Lisa Bell
Executive Director

“Buddies not Bullies is more than a thought, it is our clear daily mission to help children and adults love and respect each other
in meaningful and lasting ways…”

Lisa Bell holds a Master of Arts (MA) degree in Counseling Psychology from the University of Missouri - Columbia.  Lisa is a native of Washington.  She and her husband Kyle raised two incredible daughters, surrounded by family and friends in the community.  She is a Missouri Licensed Psychologist, and has been in private practice in Washington Missouri since 1996.

Lisa Bell’s passion for children and their families is an extension of her personal values and beliefs.  She holds the fervent beliefs that no child should ever feel cast aside, and childhood shouldn’t be traumatic - it shouldn’t have to hurt.  Lisa has been honored to assist hundreds of children and their parents through her work as a psychologist, whether it is through therapy, education, evaluation, or expert testimony.  She has worked extensively with children, adults, and families who are experiencing a wide range of emotional and behavioral difficulties. 

As a result of her personal and professional experiences, Lisa founded the original organization, Portals, in 2005 with the purpose of strengthening children and families by building healthy relationships and reducing risk factors associated with child abuse and neglect.  She began to develop a number of programs to strengthen the lives of the members of her community, beginning with parenting programs.  Over time, the name was changed to “Buddies Not Bullies” in order to better reflect the mission and vision of the organization.  

The flagship program of Buddies Not Bullies, “All In”, was developed in response to the growing number of children Lisa was seeing in her practice who were struggling with mistreatment in the school environment.  She decided to tackle the problem with prevention services because she was witnessing the devastating effects that mistreatment was having on the children in her community.  She felt that she had a responsibility to educate children, parents, and teachers about these effects as well as to provide them with the skills they would need to successfully navigate the increasing complexities of relationships. 

All of the interactive curriculums of Buddies Not Bullies were developed by Lisa, and are designed to build healthy relationships focusing on communication, conflict resolution, empathy development, and social skills.  The programs  have been taught to hundreds of children, parents, and educators since the founding of Buddies Not Bullies.  While always a work in progress, Lisa is excited to share her vision of building healthy relationship skills in every community.