The ISPCC has launched a new text service for children who are being bullied. It is part of their second annual shield campaign to raise funds and awareness around the issue.
Recent research shows that 1-in-4 young people had either experienced or knew someone who had been bullied.
ISPCC CEO Ashley Balbirnie said at the launch "In 2012, Childline received over 2,000 calls every day and far too many of these were in relation to bullying. Children who were afraid, embarrassed, confused and suffering from low self-esteem as a result of bullying".
"Some young people even blamed themselves for what is happening to them. And others were desperately looking for ways to escape the torment" she added.
There are a number of new initiatives for this year’s campaign, including:
- A new dedicated bullying support service - By texting the word ‘bully’ to 50101, children and young people can access real-time support from 14:00-22:00, Monday to Sunday. The ISPCC also announced the appointment of a full time Bullying Co-ordinator to support schools, parents and communities in relation to bullying.
- Shield My School Programme - A self-evaluation tool to combat bullying – the ISPCC aim to offer a positive and proactive response to bullying which will reduce its incidence nationwide. The charity has designed a comprehensive self -evaluation tool to assist schools to understand and reflect on how effective they currently are in tackling bullying. This will be available to download from www.ispcc.ie from March 4th. On-going support will be available from our Bullying Co-ordinator for the duration of the year.
It was also announced that the ISPCC is working on a joint project with Facebook.
Simon Milner is Facebook UK and Ireland Policy Director.
"We believe in creating a culture of accountability where people report bullying and stand up for each other, so we’re pleased to see the ISPPC’s 'I’m Standing up against bullying, are you?' campaign. We are working on a project with the ISPCC to develop a healthy, anti-bullying culture in Ireland on Facebook, and look forward to announcing more about it later this year" he said.
Director of Services with the ISPCC Caroline O'Sullivan explains how the free text service works.
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The organisation launched their anti-bullying ad campaign last year:
