Bullying can happen to anyone. If you are being bullied, whether it's online, at school, at work or in any other environment, you are not alone! It can feel very difficult to reach out when you feel alone or isolated. Young Bristol have collected information about bullying and resources you can use for advice in light of anti bullying week 2022.
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What is bullying?
Bullying is unwanted and potentially aggressive behaviour. This can stem from an imbalance of power and is always a repeated incident over a period of time. Bullying can take place in many forms, however, it is always deliberate and directed. Some specific examples of bullying include:
- Sexism - bullying focused on someone being of the opposite sex.
- Racism - bullying focused on someone being of a certain race or skin colour.
- Cyber bullying - targeting an individual online. Can be anonymous but can be from someone you know.
- Homophobic - bullying focused on someone being a certain sexual orientation.
- Religious - bullying focused on someone's beliefs or faiths
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Getting help for bullying
Ignoring bullying will never make it go away. As hard as it may be, bullying needs to be reported to a trusted adult. No one deserves to be bullied
If you are being bullied at school, your school should have an anti bullying policy in place. Report the issue to a trusted teacher, or a friend who can report this for you. You can also speak to a school nurse, councillor, welfare officer or any one else at your school you may trust. You can also tell your parents and carers, they can report this to the school for you.
If you are being bullied online, you can report abuse and bullying on any social media channel. They should all have an abuse and anti bullying policy in place. Make sure to keep reporting the bullying until it has stopped. Reporting it one time sometimes may not be enough. Tell a parent, carer or close relative, there are here to help you.
If you are being bullied outside of school/work, talk to your parents, carers and close relatives. Our youth clubs are also a safe space for all young people. You can report any bullying to one of our trained staff and they can help this to be reported or resolved.
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Where to get advice
We've discussed reporting any bullying issues, but where can you get extra advice on bullying? If you ever need to talk to someone about bullying, some of our partners are here to talk. We have collected information from partners both locally and nationally who can help you.
National advice
- NSPCC - This is a national charity that offer help to young people experiencing abuse, mental health and bullying. They provide services from Monday to Friday, 10:00am - 4:00pm.
- National bullying helpline - This help line was designed specifically to tackle bullying and offers a helpline to anyone who needs to talk about any bullying issues that occur, no matter what environment the bullying is taking place.
- Young Minds - Your mental health may be affected as a result of bullying. They are a national charity that supports young people and parents with mental health and bullying.
- Childline - A national help service which offers support surrounding bullying, abuse, your safety and the law.
- Mind - If your mental health is being affected after being bullied, it's normal to feel low. Mind is another charity who target helping people with their mental health.
Bristol based advice
- Off the record - This Bristol-based charity offers a mental health support team. They also offer hubs that you can attend and talk to someone about any issues you'd like to discuss.
- Bristol Mind - This local Bristol charity offers a wide range of support, counselling and training.
- SARI - The charity is more tailored towards racism and inequality. On their website, you can report hate crimes and they can provide support to any victims of hate crime.
- Unique Voice - This Bristol based company run anti-bullying workshops for schools across Bristol. The workshops they run are eye-opening and can help towards the prevention of bullying. We recommend their programs to all schools across Bristol.