February 10th, 2018: The International Business Time reports yet again a story of bullying in a school this time targeting 8 years old Millie from Tuebrook, Liverpool, UK. Millie’s mother Naomi O’Neill found a handwritten note on Millie’s bed that said “I am sad because I think it is not fair, because they just keep on bullying me and the way it makes me feel. Not one kid in the world should feel the way I feel when I get bullied. It makes me sad, I feel different, weird, not important, angry, dumb and hurt. There is a lot more but I don’t want to write it.” On the other side, the note said, “Please help me stop getting bullied.”

Millie’s mom realized that the note had been written in a rush and not with the usual beautiful handwriting the girl has, suggesting that Millie was panicking when she wrote it. Naomi sat Millie down and asked her to explain what was wrong. The girl finally opened up to her mom telling her that she had been bullied in school and that she wanted to die. Naomi recalled that Millie indeed had had a change of behavior, refusing to eat and not wanting to go to school, to the point that she even tried to harm herself in an attempt to skip school.

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Millie’s mom talked to the school officials who told her that they were completely unaware of bullying in school targeting Millie, that they were shocked about the note and only knew of a couple of small incidents that were resolved amicably. While the school assured Millie’s mom that they take bullying very seriously, Naomi has decided to pull Millie from this school and enroll her in a new school.

Bullying in school has become an epidemic. According to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children [NSPCC], there were over 24,000 childline counseling sessions about bullying in 2016/17 and more than 16,000 children were absent from school due to bullying. Several organizations have launched campaigns to tackle the problem of bullying. For example, a recent campaign is called “Stop Speak and Support” and it was launched by Heads Together a campaign started by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and by Prince Harry to end the stigma attached to mental health. As the problem of bullying is brought into light and organizations dedicate resources and effort in tackling bullying, hopefully, in a not too distant future, children like Millie will no longer have to endure what she experienced.

Picture credit to The International Business Time.