February 24,2014: One Direction made a stand against bullying, joining the Anti-Bully Shield Campaign initiative set forth by The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) (ISPCC). One Direction joined other celebrities in demonstrating how important it is to take a stand against bullies and how you have the right to protect yourself against all forms of bullying.
The ISPCC is one of Ireland’s oldest children’s charities, advocating for the well-being of their children and the need for an anti-bullying initiative has never been more apparent than now. According to the ISPCC website, more than 8,000 children contacted the ISPCC about bullying, in 2014; that averages to 23 children per day!
Fortunately, the children have services such as the ISPCC actively engaging with and listening to their children. Knowing the impact that bullying has on a child’s self esteem, growth and development the ISPCC created the Shield Campaign.This initiative is aimed at “protecting children from bullying” by providing them with coping skills and education. The anti-bullying program, created by Mark Feehily in 2012, has two major components:
1) The Shield My School Programme which is a self-evaluation toolkit they created to assist schools in understanding types of bullying, where and how they occur, and how effective the school currently is in tackling bullying. This checklist programme enables schools to create an action plan to put in place to ensure that they are as proactive as possible in responding to bullying.
2) “Stand Up” – Bullying Report Tool – which is an innovative online based bullying reporting tool for schools. This tool enables a student to have a source of safe support when reporting bullying and it supports the school’s effort in dealing with situations where bullying is occurring on and even off campus.
To learn more about ISPCC and ways you can get involved check ISPCC
A Charitable Direction 