Ask An Expert
One in five young Australians have been the victim of cyber bullying. And bullying is consistently one of the top issues of concern for young people visiting the headspace website. That’s why we facilited a live online ‘Ask an Expert’ forum on Thursday 21st August focusing on the subject of bullying.
Even if you missed the forum you can still view our 'experts' responses to your questions on bullying and cyber bullying here.
Some of the great tips that were provided by our 'experts' included:
"Generally, I think cyber-bullying is an extension on real-life bullying, i.e. kids who are bullied at school go home to then continue enduring the abuse via technological mediums. If the bully is known in real-life, it is important that as well as not-responding, blocking & deleting and reporting - that the evidence is saved and shown to relevant school authorities such as teachers and principals and of course parents which should then lead onto action by them to stop it. Because cyber-bullying can constitute a criminal offence if you feel it necessary you can of course contact your local police."
"When being cyber bullied we usually suggest that people:
1. Don’t respond to the bully at all
2. Save the evidence
3. Block and delete the bully form the service
4. Report the abuse to the admin of the service
5. Tell people you can trust
Sometimes I also get groups of young people together to develop codes of conduct for online behaviour"
"Social exclusion is the worst most hurtful form of bullying and it always feels that the world is leaving you out. I generally ask people to list the names of people who like them, those who actively bully and those who are neutral. Then we devise strategies to befriend the neutral ones - building up allies. It is a sad fact of life that not every one is going to like us so we have to be adaptable in friendships and learn to make more than just a few good friends if we can. By widening your social circle you make yourself less of a target and you may also meet a few great people too"
For more great tips and more information on bullying, you can also check out Andrew Fuller's website and Tom Wood's blog and Bullying. No Way!