Exploring Life & Business with Dru Ahlborg of Bullying Recovery Resource Center

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dru Ahlborg.

Hi Dru, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Bullying Recovery Resource Center (BRRC) was founded in 2018 by Dru and Tom Ahlborg after the Ahlborg family had settled a lawsuit. They thought they could use their experience, new-found education and passion to assist other families deeply impacted by bullying. BRRC, a Denver-based nonprofit organization was founded with the mission of defending bullied children and helping rebuild lives.

Since opening their doors, the organization has grown tremendously and has offered education, advocacy, resources, expertise and hope to families in Colorado. Several milestones include:
*extending their reach beyond the Denver-metro area in 2021 and began offering their services to family across the entire state
*helped to author, testify and pass a state law designed to help bullied children (Jack and Cait’s Law HB21-1221
*offer free parent education classes (Navigating Bullying Together: Parenting for Prevention)
*assisted over 600 families across the state of Colorado and beyond

BRRC continues to grow every year serving more families impacted by bullying. Looking to the future, BRRC will be training additional volunteer advocates and launching a pilot program, Stand Together: A Community Based Approach to Bullying Prevention. The pilot program will educate an entire school population about bullying and bullying prevention to create systemic, cultural change within an entire school.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Absolutely not smooth. Any nonprofit Executive Director and Founder will tell you that their work is a labor of passion and love and it takes time, energy and a large learning curve to launch and sustain their organization. Here are just a few struggles we will highlight:
*Covid. We thought we would need to shut our doors when our communities shut their doors. We learned that bullying still continued and online bullying began to soar.
*Fundraising. Keeping the lights on and the doors open takes funding. We have built a supportive and generous community over the last 8 years who allow us to continue to grow and serve. We have created fundraisers that are powerful and fun and greatly help us with the money needed to serve the families who contact us.
*We have worked with families who have been greatly tormented by the bullying their children have had to endure. We have come up against some school administrators and personnel that have caused greater harm to these children.

We’ve been impressed with Bullying Recovery Resource Center, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Bullying Recovery Resource Center (BRRC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing the resources, education and advocacy needed to stop bullying and stem the long-term impact bullying has on its targets.

Our organization is truly unique as we stand side by side with people who are impacted by bullying. Through expertise and experience, we offer families best possible ideas and tactics that will work for their child and provide them with a safe place to learn. Our services are free to the family. We have aligned with educational experts and lawyers to obtain their services if the situation deems necessary. It isn’t a linear process and every family and every situation is different. We sometimes have 1-2 interactions with a family, and sometimes we work with them for years.

There are organizations that provide bullying prevention by offering programs for children and schools or school assemblies. We are different as we there to support the family after the bullying has started and the school isn’t addressing the bullying or addressing it properly.

As an organization, we are deeply committed to reducing the youth suicide rate in Colorado. According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the suicide rate has fallen to its lowest point since 2007. There is a correlation between suicide and bullying. We have discovered that the young people we have assisted have found great comfort in knowing beyond their caregivers they are believed, they are assured they have done nothing to deserve the bullying and that BRRC has their best interests in mind every step of the way with the goal of making the bullying stop. To date, of the 600+ families we have served, none of those children have died by suicide.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
The characteristic that is probably most important to my success in running BRRC is the deep commitment and compassion I have to our mission. Everything we do is to defend bullied children and help rebuild lives.

Our family was incredibly traumatized by the bullying our son experienced when he was in middle school. We were equally impacted by the school’s ineptness to stop the bullying and the lack of support he received. He was diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety and depression. He did attempt to end his life.

Each family we have served has their own story of heartbreak, disappointment, anger and fear. We understand and offer understanding and compassion. We couple that with our expertise about bullying and the rights of students and families. The result is offering hope, resources and tactics to best serve the child and the family.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bullyingrecoveryresourcecenter.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/defend_bulliedkids/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bullyingrecoveryresourcecenter
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drubullyingrecoveryresourcecenter/