If you do, then you will also know how devastating it can be for them.
Being bullied affects their whole life – their mood, their schoolwork, even their mental health. It also doesn’t end at the school gates either, with a significant proportion of bullying these days being cyber-bullying. It can follow them into their homes, into their bedrooms, at all times of the day and night.
That’s not all though, what makes it worse is those cases of bullying that we don’t know about. The young person doesn’t report it and suffers all these harmful effects alone.
That’s where CyberSyd comes in.
Most bullying goes unreported for three reasons – three barriers that a young person must jump over. Firstly, maybe the young person isn’t sure who they should go to. Next, even if they know who to approach, perhaps a teacher, they may not feel confident enough to talk about their experiences. Finally, there is the fear of being seen to report bullying by their peers, or the bullies themselves.
CyberSyd removes these barriers by providing a platform for young people to report bullying easily and confidentially from anywhere and at any time.
CyberSyd is a bot that young people can chat to and share their experiences of being bullied. When they have finished, they are asked one final question – do you want me to talk to someone about this?
If they say no, then the chat is deleted, and they are asked to come back again if they change their mind. If they say yes, then in seconds the chat is turned into a Bullying Concern Assessment Form and their teacher is notified.
It’s easier for young people to report and it also saves the teacher time in addressing the bullying behaviour.
Over time, as more incidents of bullying are reported and effectively dealt with, there will be benefits not only for those who have been bullied, but also a positive effect on those who have displayed bullying behaviour. Bringing the behaviour into the open, and challenging it, presents opportunities for positive personal change. It also acts as a deterrent to those who may otherwise have chosen to display this behaviour in the expectation that it may not be challenged.
CyberSyd creates an environment where those who are being bullied feel safe in the knowledge that they can report their concerns and they will be addressed. It creates an environment where students who are witnessing bullying behaviour feel able to report this in confidence. This develops into a culture where the whole school community refuses to tolerate bullying behaviour, reporting it, challenging it, and ultimately reducing it.
We’re passionate about making the world a brighter place for our young people. School is a big part of their world, and anything that we can do to make a positive difference there can have a massive impact on their wellbeing, their development, and their future.
Bullying: You Report It, Syd Stops It.
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