John Halligan Visits Junior High to Discuss Bullying and Youth Depression

“Don’t ever believe for a second that you don’t matter, that no one will miss you when you’re gone. You are loved beyond belief.” These are the words of Mr. John Halligan, who lost his thirteen-year-old son, Ryan, to suicide. Mr. Halligan visits schools around the country, telling Ryan’s story. Stroudsburg was lucky enough to have this special guest come to our school on Wednesday, September 9, 2009, to tell us what happened to Ryan just a few years ago.

At 6:00 a.m. on October 7, 2003, Mr. Halligan’s life changed forever. He received a phone call from his wife while he was at work to come home immediately. As she sobbed on the phone, she tried to tell him as clearly as she could that their son was no longer alive.

He immediately rushed home asking himself why. When he got home, they “tore the house apart” looking for an answer. John then remembers back to Ryan’s fifth grade class where the problems all started.

When Ryan was little, he had motor skills and language delay. He had help from wonderful teachers and eventually caught up, but academics and sports were difficult. Instead of sports, he relied on the drama club and band, which he loved. He wanted to be a comedian and an actor when he got older, so these were perfect for him. These activities weren’t popular in Ryan’s school, so he was bullied by the same boy for about four years.

Ryan learned self defense with his dad and showed the bully what he was made of. However, Ryan was suffering from depression from other situations with other students, and thought that he couldn’t take it any longer. What he didn’t realize is that many people cared about him, and that they were very hurt that they lost him and he was gone forever.

As Mr. Halligan told his story, the whole auditorium was completely silent; you could hear the clocks ticking in the background. This was not just any ordinary assembly where students lost interest halfway through. People were definitely interested, and you could tell by the way they reacted at the end.

This assembly certainly changed the viewpoints of most students that were there. One student said, “It’s a traumatic story, but I think it’s good that Mr. Halligan is sharing this story to prevent more bad things from happening. His speech was really good.”

Another student also said “It was really sad. This assembly touched me greatly. The thing that touched me the most was the fact that Mr. Halligan, after going through such great pain, was willing to talk about it to teach us a valuable lesson.”

So we say thank you, Mr. Halligan, for making a difference in our lives; your story touched us all.