Why Black Lives Matter

All lives matter. But you wouldn’t offer the rope to everyone in the swimming pool if only one person were drowning. You wouldn’t give everyone the Heimlich manoeuvre in turn if only one person were choking. You wouldn’t even give everyone a plaster if only one person had cut their finger. Fair does not mean […]

The Power of Listening

It’s Time to Talk day (or, rather, it’s not, but I shared this on my Facebook yesterday and I write precious little at the moment, so every word needs saving). There’s no point in talking unless someone is there to listen. I’ve talked and talked and talked about mental health – and specifically the bullying […]

The Unforgivable Curse

I’ve written about bullying before. I’ve spent thousands of hours thinking about bullying and, in particular, my experience with bullying. Last night, I watched Jesy Nelson’s documentary Odd One Out. I was struck by how profoundly emotional and moving it was; how many home truths it hits. Because it’s true: once someone has been bullied, […]

The things I can’t ‘leave in the past’

I’ve written about it before. Heck, I’ve written about most of it before because mental illness is mainly just that: the same twisted thoughts swimming around your head until you want them out. It’s been in the news again this week that another teenager has made the heartbreaking decision to end her own life after […]

Bitchy Girls

There is nothing worse than a bitchy girl. I haven’t got much to say on this subject, apart from the fact that I haven’t got time for bitchy girls anymore. I can’t be bothered to waste my time on people who are my best friend and love me very much one day and then, the next, […]

A list of all the people who bullied me at school.

Anti-bullying week is over. Thanks goodness for that. Another fifty-one weeks where no-one gets bullied, until next year, when the majority of the world remembers that bullying happens once again. For a select few, however, bullying is not just a theme of a week of fundraising, charity work and poster design. For some people, bullying […]