Stamp out bullying | News
Stamp out bullying
Manager of relationship services at Interrelate in Lismore, Thea Keane, said bullying could be defined as ‘any instance where someone intimidates or hurts another person or a group of people’.
IMAGINE waking up for another Wednesday, but instead of bouncing out of bed you lay for a few minutes as feelings of dread, anxiety and worthlessness paralyse you.
This is what being bullied can feel like and it can happen to anyone at anytime of their life.
Manager of relationship services at Interrelate in Lismore, Thea Keane, said bullying could be defined as ‘any instance where someone intimidates or hurts another person or a group of people’.
"Bullying is definitely not restricted to the school yard," she said.
"When you have bullying in any environment, just one statement can have a long-term effect on a person and make them feel worthless.
"But bullies often don’t feel too good about themselves either."
The Reachout website, designed to assist victims of bullying, stated people were ‘often bullied because of a perceived difference’.
That difference can relate to culture, sex, sexuality, physical or mental ability, religion, body size or simply being in a new school, workplace or country.
Lismore MP Thomas George said he was bullied while growing up in Casino, simply because he was one of the only kids from an ethnic background.
"Kids can be very cruel," he said.
Latest figures on bullying estimated that one in six Australians under 18 was are bullied each week.
Ms Keane said if bullies and victims of bullying didn’t deal with these issues when they are young, this behaviour could be carried into the workplace.
Psychologist Kylie O’Brien, who works at Ballina and Bryon Bay, said workplace bullying could be just as common, but not always as obvious as it was in the schoolyard.
"In the workplace there is often overt verbal abuse, but there can also be covert bullying which is a lot subtler and involves excluding people from activities, overloading people with work or refusing to acknowledge them," she said.
"The consequences of bullying in the workplace can also be high in terms of work absenteeism, low productivity, high staff turnover and poor morale."
Ms O’Brien said victims of covert bullying found find it a lot harder to identify that they were victims, yet said even if someone knew that they were being bullied, it could be hard for them to ask for help.
However, the consequences of not coming forward could lead to serious psychological problems, she said.
Join The Northern Star's campaign to stamp out bullying
If you have ever experienced bullying at school, in the workplace or at home share your story with us. Leave your comments, stories or any ideas you would like to put forward to help solve this community issue.
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Recent Comments
If i verbally abused my children , if i destroyed their self esteem, continouly told them how bad they are, how ugly they are and that if they died nobody would miss them. DOCS would step in and remove them from my care. So why is it that this behaviour is allowed in our schools.
As a parent, we send our children to school to gain an education and to shape there future. We think that they are in a safe learning environment. So why is it that some children can make life a living hell for those that are different in some way.And why is it that the schools are sweeping this behaviour under the carpet. As a parent when do we say enough is enough. And how do these victims cope with this. I have recently withdrawn my child from a Lismore public high school , as a direct result of bullying. From the time my child got on the bus in the morning, during classes, lunch breaks and then on the return trip on the bus the child was being bullied in some way. This was not being done by one person, these low life attack in groups. My child is now depressed, suffers from an eating disorder and started to self harm. And now we are left to pick up the pieces and to get professional help. With all this happening the school was aware of the situation, but they failed to make contact with us. And after 2 meetings with this school they still fail to admit that there is a bullying problem within their school. Apparently they do have a anti- bulling program in their school, perhaps they need to ask some of these kids that are being bullied how well their programs work. There needs to be something done now. Stop sweeping it under the carpet. Step up tp the plate and deal with it.
My son was bullied incessantly from an early age. This was back when teachers and admin said that bullying was a rite of passage. I remember being told to advise him to eat his lunch and recess close to the office for his safety. Nothing was done about the bullies.
I rang one bully, a child that I had read with for 6 years and had a good relationship with. Unknown to me, his father listened in on the conversation and after hanging up, beat his son. That boy no longer harassed my son but nothing could be done to stop the others from bullying him.
On one occasion he was hung over a second story balcony by several boys while his backpack was thrown into the mud. On that occasion I went to the school, demanding safety for my son and all of the other victims. The Deputy Principal and I stood face to face, hands on her desk, fighting for our personal stances. The thing is, a mother will never back down. The boys were punished, albeit too lightly, and the bullying settled for a while.
Several months later one of the instigators for the dangling incident approached my son and sprayed tea tree into his eyes. His cornea was burnt and he was blinded in one eye for a while. Again the school took no notice, even though the hospital was involved. I went to the Principal to demand his attention. He was useless, all talk, no action.
I pulled my son out of that high school and sent him to another. He was happier there but never the same. He left after Year 10 and has nursed himself through his trials and is doing fine. I believe that if his school had been a safe place, his education would have gone on longer, perhaps to Uni, and his confidence would be much stronger.
I was one voice ~ a few years before bullying became a real issue that was finally recognized. I had to fight every step of the way and was made to feel inadequate and foolish but I knew that I could no longer listen to my son sobbing late at night in his room. Every night I'd make the trek to his door and knock, asking if he was okay, every night he'd say that everything was fine and the sobbing would stop.
This is no way for a wonderful child to have to grow up, to have to go to school. This part of his childhood, which should have been full of fun and sports, friends and lessons, was desperate and degrading.
I will never forget the lack of care shown by that high school, that Deputy Principal or that inadequate and weak man who wore the title of Principal.