Bullying Awareness Campaigns

Bullying awareness campaigns can be very effective at getting a message out that there is a problem which must be addressed. This can create some much needed public pressure to get some action taken. I wonder though if they do enough and I wonder how they could be made more effective. I have become increasingly sceptical of bullying awareness campaigns. Having questioned many organisers of such campaigns I have discovered a trend. When I ask what... Read More

Get in The Corner to talk about bullying

Yesterday, ‘The Herald’ newspaper published an article on a poll by ‘The Corner’. The main outcome showed that: “Young people have a high awareness of bullying, but often don’t know what to do about it, or who to turn to” I have become increasing sceptical of bullying awareness campaigns. It is important to know what is going on in schools and workplaces, of course. But no bullying awareness campaign will... Read More

Bullying at the Workplace

Bullying in the workplace is rife. One study* suggests about 1 in 4 people are victims of bullying at their work at sometime in their lives and that 1 in 12 are bullied on a regular basis. Bullying is so commonplace in our work environments that it has become ‘normalised’. We are so familiar with it that we unconsciously allow it, accept and, for many, take part in it. Perhaps we learned this in school. We have simply transferred the ‘social... Read More

National Bullying Helpline

The National Bullying Helpline is a charity set up to help eradicate Bullying in all corners of our society; in the Workplace, the Playground, in the Home and in the Community. BULLYING IS DISCRIMINATION. BULLYING DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE … any one of us may be targeted Call 0845 22 55 787 for help The National Bullying Helpline was initially founded to assist those who struggle with bullying at work. There is much focus today on Workplace Investigations,... Read More

“Bully made me suicidal”

Let’s begin this blog by comparing physical and verbal bullying. Last week the BBC reported the story of a 14 year old girl who decided to commit suicide. A boy taunted her with racist insults over a period of 7 months AFTER the school stepped in to deal with the problem. She felt she couldn’t confide in any of her teachers and the school had advised her against getting her Mother involved again. Fortunately, her suicide attempt failed.... Read More

Facebook bully Keeley Houghton to be jailed

Keeley Houghton is the first person to be imprisoned for cyberbullying. She spent 4 years victimising a girl on facebook including a threat of murder. This started when the girls were 14 and they are both now 18 years old. I am glad to see legal action being taken against someone who has run a long and vindictive bullying campaign. The message this will send out to other cyber bullies is bound to be profound. It will also be empowering for the victims.... Read More

Bullying clip

This is an excellent clip of a bullying situation in progress. I recommend viewing the clip before you read on……. Let’s do some analysis: The bully is being highly intimidating. He is aware that he has an audience – that may, or may not, affect how he is behaving. I would guess that he is putting on a show and wants to show everyone how tough he is. He may still have had the confrontation without spectators, in which case it... Read More

Case Study Part 1

On Saturday I worked with a client in London. Both he and his Dad have already written about their experience on an online forum and are keen for me to use them as a case study. I have sent this to them for approval before posting. Here is an outline of Charlie’s situation: He has been bullied physically, regularly, over a 2 year period. Specifically, he was being beaten up by large groups of boys. The bullies would pre-arrange what they were going... Read More

Why I like martial arts

Firstly, I’m not a martial artist. Also, I don’t think that children need martial arts training to stop the bullies. So why do I like it? Martial arts training almost always develops good emotional skills. With a good instructor you learn discipline, respect, confidence and self esteem. The physical skills don’t matter much as far as bullying is concerned. I actually disapprove of Dads who send their kids to martial arts classes... Read More

Bullying Advice for Parents

It can be incredibly frustrating being a parent of a child who is being bullied. Most parents would do anything to protect their children from being deliberately harmed by others but often they can feel powerless to help. It can be especially frustrating when you know your child is being bullied but they won’t tell you about it. Or if they do, they will give a vague description of what is going on, likely missing out the very details you want... Read More