SWAT those bullies
SAEBOW in South Australia has named 25 May as Stop Workplace Abuse and Terrorism day: www.bulliesdownunder.com

Who do you know like this?
Since 1996 I've been busy creating a behaviour profile of the serial bully. Now I've been able to hone this profile into the four most common types of serial bully: the attention-seeker, the wannabe, the guru and the sociopath: workbully/serial.htm#Types

Bullying of junior doctors rife in NHS
Lyn Quine has published the results of her latest survey of bullying of junior doctors. The figures reveal 37% of junior doctors reported being bullied in the previous year with Black and Asian doctors more likely to be bullied than other doctors. See Lyn's survey in the BMJ at http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/324/7342/878 with the opportunity to comment. Lyn's 1998 study of bullied nurses is at http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/318/7178/228

UK must comply with working time regulations
Following a complaint by Amicus (union), the European Commission is to force the UK Government to comply with working time regulations. The British worker works on average 43.6 hours a week compared with the European average of 40.3 hours. More at http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1956000/1956958.stm

Scottish teachers and stress
The costs of stress are beginning to be recognised although the causes often receive less attention: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/scotland/newsid_1971000/1971197.stm

American Psychological Association studies Complex PTSD
For some time the APA has been looking at the traumatic effects of psychological violence: http://www.istss.org/Pubs/TS/Spring01/TaskForce.htm

UK universities face growing recruitment crisis
Recruitment in UK schools and hospitals has been problematic for some time, now a survey reveals that 20% of universities have recruitment and retention problems most of the time, while 8% say they have daily problems retaining lecturers and professors. Teachers, lecturers and nurses are the largest groups of callers to my Advice Line. I wonder if there's a connection? More at http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/education/newsid_1978000/1978051.stm

Organist made redundant
Internationally-renowned organist of Lincoln Cathedral Colin Walsh has been relieved of his position following allegations of systematic bullying, emotional abuse and deep unhappiness amongst the choirboys. Full story at http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-276471,00.html and an uncannily similar tale from Westminster Abbey at http://wabbey-affairs.tripod.com/

Another book from Australia
Bullying in the Workplace - an occupational Hazard, Freeman and Richards, HarperCollins, May 2002

Book on violence in the workplace
Violence at work edited by Martin Gill, Bonnie Fisher and Vaughan Bowie, November 2001,www.willanpublishing.co.uk

A new slant on bullying
Due to a binding problem, some copies of Bully in sight have pages which appear to be printed at an angle. If you've bought a copy of Bully in sight which doesn't meet your expectations of quality, email me at timfield@successunlimited.co.uk and I'll send you a replacement copy.

SCHOOL BULLYING

Bullycide in Wales
13 April 2002: 13-year-old Laura Kilibarda was found hanged in her home at Lisvane, near Cardiff, after complaining about being bullied at school. More at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/04/17/nlaur17.xml&sSheet=/news/2002/04/17/ixhome.html or click here

Bullycide in Yorkshire
18 April 2002: 14-year-old Adam Grigg hanged himself after three years of bullying which started at Broadgate Primary School, Horsforth, Leeds, and continued when he moved to Horsforth School. More at schoolbully/chldnews.htm#Grigg

Mobile phone and Internet bullying
Mobile phone text messaging and cyber bullying via the Internet have become popular methods for bullies: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1929000/1929944.stm

Can you help?
In 1997 a 16-year-old schoolgirl in Wakefield was convicted of assault for bullying a 10-year-old even though the bullying was psychological. I've been asked for information on this case but have no details - can anybody provide a reference to the case please? Thanks ... timfield@successunlimited.co.uk

Bullying in New Zealand
Students who bullied and sexually assaulted a fellow student at Taradale High School have received prison sentences: see http://www.stuff.co.nz/inl/index/0,1008,1178746a1861,FF.html and an interview with the student at http://www.stuff.co.nz/inl/index/0,1008,1178749a1861,FF.html

Washington Post article
Sugar & Spice and Not So Nice: Moms Flock to Symposium on Adolescent Girls' Behavior, see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11658-2002Apr30.html

