Media Release

17 March 2008.

Bullying in Schools

“Let’s stop talking and ACT to stop the cycle” says Lifepaths Charitable Trust Trustee, Dr Sue Bagshaw, who today expressed concern about how New Zealand schools fared in the latest international survey on bullying.

“Any person associated with our schools, whether parent, child or teacher is aware of increased levels of bullying in New Zealand schools. Many have experienced it first hand. However, the biggest concerns are why it is happening, how to stop it and more importantly how to prevent it?” she says.

“We do know that bullying causes a lot of damage to children and young people’s mental health, and what we need is a way to help them become mentally and emotionally strong so that they can resist the need to bully and the affects of being bullied.”

“Help is at hand. A programme, new to New Zealand called Friends for Life, has been developed in Australia and is widely taken up there, in Canada and in other parts of the world. It is well researched and is acknowledged as a leader in its field by the World Health Organisation,” Bagshaw says.

“FRIENDS specifically gives children and adolescents the skills and tools to be resilient and deal with life problems as they arise. It teaches the skills required to bring about change.”

By changing individual behaviour and enhancing cultures schools can produce children and youth who are resilient and socially and emotionally skilled enough to make bullying a thing of the past.

Schools already have in place surveys, bully buster groups and other means to inform us about the problem. None of these stop bullying. They do, however, keep us better informed of its progress. Lifepaths Trust has undertaken to help bring the Friends programmes to preschools, primary schools and high schools in order to prevent anxiety and depression which are commonly present in young people and which are increased by bullying. For more information visit the Lifepaths website www.lifepathstrust.org.nz or contact

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