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

Cyber Bullying

It was inevitable with the massive growth of internet and related technologies that cyber bullying would occur. Bullies will hurt their victims through whatever means they find to be effective. With cyber bullying, they can give powerful psychological blows to their victims and the resulting effects can last long after the bully has taken their action. Secondary bullying can also occur. Others can easily join in on the bullying, either actively or... 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 is Subjective

What are your definitions of bullying? Are those definitions useful to you? One of the major problem schools have in dealing with bullying is in how they define it. It’s not just a paper exercise in thinking up labels, it makes a massive difference as to whether the organisation takes action as result of an incident or not. If you have a child who is being bullied at school, the school will only help them if the teachers believe that whatever has... Read More

Testimonials

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Being Bullied

An incredibly common question for victims of bullying to ask themselves is “Why is it happening to me?” Often this leads to a second, and an entirely unhelpful, question: “What’s wrong with me?” Unsurprisingly, the answers you come up with can lead to low self-esteem, a lack of confidence and reclusiveness. None of this will make the bullying stop. In fact, it’s far more likely to make you an even tastier target for the bullies. The question... Read More

Stop Bullying

In order to stop people bullying, it is important to understand how people are motivated to change their behaviours. If you are being bullied then, at the moment, the bullies have some motivation to bully you. They gain something emotionally as a result of hurting you. Emotional needs are incredibly powerful. All of us meet our emotional needs in one way or another. Some people use very positive means to meet their need and some people can... 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

Bravado and threatening behaviour

Bravado and threatening behaviour Yesterday, I was stood between 2 people threatening to kill each other. One had accidentally hit the other by letting go of a spring loaded barrier (the kind used for guiding people in queues). The confrontation started with “Watch what you’re doing!” and escalated very quickly to “I’m going to destroy you!” Because we were standing in a queue, they were no more than arms length apart and, with me standing... Read More

Amsterdam Marathon Please Sponsor Me

This Sunday I will be running the Amsterdam Marathon for Childline. I’m not a runner. Never have been. In fact, I don’t do a whole lot of exercise at all. However I do believe I can achieve this through strength of mind. Every one of my one-to-one clients experiences huge changes in their own beliefs. They are able to achieve so much more than they ever thought possible just by changing the way they think. I like to practice what I preach,... Read More