Anti-bullying scheme leads to award
A scheme to reduce bullying on school buses has led to an award for two South Wales schoolgirls: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/wales/newsid_1979000/1979195.stm

Building self-esteem
As well as tackling bullies and bullying I'm keen to look at confidence and esteem-building. Incentive Plus at http://www.incentiveplus.co.uk/ provides resource packs, videos and books on confidence and esteem building, relationships, handling anger, bullying, discrimination as well as resolving conflict, morality, citizenship, civil liberties, and crime and punishment. For their secondary schools resources catalogue contact Incentive Plus, PO Box 5220, Great Horwood, Milton Keynes, Bucks MK17 0YN, UK, tel 01908 526120, email orders@incentiveplus.co.uk

MEDIA CORNER

Bullycide - getting the message across
Paula Greenspan is a freelance magazine journalist who would like to get the story of bullycide to where it matters most - to teenagers themselves - via teen magazines. To do this and to show how serious bullycide is, she'd like to tell the story of a teenager who has been affected by it, perhaps the sister, friend or cousin of someone who has committed suicide because of bullying, or someone who has been bullied and has contemplated suicide themselves. If you are a teenager who would be willing to tell your story in order to expose the problem of bullycide, please email paulagreenspan@hotmail.com

Tonight with Trevor McDonald
I'm Rachel Kemp and I'm doing a film about the whole 'tweenage' thing - marketing etc. From speaking to various people I know that children who don't wear the 'right' branded clothes can be bullied and teased. I'd like to get in touch with a child (and parent) to whom this has happened and who is willing to talk to us (they need not be identified): email me at rachel.kemp@granadamedia.com

Bullycide
...was featured in a two-page article by David Cohen in the UK Daily Mail on Wednesday 8 May 2002.

New links this month

Healthy Workplaces
The Healthy Workplace site discusses how organisations can influence our health for good or ill, and provides a toolbox of ideas for how to survive and thrive in your organisation: http://www.healthyworkplace.co.uk

Aftermath of suicide
The document at http://www.samaritans.org.uk/know/pdf/youth_pack/ypsecti2.pdf has suggestions for how a school should cope with a suicide.

The Word is getting out
The ecumenical South London Industrial Mission has been helping the people of south London 'get faith to work' since the 1940s. Web stats reveal that "workplace bullying" constitutes four out of the first five search phrases and this paper is by far the most popular of the SLIM papers: http://www.industrialmission.org/pages/papers4.html

Article in Personnel Today on the legal aspects of bullying of employees by clients
Employment law clinic No 13 Bullying: http://www.personneltoday.com/pt_legal/legal_features_det.asp?ID=12357

Fear free schools
The National Alliance for Safe Schools is dedicated to the belief that no child should go to school in fear: http://www.safeschools.org/

UK Campaign Against Bullying at Work (May 2002)

The UK Dignity at Work Bill is going through the House of Lords. You are invited to a debate on the Report Stage on Wednesday 29 May 2002. This is an excellent opportunity for you to alert their Lordships and politicians to the extent, cost and devastation caused by bullying.

Valerie Davey MP is ready to take up the Bill when it enters the Commons and a number of MPs have expressed interest in the Amicus Campaign Against Bullying At Work. You can aid this process by contributing on 29 May and by alerting your MP to both the extent and cost of bullying and asking him/her to support the Dignity at Work Bill.

Come and contribute

You are invited to come and give your testimony at a meeting arranged by Baroness Gibson, the Bill’s sponsor, and hear what the campaign is about. Contributions should be short, to the point and aim to bring to the attention of their Lordships the full impact of the pain and stress visited on bullied workers, how this damages organisations, and how in the end business as well as families and workers suffer. The cost to UK plc can also be highlighted.

Anne Gibson will be in the chair and Chris Ball of Amicus will give a short report on the campaign's progress. This will be an event for those who have seen bullying first hand or who have helped those bullied or researched its consequences etc.

Amicus Campaign Against Bullying At Work: banbullyingatwork/index.htm
Dignity at Work Bill: successunlimited/action/dignity.htm
Facts, figures and cost of bullying to UK plc: workbully/cost.htm

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