Policies and plans
Safety plans
Safety plans are used extensively by agencies working with victims and survivors of domestic violence and other hate crimes. Having a safety plan can act as an important emotional and psychological, as well as practical support to anybody who is experiencing victimisation and abuse, and they can be a very effective tool for helping children and young people who are experiencing bullying.
Significant factors in the emotional and psychological stress and anxiety that young victims of bullying feel are not knowing how to get help, believing that no-one can help, and feeling that the bullying may be their fault, resulting from something that they have done wrong or something that is fundamentally wrong with them. Safety plans work to reduce these feelings of powerlessness and isolation through offering practical advice on how to get help and ways to respond to bullying that may help to stop it, in both the immediate and long term.
People who bully tend to derive satisfaction from their ability to induce panic and powerlessness in their victims. In empowering young people who are being bullied, you will be diminishing the satisfaction of those who are doing the bullying. This may result in the reduction, and in a few cases, the end of the bullying. However, as a professional working with children and young people, you should never assume that bullying will “sort itself out” or advise young people to “just ignore it”. Even if it does cease without intervention by school staff, it is vital that the behaviour of the young person who was bullying is addressed, otherwise they are likely to continue acting out this behaviour on others.
Above is an example of a safety plan that your agency or group may want to adapt and make available to the children and young people that you work with on the following pages. If a child or young person reports bullying to you, it is a good idea to work with him/her to tailor the plan to his/her individual circumstances, worries and needs. This will reinforce the safety plan’s effectiveness, both as a practical tool and as a means of empowering the young person and making him/her feel listened to, included and valued.
An agreed safety plan can also act as a means of raising awareness of the bullying across your agency or group and outside agencies, groups and individuals (including parent(s)/carer(s)) who have an input into and interest in the young person’s welfare, and can underpin a co-ordinated multi-agency response to the problem.