Hi Lola,
Thank you for writing to me, I can hear how much this bullying has been affecting you and it’s brilliant that you are trying to get help around this.
I’m really sorry to hear that talking on the 1-2-1 online chats hasn’t helped over the last year, but at the same time it sounds like you’ve really been sticking to talking on them. It’s brilliant that you’ve had the courage to keep talking and it’s important to remember that sometimes it can take time to be able to achieve what you deserve.
I was wondering, when I read your letter, about what help might mean to you. It sounds like you really want this bullying to stop and it’s understandable that you would. When you say that it’s not helping on the 1-2-1 online chats, I was wondering whether you had thought about telling your counsellor that when you are on there? It’s important to remember that it’s OK to say exactly how you are feeling on the chats, whether it’s good or bad, and it can help you to be able to talk a little about what might be able to help you in the future.
It can be hard to think that anything might help, when bullying has been going on for so long. It’s important that you know that nobody ever has the right to bully you like these people have, and certainly not to put rude things on Facebook. You not only have the right to report this abuse on Facebook and even block these people, but that you have the right to report it to the school as well.
Telling someone at school can be a scary thing to do, and I can imagine it almost seeming hopeless if you have told them before. All schools have what’s called an anti-bullying policy; this basically says exactly what the school is supposed to do about any kind of bullying. It’s important to remember that if you have told someone at school and it’s not helped, that it doesn’t mean that you can’t tell them again. If you do feel like you can’t tell the school again, it may be that they don’t realise that it’s still happening. Sometimes being able to tell again can help the school to work with you to think about ways to help make it stop.
It might help you to have a look at a website called Cyber Mentors as well. The website has loads of information on cyber bullying and can offer support from trained mentors on any kind of bullying that’s happening.
I can see how much you feel like the 1-2-1 online chats aren’t working at the moment. But like I said you can talk to a ChildLine counsellor about anything, including how you feel about whether they are helping and what you would like to happen. You can even talk on the phone if you feel like it (0800 1111), it’s a completely free number and won’t show up on the phone bill.
Take care,
Sam