Wantirna College Newsletter

Parent Wellbeing

Wellbeing 

What to do if your Teenager is being Bullied

If your teenager is experiencing bullying, it’s important to stay calm and let them know it’s not their fault. Let them know that you’re there for them and will do anything you can to help them. By talking with your child openly, you can find out more about what’s going on and help your child understand the kinds of things that will help them cope and respond.

 

What can you do?

It can be difficult to know what to do or where to start when your child is being bullied. Below are some ways that you can work with your child to help them cope with the bullying they are experiencing:

 

Have an open conversation. Discuss the way it has made your child feel and react. This will help them to label their own emotions and assist with building self-awareness. Talking about it will help them process the emotion.

 

Make an action plan with your teen if they are experiencing bullying. What friend can they turn to? What teacher do they trust? If bullying occurs, will they respond or not? Break the action plan into manageable steps and play out possible scenarios. 

 

Get informed about the ways to stop bullying. We don’t put up with bullying at work, and our teenagers shouldn’t have to put up with it at school or online. Schools have anti-bullying policies and are required to respond to bullying incidents. 

 

Get a copy of the schools anti-bullying policy, then contact the school principal or year adviser and ask them about the policy and how they are going to follow it in this instance.

 

Read up on how to contact social media providers to address cyberbullying and ensure you and your child know how to block, delete or report anyone who is upsetting them online. Social media providers are required to remove offensive content or you can contact The E-Safety Commissioner. See more about responding to cyberbullying here.

 

Learning the signs of bullying and how to handle bullying helps your child develop some essential conflict resolution skills. However, in some circumstances it just isn’t safe for your teenager to handle it on their own. If that’s the case, and the bullying is serious or has been going on for a while, involve their school, other parents or authorities if it’s appropriate.

 

Create a Support Network

When dealing with bullying it’s important to make sure that your child feels safe and confident to seek help when they need it. They may need help from more than one source, or they may just want to confide in one person. While it’s important to make sure that they’re aware of the variety of support options open to them, respect that they will choose the option that works best for them.

 

Family Support

If you know or suspect that your child is being bullied, you are one of the key people to help them. Some things you can do:

  • Talk to them and reassure them that it’s not their fault.
  • Be sympathetic and a good listener, talking about it can help them feel better.
  • Find out from them what’s been going on and for how long.
  • Ask them how they’ve been handling it so far and ask how they are feeling.
  • If the bully is from their school, suggest that you enlist the school’s help.
  • Encourage them to spend time with friends that are being supportive and caring.
  • Suggest counselling for support and guidance, either online or face-to-face. Many schools have school counsellors that are trained to support students in these kinds of situations.

Listen carefully to your child and get a sense of how much support you think they may need. Reassure them that they’re not alone, even if they feel like they are. Encourage them to seek the help that they think will work best for them. For example, they may be the type of person to feel more comfortable seeking advice online, or maybe you think they’d benefit from face-to-face counselling. 

 

Friends

Your child’s friends can be an excellent bullying support system. 

  • Encourage and facilitate them to spend time with friends that are caring.
  • Help them organise a trip to the movies or the shops, or host a sleep over or movie night at your house.
  • Help your teen to focus their time and energy on the good people that they have around them.
  • Remind them that friendships change over the course of a lifetime, and if a friendship turns sour or negative, it’s ok not to spend time with that person anymore.

If your child has a wide variety of friends, call on them to help during this difficult period. Spending time with the people that care about them can help balance out the tough time that they’re having.

 

School

If bullying is happening at school, there are things that the school can do to help to stop the bullying and support your child. Talk to your child about seeking help from the school. They may be reluctant, but let them know that the school can’t do anything to help unless they know about the problem.

  • Encourage your child to talk to a trusted teacher about what’s been going on.
  • Encourage your child to get support from the school counsellor.
  • Contact the school and make an appointment to see a teacher or an administrator to discuss the bullying problem. It’s best to do this with your child’s knowledge and consent. 
  • Make a plan with the school on how to stop the bullying.
  • Keep in regular contact with the school after the initial meeting to monitor the situation.

Most schools have a bullying policy which can often be found on the school’s website. Learn what your child’s school says they’ll do, so you know what help you and your child can expect. 

 

Online support

Online services are a great first choice for getting help with bullying. They are immediate and can be accessed from home. Even if your child is putting on a brave face, encourage them to make use of these easily accessible support services. By opening up and talking throughout the bullying period they can help alleviate the accumulated stress that they’re experiencing.

 

There are excellent online resources that your child can access by themselves to get immediate support in the case of bullying. A few great examples are:

Face-to-face support

Face-to-face counselling is another good option for young people that are finding it difficult to cope with bullying. If you want to seek out face-to-face counselling for your child make an appointment with your GP who can help refer you on to a counsellor or psychologist, or you and your child could visit your local headspace centre.

Let your child know that it’s normal to feel nervous the first time that they go and see someone for help. Reassure them that it’s totally ok for them to need to talk and to get help. Consider bringing along a trusted friend as moral support.

Source: Reachout.com

Resources & Support Services

The Wellbeing Team have compiled a range of resources and support services for students and families to access via Compass under Community (the two people) – School Documentation – For Students/For Parents – Wellbeing Resources.

Parent Support Services

Parentline: 13 22 89

 

If you would like further ongoing support, it is recommended that you make an appointment with your family General Practitioner (G.P.) where you can discuss the concerns that you may behaving. The G.P. will then be able to make the appropriate referral for ongoing support as required.

 

Student Wellbeing Team

Email: wellbeing@wantirnacollege.vic.edu.au

 

Guiseppe Relia – Wellbeing Coordinator 

Talea-Jane Simpson – School Counsellor

Lea Marrison - Mental Health Practitioner

Tajinder Wulff - Mental Health Practitioner