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 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

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

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

“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