A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Australia has invested an extraordinary amount of time and effort into putting in place bullying prevention programs – especially across schools. But what happens when your bully is your own flesh and blood, and lives with you, so you have no escape? Sibling bullying tends to fly under the radar, in large part because many bullies [...]
The Victorian state government was recently reported to be investigating whether it could make it easier for bullying victims to sue schools. This was prompted by the case of a 13-year-old boy who had to undergo surgery after being bullied at a private school in 2016. All forms of bullying have the potential to create [...]
School bullying can have serious consequences for victims including depression, psychosis, self-harm and suicide. With increasing evidence of harm, a groundswell of school anti-bullying programs and campaigns in Australia and internationally have vowed to stamp out bullying. The schools’ intentions are good, but often these programs have not been properly evaluated for effectiveness, and studies [...]
Protecting children from harm online is high on the political agenda right now. The UK government has set out plans to make social media companies legally responsible for protecting users, and MPs have criticised social media platforms for relying on users to report abuse. This is a serious problem, especially if people who come across [...]
More than one in three Australians say they've experienced online harassment, which includes abusive behavior, unwanted sexual messages and intimidation, a new study from The Australia Institute has found. The survey, which asked 1557 Australian workers about online harassment and cyber hate, found more than one in three were targeted - the equivalent of 8.8 [...]
Almost half of the poorer mental health we see in teenagers with a disability is due to bullying, our new research shows. If we could stop the high levels of bullying that adolescents with a disability experience, we could make a big difference to their health, learning and wellbeing. So school anti-bullying programs need to [...]
On a school field in northern England last month, a group of boys closed in fast upon their target. “Hey, Jamal, come here!” the boy in the blue jumper yelled, as others strode beside him, one of them holding a phone aloft to record the pursuit. A young refugee, known as Jamal, was grabbed by [...]
Hate speech is all over the internet. Fueled by trolls, extremists, false information, and a group mentality, this kind of cruelty against a religion, ethnicity, sexual identity, gender, race -- or anything, really -- has reached a fever pitch. And while some kids will be attacked, and some may be swept up in the powerful [...]
Jenny was different. Born with a rare disease, she was larger in size than other kids at school and a little bit slower. She also has a mild facial abnormality which I will not mention here as I don’t want her to be identified, which is why I have also changed her name. Jenny has [...]
NEW YORK, 6 September 2018 – Half of students aged 13 to 15 worldwide – around 150 million – report having experienced peer-to-peer violence in and around school, according to a new report released by UNICEF today. An Everyday Lesson: #ENDviolence in Schools says that peer violence – measured as the number of children who report having been bullied in [...]
