FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BEATBULLYING AND THE QUEEN’S JUBILEE SILVER TRUST TEAM UP TO TRAIN 2,500 “JUBILEE MENTORS” TO TACKLE BULLYING
27 November 2012
November 27, 2012 - BeatBullying is delighted to announce a grant from The Queen’s Silver Jubilee Trust to help with its work in tackling bullying. The support from The Queen’s Silver Jubilee Trust will see 2,500 young people trained as “Jubilee mentors”. This crucial support will mean the new Jubilee mentors will join the thousands of existing BeatBullying trained CyberMentors in providing support to their peers and becoming anti bullying advocates in their communities.
Since launching in 2009, BeatBullying has trained over 6,700 young people to be CyberMentors to support their peers and help BeatBullying with its mission to make bullying unacceptable.
Speaking on the announcement Emma-Jane Cross, CEO of BeatBullying said,
"It's fantastic to get this backing from The Queen's Silver Jubilee Trust, which will not only help us to continue providing the much-needed support for the many young people who are suffering at the hands of cyber-bullies, but will also allow us to train thousands of anti-bullying advocates who will have a positive impact online, in their schools and in their local communities.
"This support underlines how important it is to enable young people to help one another, and takes us closer to our mission to make bullying unacceptable. We look forward to welcoming thousands of new 'Jubilee mentors' to our sites."
Nicola Brentnall, Director of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Trust said,
“Since 1977, the purpose of The Queen’s Silver Jubilee Trust has been to encourage young people to help others. BeatBullying’s CyberMentors programme has this ethos at its heart. Unfortunately, too many young people in the United Kingdom are having their lives badly affected by the acts of bullies, increasingly on-line and through mobile phones.
“We are delighted to help BeatBullying recruit an additional 2,500 CyberMentors this year. These new mentors will help many hundreds of other young people with advice, encouragement and support and speak out against bullying in their communities. We are particularly pleased that they will be known as Jubilee mentors–reflecting our support in this Diamond Jubilee year”.
The latest research conducted by BeatBullying found that 1 in 3 young people have been victim of cyberbullying with 1 in 13 becoming victims of persistent abuse or harassment. Schools working with CyberMentors, on average, report a 35% reduction in bullying and a 31% increase in the level of reporting of bullying.
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For more information, case studies, interview with a BeatBullying spokesperson or statistics please contact:
Carina McKeown or Susan Golaszewski
carina.mckeown@beatbullying.org.uk / susan.golaszewski@beatbullying.org.uk
0208 768 1017 / 07769 675 937
Notes to editors
BeatBullying
BeatBullying is an award-winning children’s charity that was established in 1999 to work with young people and create a world where bullying, violence and harassment are unacceptable. One in three children has experienced bullying and one in thirteen is bullied constantly. BeatBullying services is underpinned by expert youth workers and accredited counsellors all working together to provide intensive therapeutic intervention to young people, families teachers communities, as well as working with those who bully to help change their behavior. BeatBullying also campaigns in the areas of bullying and child-on-child violence to enable young people to transform their lives and the lives of their peers for the better
BeatBullying runs bullying prevention programmes, on and offline, in schools and communities and have been proven to reduce bullying by 70% and the reporting of bullying by 60% in schools. Their work empowers young people to understand, recognize and say no to bullying, violence and harassment as well as educates parents, teachers and adults about bullying, early intervention and prevention
BeatBullying is the three times winner of ‘Charity of the Year’ as well as winning awards for Best Communications Campaign and the Nominet Internet Award’s ‘Making the Internet Safer’ award www.beatbullying.org