Do you encounter people who want your advice about how to handle bullying or what to do about their child being bullied? Do you take it seriously? Do you know how to advise them?

You may have heard about Dolly, a 14-year-old from the Northern Territory who took her own life in 2018. Shortly before she died she drew a picture of a young woman and wrote across it “Speak even if your voice shakes”. Dolly did not speak.

Before she died Dolly Everett, a previously healthy young woman, had experienced an extended period of bullying and cyberbullying.

The National Mental Health Commission reports that 25% of Australian students in years 4-9 are bullied at least once every few weeks during the school term.

The Australian e-Safety Commissioner reported in 2021 that 44% of young Australians had reported a negative online experience in the previous 6 months including 15% who received threats or abuse online.

We are lucky if we get an opportunity to help young people in this situation. So often they endure the experience in silence.

If we do get that opportunity, I wonder how prepared most of us are to deal with it? We can apply all our counselling skills and common sense to the situation but we also need to know where extra help can be obtained when needed.

I recently encountered Dolly’s Dream – a service founded by Dolly’s grieving parents Kate and Tick Everett to honour Dolly’s memory and to help prevent other families from having to go through the experience they have endured. They decided the best way they could help was to provide “education and direct support for young people and their families.”

If you go to the Dolly’s Dream website  you will see that they offer a range of services.

• A free 24/7 support line and online chat
• A cybersafety app called Beacon codesigned with input from parents, carers and cyber safety experts including the Office of the eSafety Commissioner providing practical resources for navigating technology use.
• Provide face-to-face antibullying workshops in schools
• Provide lots of useful information via a “Parent Hub” on the website

A quick look at the eMHPrac Digital Resource Guide reveals a number of potentially helpful online resources to keep in mind including

• Kids Helpline
• Bullying No Way – a Federal government funded site offering lots of helpful information and the opportunity to directly report bullying to the e-Safety Commissioner along with advice about who else you can report it to.
• Bullying pages on the Reach Out site
• Bullying information on the Headspace Australia website

Its really important to address the bullying issue when it arises and even to find ways to bring the subject up ourselves. Young people need to feel safe and to be encouraged to talk about bullying so we must feel comfortable too.