Who: Angels Goal - Australian Anti-Bullying Organisation
Where: We are in Launceston, Tasmania - 330 Invermay Road, Mowbray, 7248.
What: Our goal is to protect children and young adults
from bullying in our communities and to eventually help to prevent
bullying, along with giving victims and bystanders the fortitude to deal
with this issue.
When: It began in February 2011 but became fully active in July, 2011.
Why Bullying is so Prevalent: It is so prevalent
because statistics show that one in 5 children who are bullied has a
mental health issue that costs the Australian economy around 6 billion a
year, not including all other types of bullying eg workplace etc which
costs up to 36 billion. The Australian Bureau of Statistics of 2009
stated that there was up to 6 children per 100,000 from ages 13-19 commit suicide. This alarming statistic means that there are more
children dying from suicide than in car accidents. A Great Britain
study done by Beat Bully stated that 50% of youth suicides are directly
attributed to bullying, whereas in Australia, the statistics we found show
between 6 and 10% through bullying.
Why we began: After having first hand experience. Chloe's speech is below.
My
name is Chloe Cunningham. As you may be aware I was bullied from the
age of 12 through to 17 in school and my chosen sport and this became
a daily occurrence. Please forgive me if I falter it's due to my
condition. There were many different forms of bullying I encountered
such as: social exclusion, cyber bullying, name calling and making
fun of my body image.
My
first encounter of bullying was grade 7 camp where all the girls from
my grade wanted to go into the boys' section. I wasn’t comfortable
with this arrangement so I stayed behind. In the meantime, all the
girls were caught. The punishment was all girls were back at school
during lunch and were made to take all chewing gum off the classroom
tables. The teacher involved said “No you don’t have to, Chloe, I
know you wouldn’t do that”.
This
was when my nightmare started, in the shower at camp and change
rooms during PE where the group of girls made fun of my body image as
I was a slow developer for my age. This kept going right up to grade
9. By then I had body image problems, major social exclusion, name
calling, food thrown at me. My coping strategy was to block all the
experiences out because I figured it was the only way. Halfway
through grade 9 I moved schools and found that bullying wasn’t
normal and learnt that school was meant to be fun and including.
There
was only one more problem I also had to face every day since I was 13. This
was bullying in swimming where I was a state competitive swimmer and
ranked highly. The bullying became more personal attack from social
exclusion, vomiting on my personal possessions and cyber bullying.
This then made me feel unworthy, ugly and not deserved of being
loved. It became so horrific that it was investigated and proven that
bullying did occur.
In
late 2010 my subconscious brain received bullying as a threat to my
wellbeing, then it turns all the stress and trauma into physical
symptoms. I had symptoms ranging from tremors to paralyisis. I was
sick for 10 months and wheelchair bound for 5 months. This was a very
worrying time for my family and friends as they could tell I was in
so much pain every second of every day. I remember the time when I
saw my mum crying on my shoulder and my heart was breaking; my dad
forcing to hold back tears and telling him not to go and my best
friend telling me not to give up, not to leave her. I can’t put
into words how hard it is too see the people you care about most in
pain and you can’t do anything because you’re the one they're
crying about. All my symptoms were so severe that it pointed to a
neurological disease and I am very lucky that it wasn’t.
My
message to all children and young adults: Anyone can be a hero, it
can even be you. Be the voice for the person who is too afraid to
speak up. Be a leader not a follower. I understand there are many
victims like me that are suffering from the effects of bullying. That
is why I have come to the conclusion the only way to help is speak up
and to let them know they are strong enough to fight and not to
give up, even in the darkest hours. We are not Victims, we are
survivors, and we will fight and we can do it together. Believe in
yourself because I believe in you. Our awareness and accountability
programs will help communities address all forms of Bullying. Angels Goal would like to thank King David school for this opportunity and
it is a credit to you all for being proactive in this cause. Thank
you.
Angels Goal Anti Bullying National Launch
