Anti-Bullying

I have a significant amount of expertise in Anti-Bullying. I was the Director of respectme, Scotland’s anti-bullying service since its inception in 2006 until 2017. I led on the development of all content, training and materials since the service launched in March 2007.

I led on the development of the National Approach to anti-bullying in Scotland twice, firstly in 2010/11 and again in 2016/17. The publication of Respect for All was the result of 10 years of delivering and developing anti-bullying work in Scotland. I carried out the research that underpinned this National Policy, gathering the views and experiences of over 8000 Scottish children and young people.

I have helped other countries develop and implement national policy and have delivered training and conference inputs in Europe and in the USA. I felt that I had reached a point with this strategic work that what was now needed was better help at a local level.

I work with schools and organisations to build their confidence and knowledge of bullying  and to develop local policy, in-step with the national approach and crucially to improve practice on recognising and responding to bullying.

I have worked with over 80 schools and ensured the engagement of staff, parents and carers and with pupils to ensure a local policy reflecting their values and ethos is own place and staff, parents and pupils know more about what bullying is and how to respond.

What is on offer?

I will tailor support for each individual school or establishment. I will engage with children, staff ad parents and carers to gather their views and experiences. As this happens, I begin to build their knowledge and understanding of what bullying is and what it is not. I also offer direct support to teachers, staff and also parents and carers where there are current issues that may benefit form some external support.

I use this process  of engagement to take people on a journey, policy is an output on this journey but the aim is to move form an understanding to genuine implementation across schools and organisations. I gather the views of parents and carers and challenge perceptions around bullying and am open and honest about attitudes towards ‘hitting back’ and how  this can negatively impact on your child and your relationship with them.

This journey takes time and creates clear evidence of collaboration across your community. It is a partnership that has led to cultural change and increased confidence from schools and from parents and carers to dress bullying effectively.

My aim to to help create environments where bullying cannot thrive. Consistency, predictability and a shared understanding of what bullying is are key elements to this journey.

I have also developed training and policy for workplace bullying – I have supported individuals as well as train staff and managers on this issue.

Please feel free to get in touch and discuss any of this with me

‘Able to instil confidence in me to take policy work forward‘ Primary School DHT

‘I now have a clear picture of what bullying is’ ‘Practical and informative’ ‘Inspiring’ ‘extremely knowledgable and helpful’ ‘engaging and inspiring. PE

‘Brian has given us new language and a new approach – we use it all the time‘ Primary School HT