The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) have launched Anti-Bullying week and will run until April the 30th. Opened yesterday by Mark Feehilly from Westlife, the initiatives main priorities are to create awareness for parents, schools and children when dealing with the issues of bullying. A micro site has also been set up where information can be readily downloaded and viewed with respect to cyber and homophobic bullying.
Other celebrities supporting the cause are Colin Farrell, Brian O' Driscoll, Jamie Heaslip, Saoirse Ronan and twins Jedward. The charity will raise funds by offering a ISPCC shield pin which will retail in shops around Ireland for €2.
A support line (1800 66 66 77) will be running 24/7 to address these issues and offer free advice. The ISPCC encourage anyone who feels they are being bullied to contact the hotline. Last year on average 24% of young people in primary and secondary schools have been victims of bullying, so it's no surprise really that Childline received some 11,000 calls from young people in relation to bullying.
The below advice is taken from their cyberbullying downloaded sheet
- Don't respond to the bully - save the evidence and show it to an adult you trust.
- Keep the message, note date and times and show to an adult.
- Block the sender. If the harassment is coming in the form of instant messages, texts, or profile comments, use preferences or privacy tools to block the person. If the bullying is happening in chat, leave the 'chatroom' or contact your Internet service provider.
- If bullying happens on a web page or social network, report the abusive messages to the site provider.
More can be found at:
http://www.ispcc.ie/campaigns-lobbying/publications/220
By Michael Dunne
Picture Compliments of thejournal.ie
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