Counselling service Kids Helpline urges young people to seek support after death of Libby Bell
ABOUT 35 young South Australians — some contemplating suicide and others being bullied at school — are seeking counselling and support through a dedicated service each day.
- Libby’s tragedy is getting parents to talk
READ BELOW: Furious dad - school did not care for my daughter
DOZENS of youngsters — some contemplating suicide and others being bullied at school — are seeking counselling and support every day in South Australia.
Kids Helpline had 39,202 calls, emails and web chats with five to 25-year-olds between 2014 and 2016 — an average of 35 interactions a day.
Three out of every 10 during that period were for direct counselling on issues including mental health and emotional wellbeing, violence and abuse, and identity concerns.
The helpline’s clinical practice manager, Louise Davis, has urged young people experiencing difficulties to reach out for support to avoid a repeat of the tragic death of Libby Bell.
Libby, 13, took her own life on August 28 after a campaign of cyber bullying and physical abuse from peers at Seaford Secondary School.
Ms Davis’s plea comes as Australia today recognises World Suicide Prevention Day, which focuses on one of the largest causes of premature and unnecessary death.
She said it was important to raise awareness about suicide “so that is does not reach a point where someone feels their life is hopeless and they end their life”.
“It is concerning the number of young people who are calling us about really significant issues in relation to their mental health, suicidal thoughts and the risk they are experiencing from others and from themselves,” Ms Davis told the Sunday Mail. “We don’t want young people to be experiencing those things but equally we want them to reach out to us when they are.
“Things only get worse if they don’t reach out and ask for support and often people are feeling hopeless and helpless and they don’t know where to turn.” A breakdown of those contacting the Kids Helpline — a 24/7 service for children, teenagers and young adults — between 2014 and 2016 shows:
68 PER CENT were female.
49 PER CENT were young males and females aged 13-18.
52 PER CENT reported mental health and emotional issues.
10 PER CENT reported violence and abuse from non-family members.
Ms Davis said many young people often found it difficult to talk to family friends because they did not want to scare them, be judged or stigmatised. “They don’t know how to articulate what is happening to them because they can’t make sense of it themselves at times,” she said.
“So being able to talk to somebody is really about them being able to process, with somebody else, what is going on, to give them support, to reassure them and give them a sense of hope that things can improve and that they won’t always feel this way.”
Earlier this year, Coroner Mark Johns urged families to speak openly about suicide and raise awareness of an issue he fears may be “under-reported”.
“At least a third of these deaths are situational and, if you happen to knock these people off their course today, than you’ve probably saved their life,” he said in January.
“So for everyone who says ‘The Sunday Mail ran a story and there was a suicide a week later, it’s your fault’, the conglomerate of that is ‘Yes but 10 the suicides may have been stopped’.
“I think the more information that’s available that doesn’t sensationalise the subject is a good thing.”
Ms Davis said responsible reporting of suicide helped raise awareness and encouraged people to openly talk about it.
“If we don’t raise awareness about this in a responsible way then people aren’t going to feel able to talk about it and that stigma will continue,” she said.
Ms Davis said the proliferation of social media meant that bullying had become “relentless” because it was no longer confined to just schools and communities.
■ To donate to the family go to www.gofundme.com/j3tc7-the-bell-family
IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW NEEDS HELP, CALL LIFELINE ON 13 11 14 OR
THE KIDS HELPLINE ON 1800 551 800 OR VISIT KIDSHELPLINE.COM.AU
FURIOUS DAD: SCHOOL DID NOT CARE FOR MY DAUGHTER
By Tim Williams
VICTIMS of severe bullying at a suburban primary school were isolated in break times, including some areas where they were not allowed to eat, claims a father who was threatened with a defamation action by the principal.
Chris Farrant says his daughter, 10, and other students were subjected to months of physical, verbal and cyber bullying by two girls earlier this year.
He says parents made dozens of complaints but he considers the school and the Education Department not only failed to address the problem but he believes their responses — including suggestions the victims had mental health problems — effectively amounted to blaming the victims and trying to silence parents.
The department insists the matter has undergone “exhaustive scrutiny” and “every reasonable effort” made to resolve it.
Mr Farrant told the Sunday Mail he regularly found his daughter and some of her classmates “sobbing, shaking and petrified” at drop-off and pick-up times.
“My child sank into what can only be called deep depression,” he said. “She said she wanted to end it all and be with our puppies (which had died).”
The final straw came when his daughter complained of being “starving” and isolated in certain parts of the school at break times, as part of the school’s strategy to keep the girls apart.
He removed his daughter from the school in June after making a detailed report to the department’s complaints unit in April, to which he says he never received a response.
In May, Mr Farrant had written to other parents outlining his concerns. The principal threatened a defamation action, demanding $5000 plus costs. Mr Farrant initially apologised but later threatened a countersuit.
Mr Farrant said a meeting with senior department officials resolved nothing, and another parent who attended the meeting agreed.
That mum, of a girl, 9, who was in the same class and victimised by the same bullies, said the “relentless” attacks included death threats.
“I was getting calls from school saying ‘come and pick her up, she’s sick’, but she wasn’t — she was petrified,” the mother said, adding the school’s “disgusting” response included suggesting she take her daughter to a psychologist. The mother said the school would not let her daughter switch classes.
“The school was just completely negligent. It’s not acceptable at all,” she said.
“Things like this can last a lifetime and that’s why I pulled her out of the school. She was just miserable. She was a different kid as soon as she moved schools.”
Mr Farrant claims he was gagged in June by a departmental letter telling him not to speak to the principal or other staff. A department spokesman said all bullying allegations were treated seriously.
“The steps that have been taken include disciplinary measures as well as a cyber-bullying seminar for parents, professional development for staff, and increased classroom supervision,” he said.
“The school and the department have made every reasonable effort to accommodate the requests of the individuals involved and have proposed a number of workable options to resolve this situation.”