Bullied but not broken: How this woman survived years of torment
CBC
WARNING: This story contains disturbing content and details of suicide.
Kelsey Clarke looked like any other kid. She liked colouring and reading and hanging out with her friends.
But when she went to school, Clarke faced a nightmare that, a decade later, she still hasn't woken up from.
The bullying started in grade one. Name calling, exclusion, and social ridicule marked her days through to graduation.
"High school, I would say, was the hardest time of my life," she said. "I know people say high school is the best years of your life, but I would beg to differ."
During junior high and high school, many of Clarke's days started with a panic attack. She wondered what her bullies would say to her each day as she got ready to leave her house.
"It didn't really matter what I did, what I said, who I was with," she said. "People just sought me out."
It's a problem that kids across Canada face every day.
Last year, the Kids Help Phone received 4.7 million calls, texts and messages. Kids Help Phone senior director Gayle Browne said 3.6 per cent of those contacts were from Newfoundland and Labrador.
Most of those calls, Browne said, were related to bullying.
"It's ruining lives," Clarke said. "It's taking lives."
Clarke, 28, says her life is much better now. She married her husband, Adam Waterman, in December. She has friends, a job and hobbies. She's comfortable.
But daily and debilitating anxiety is unwanted company that has pestered Clarke since her schoolyard days in Spaniard's Bay.
Behind the contagious smile and bubbly attitude are invisible bruises she's spent her whole life poking at.
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WARNING: This story contains details of abuse and intimate partner violence:
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