Laura Burks, President of Sticks and Stones Consulting has been successfully providing programs designed to prevent harassment and eliminate bullying behavior in workplace settings for more than 25 years. Her executive level expertise in employee relations and conflict resolution can significantly reduce an employer’s legal fees and liability regarding employment and employee litigation. 

Her mission is to proactively resolve issues that arise in the workplace to avoid official and unofficial complaints, grievances, and litigation. She is passionate about assisting employers in their endeavors to provide and sustain a positive atmosphere of inclusion for traditional in-person and remote settings. 

Ms. Burks personally understands the importance of providing bullying and hostile environment prevention programs. She became an advocate and assisted state legislators in writing and establishing Alabama’s first antibullying and anti-cyberbullying legislation in prekindergarten-12 schools when her 16-year-old daughter died by suicide in 2017 following the relentless bullying at school and off campus cyberbullying. Ms. Burks also has her own workplace bullying story. 

Ms. Burks is a crisis management professional and strategist. Her goal is to create a plan to get out in front of reports of bullying. She collaborates with clients to resolve bullying and cyberbullying that occurs electronically and online via social media platforms, i.e., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Zoom, Skype, chats, texts, messenger messages, blogs, and emails. Her crisis management consulting services help employers respond swiftly and implement strategies that minimize the risk of future occurrences and costly litigation. 

High-profile bullying and hostile environments can lead to a lasting stain on an employer’s reputation. After a harassment or bullying incident, Ms. Burks can collaborate with employers to craft a response and an action plan that:

• Restores public trust in your organization by demonstrating good faith efforts to resolve official reports of harassment as well third-party reports of misconduct 
• Ensures stakeholders and the community that your organization is seeking professional consulting services to create a culture that is inclusive and committed to achieving mutually beneficial results
• Resolves reports of bullying swiftly and privately in order to prevent the matter from becoming a public concern