Bullying No Way: National week of action

This week [12-16 August 2024] is Bullying No Way Week, Australia’s key bullying prevention initiative that connects schools and communities to find workable solutions to prevent bullying.

This year’s theme is Everyone belongs: when we feel like we belong, bullying struggles to find a place. While this is important in all settings, it is more prevalent in the workplace and in schools, college or university.

What is Bullying?

Understanding what is bullying is essential in the development of a culture that does not tolerate bullying and wishes to foster a positive environment. Here are three common means of bullying (you may see some overlap between them):

1. Bullying can be overt or covert – bullying can be visible and observable (overt), or it can be subtle and difficult to label (covert).
2. Bullying can be direct or indirect – bullying can be to someone’s face, or in front of them (direct). Bullying can be behind a person’s back, such as gossiping or deliberately excluding a person from an event (indirect).
3. Bullying can be verbal or non-verbal – bullying can involve the use of verbal communication, such as name calling or derogatory language, or it can be non-verbal, such as posting images of someone online without that person’s permission or sabotaging their work.

Bullying behaviours can be varied: they may be verbal, physical, or conducted through online means (or all three!). In whatever shape or form, bullying has three defining characteristics:

1. Bullying involves a misuse of power
2. Bullying involves behaviour that is unreasonable, ongoing and repeated
3. Bullying involves behaviour that can cause harm (or a risk to) a person’s health, safety or wellbeing.

Standing up to bullies can be difficult, especially if there is a culture of normality, no person to report bullying to, or reports of bullying fall on deaf ears and go unaddressed.

Useful resources to prevent bullying:

Here are some useful resources, depending on whether you might be interested in the prevention of bullying in the workplace or schools:

Bullying at work:

• The Fair Work Commission refers to the lawful protections that exist within the workplace, and they have some useful information and resources on how to recognise, resolve, or respond to bullying in the workplace.

Bullying in schools:

• Bullying No Way has an excellent framework that schools can utilise in their anti-bulling approach. They offer advice to young people, to schools, and to families and a series of engaging videos. Various resources are available on what bullying is, what you might be able to do to support someone who might be bullied, and how to pick up on the signs of bullying.

What is irrefutable is that bullying is never OK! It has ramifications for any victim or affected person, and the psychological effects can be long-term.

If bullying is tolerated at the workplace or in the school playground, it will likely transition into all environments, even the home. The longer bullying continues without intervention, the more it becomes emboldened and harder to address. Let’s stop it now!

Centium can work with you to raise awareness among your staff (via online or face to face training), assess and manage risks, or investigate allegations of bullying.

Contact us today!