#bTRU2u Blog

Advice on what to do if you’re being bullied

Bullying can take place in many different forms, such as verbally, indirectly and physically. It is a behaviour that makes someone feel upset, uncomfortable or unsafe and is usually deliberate and repetitive. With the growth of social media it can also now feel like it is hard to escape.

If you are experiencing bullying, it can often make you feel low, helpless and alone. But it is really important to remember that you are not alone and that there are people around you that care about you and want to help. It is also really important that you talk to someone that you trust.

If you do find yourself in a position where you are experiencing bullying, of any form, then you can take a look at the information below on how to deal with this.

If you’re being bullied at school:

• Don’t suffer in silence – Every school has a duty of care to look after their students. If you are being bullied at school it’s important that you speak to a teacher. This can be your form tutor, pastoral care, head of year or any teacher that you trust and feel comfortable speaking with. You could also speak to a parent or guardian, or get support from a support service such as Childline.

• Save the evidence – Keep a record of what’s going on – remember the 4 W’s; What, Where, When and Who. This will help the person helping you to understand the situation and help you to resolve it.

• Plan next steps – Your school should put an action plan in place to stop the bullying and keep you safe and free from harm. If your school does not take what you’re telling them seriously, your parents/carers could arrange a meeting with your school to talk through how the situation will be resolved.

If you’re being bullied outside of school:

• Speak to your teacher – Even if you are being bullied outside of school and the person is in your school, your school still has a duty of care to intervene in the situation.

• Speak to their teacher – If the person that is bullying you is not in your school and you know the school that they belong to, you can still speak to your teacher/parent and they can contact the school that the young person attends and they should take action.

• Speak to the police – If the person is unknown to you, you can contact the police and describe the person/incident to them and seek their advice.

Remember, it is really important to talk to people that you trust inside and outside of your school.

These people care for you and will work with you to stop the bullying. The above advice on how to deal with bullying has been supplied to us by The Diana Award, who have extensive experience in handling bullying and how to overcome it. So follow these steps and stay positive, you are not alone and there is help out there.

You could also download Support Network Activity Hand from The Diana Award, which challenges you to create your support network of 5 (or more) people that you can turn to if you need to talk about bullying. Just print off the activity, write down one name on each finger of someone.