This week is Anti-Bullying Week, an annual event co-ordinated by the Anti-Bullying Alliance that aims to raise awareness of bullying of children and young people and highlights ways of preventing and responding to it. This year’s theme is ‘Reach Out’.
From April 2021 to March 2022 the NSPCC’s Childline service delivered more than 8,000 counselling sessions to children and young people about bullying, so this Anti Bullying Week, we want to remind all children and young people that if they are being bullied that this is not their fault and they can always reach out to Childline for immediate support.
Top issue on Childline
Bullying continues to remain a top issue that children turn to Childline about on a daily basis.
Ever since we moved out of the national lockdown and children returned to school, we have continued to see a rise in the number of contacts to Childline about in-person bullying.
Those who have called the service about this have spoken to our trained counsellors about experiencing name calling, being excluded and physical violence.
Online bullying
Whilst many others have turned to the service about being bullied online. Some have said that they’ve been threatened online and had rumours spread about them on social media platforms, while others have been made fun of on online chatrooms.
These children are often sad, overwhelmed and lonely.
Counsellors are here to help
Our counsellors are here to help and can be contacted confidentially, day or night, online at childline.org.uk or on the phone on 0800 1111.
For advice on what to do if your child is being bullied, visit the NSPCC Website and search ‘bullying’ or call on 0808 800 5000.
News shared by Childline counsellor Edmond Chan, who works at the London and South East Childline base. Ed
Image: graficmedia under CC BY 2.0
