United we make the difference

Initiative intended to promote measures to combat and prevent bullying and cyberbullying in support of Bulli Stop - the Italian national anti-bullying centre.

2019

Longarone, 28 June 2019

The ‘MEN IN BLACK AGAINST BULLYING’ project is intended to spread awareness of a phenomenon that is unworthy of a civilised society: bullying and cyberbullying (the latter being linked to new technologies).

A widespread phenomenon that today affects an ever-growing number of adolescents and children; the public response has been somewhat limited due to the general contraction of welfare resources.

Families are often left alone to deal with the consequences of bullying on their children; families are unable to access support for their victimised child or bully, and the possibility of receiving legal, educational and psychiatric assistance is often accompanied by exorbitant economic demands that the family cannot afford, in addition to very long waiting times.

The data collected are staggering: 28% of high school students have experienced bullying and the percentage rises to 30% for children still in secondary school. This is a significant increase compared to 2016, when the percentage was 20%; only 8% of victims are persecuted exclusively online, while most suffer violence on a daily basis. The consequences of this violence range from depression (75% of victims) to crying episodes (54%), self-harm (32%) and suicidal thoughts (46%): an alarming percentage, which calls for reflection on how to stem this phenomenon and make young people safe, including the very young, considering that the research looked at a sample of eight thousand adolescents aged between 11 and 18.

The ‘MEN IN BLACK AGAINST BULLYING’ project intends to address these problems by organising help and support for victims of bullying and their families, based on specific programmes provided by expert professionals in the following fields: rehabilitation-neuropsychiatric-psychological-pedagogical and legal.

In fact, at present there are no structured and permanent public intervention programmes, at least in the Lazio region, which provide specific rehabilitation courses, despite the fact that studies show - as illustrated - that the consequences from this point of view can be very serious indeed.

On the other hand, psychological support activities are provided by victims' associations, but they are not always free of charge and therefore are not accessible to all families without financial means; in terms of the number of these services offered, they are unable to meet the potential demand.

There is no free public access to legal protection for victims. Often, when they are unable to gain access to the support provided by existing victims' associations or the availability of professionals to work pro-bono, non-wealthy victims are unable to defend themselves in bullying and cyberbullying cases.

By way of the project, the following specific objectives will be pursued in relation to the direct and indirect beneficiaries of the project:

1. Make the help and support programmes accessible to all;
2. Increase the number of victims of bullying and cyberbullying who seek help and support;
3. Raise awareness of bullying among school staff, pupils and their parents in the area covered by the project;
4. Ensure the psychological and educational rehabilitation of victims of bullying and cyberbullying who are direct beneficiaries;
5. Obtain any eventual compensation sought and the conviction of those responsible for the acts of violence.

Target groups and beneficiaries

The project is aimed at children of both sexes who are victims of bullying and cyberbullying. The final direct beneficiaries of the project will be 10 girls and boys from the target group. The indirect beneficiaries will be their families, as they will be able to benefit from free specialist support.

Direct beneficiaries will be identified during the institutional programme led by BULLI STOP - the Italian national anti-bullying centre. Moreover, a network of reporting subjects/individual intervention activators will be mapped out and set up, consisting of both the Bullying Representatives (each school, pursuant to Law 71/2017, is obliged to designate this figure within its teaching staff, who acts as a ‘sentinel’ for the school, monitoring any cases of bullying that may occur and initiating any possible specialist interventions) for the local schools and a group of around 20 young people who will be engaged during the promotional phase. They will be specifically trained and will act both as a contact interface for the service and as monitoring and activation agents.

BULLI STOP contact info

Centro Nazionale Contro il Bullismo

www.bullistop.com

segreteria@bullistop.com

WIKIPEDIA

Wikipedia - Giovanna Pini

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanna_Pini

FACEBOOK

Bulli Stop - Centro Nazionale Contro il Bullismo

https://www.facebook.com/bullistop/

Giovanna Pini Pedagogista

https://www.facebook.com/PedagogistaPini/