Increasing numbers of children and young people experience bullying and discrimination, with long‑term consequences for their mental health.
Current approaches often fail to fully address the mental health dimensions of bullying, limiting their impact.
By taking a more explicit mental health‑centred approach to bullying prevention in schools, progress can be made to both reduce bullying behaviours and mitigate the harm they cause, supporting better mental health outcomes for young people.
Reducing the mental health harms of bullying and discrimination
We are working to reduce the number of children and young people experiencing the mental health harms of bullying and discrimination, and to prevent bullying behaviours.
Our work focuses on:
- Building expertise and evidence – through participatory research with young people (including those who display bullying behaviours), and research on mental health impacts of bullying.
- Campaigning to shine a light on root causes and impacts – foregrounding lived experience stories; and describing the root causes of bullying and discriminatory behaviours.
- Putting education and prevention into practice – producing resources for inclusive education approaches, bystander training and other guidance for schools.
- Informing policy and system change – advocating for stronger regulation of discriminatory content and standards for political discourse.
