It is sad to know bullying is a prevalent issue facing young people around the world. It is a harmful behaviour and the impacts can be devastating for everyone involved.
In Australia, a staggering 80% of students believe it is a problem at their school and one in five students (20%) admitted to bullying another person.
Interestingly, one of the most common reasons for someone to bully someone is because they have been a victim of it themselves.
A recent study shows three out of every five students (or 59%), have experienced bullying with it occurring weekly to one out of every five students (or 20%).
It’s important to know in reality, these figures are much higher. Many incidents are not reported with one in seven students remaining quiet about being bullied.
With mental wellbeing one of the top challenges facing young people today, it has never been more important to work together as a community to create safer environments for children and young people to thrive in.
It is crucial to educate children and young people that it is never ok to bully. Empowering them with knowledge and finding every day opportunities to demonstrate what it means and what can be done about the behaviour is a great way to open up the conversation.
At Constable Care Foundation (CCF), it is our mission to keep children and young people safe through creative harm-prevention programs.
Frenemies is our bullying-prevention program developed for primary school students.
With the overarching aim of bullying prevention, this show helps children develop pro-social skills and supports them in creating and promoting a culture of respect and consideration amongst their school community.
This interactive performance encourages year 4-6 students to think about how their behaviour can affect other people. It also helps them build confidence in social situations, making friends and developing resilience.
For secondary schools, we have developed some high-impact and though-provoking programs under our Youth Choices banner, designed to engage students and open up the discussion in a safe and creative space.
Isolation focuses on bullying and cyber-bullying, encouraging student on-stage participation to revisit actions and their consequences in order to find better ways to address bullying behaviours and change the culture of bullying amongst students.
Standing Out uses a unique and high-impact technique called interactive Forum Theatre to engage audiences.
During this performance, students are encouraged to examine the impact of bullying on youth mental health, explore how they can be supportive to their peers and celebrate diversity.
Find out more about our Youth Choices programs.
