the documentary "Finding Kind" is free.  It  begins at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday night at the Park School Campus on Harlem Road in Amherst.  To learn more about Finding Kind, go to on-line to http://findingkind.indieflix.com/home/.