Read about some of the young people we’ve worked with and their experiences of bullying. These young people have all been brave enough to tell us their story, and in doing so, want to help others who might be going through the same thing.
Whilst we'd prefer not to have to compile case studies due to their very nature, they are a very valuable research tool for Beatbullying. Case studies enable our researchers to gain a detailed understanding of why the event happened as it did and which areas of the case demand more analysis for future research. Whilst in themselves, case studies do not constitute qualitative research, they can be based on any mix of quantitative and qualitative data and as such make a significant contribution to our policy work and monitoring and evaluation work.
Bullies drive teenager to the brink of suicide
Rhys suffered persistent bullying at the hands of his classmates, destroying his confidence and leaving him depressed and unhappy to the extent that he considered taking his own life.
At the peak of his terrible ordeal, when he was just 13, Rhys sat on his bed and took a breadknife to his wrists. After years of being constantly tormented, he felt like giving up.
Rhys said: “The bullies made me feel worthless. I felt uncomfortable and unhappy within myself and I didn’t want to be alive anymore. I wanted to end it, but when I thought about my family and how it would affect them, I couldn’t go through with it.”
Rhys, now 15, remembers being bullied from when he was as young as four. All through primary school, other pupils would call him names and make fun of his weight. The constant taunts of ‘fatty’ and tubby’ made his life a misery, and as he got older, the bullying got worse, becoming increasingly frequent and turning physical.
In junior school, Rhys was attacked by a group of boys as he left school. He was kicked repeatedly, beaten up and left crying in a corner until a teacher found him. In senior school he was touched inappropriately by other boys who made fun of his appearance. Every incident made him feel self-conscious and unhappy with who was he was.
The bullying even followed Rhys home, when a couple of boys posted abusive comments on his Bebo page. In this case, and as Beatbullying advocates, Rhys reported the cyberbullying directly to Bebo, who immediately deleted the perpetrators’ profiles and blocked them from using the site.
Rhys told his friends and a couple of teachers about what going on, and they helped him through his experience. He decided to concentrate on his schoolwork and set himself goals that would help him improve his self-confidence.
Rhys said: “I set myself the target of becoming a Senior Leader at school, and now I’m Head Boy. The bullies are still in the school, but I just ignore them. I’m a stronger person now and feel comfortable with who I am and what I’ve achieved, so it’s not a problem anymore.”
Perhaps Rhys’s biggest achievement is that he has used his own experiences to set up his own anti-bullying scheme in his school to help others. ‘Don’t hide it’ is a peer mentoring service where older students mentor other pupils in the school who might be having problems. Rhys says it has already helped many students and teachers have praised the initiative as a success.
(The name of the boy has been changed to protect his identity)