An online survey from mental health organisation ReachOut Australia, has revealed that nearly one in four young people have experienced bullying in the past 12 months, and were most likely turn to their parents for support.

The highest incidence of bullying occurred at school (52 per cent), followed by the online space (25 per cent) and the workplace (25 per cent).

Nic Steepe, Youth Access and Awareness Worker at headspace Dubbo encourages students to speak up immediately if they are being bullied, and for parents to do so as well.

“The longer the bullying continues, the likelihood of the bullying having a negative impact on your child’s mental health increases,” he said.

“Due to the impact that bullying can have on young people, seeking help is very important. We advise parents to firstly speak to the school if they are at all concerned about their child being bullied. If further advice or support is necessary, headspace Dubbo will able to assist in developing strategies to combat the bullying in a safe and supportive environment.

“Also included in our range of services is the Family and Carer Support service with Centacare, to assist parents to develop strategies to support their children who may be experiencing bullying.

The headspace Dubbo office will be introducing educational groups this year to help to aid young people in coping with stress. The early intervention groups will seek to teach young people the skills to be able to deal with the challenges school life can present.

“We are currently in the process of developing a range of different programs that will assist young people around our four core activities – work and study, drug and alcohol, mental health and physical health,’ Mr Steepe said.

“School is a particularly stressful time for young people, and this educational group will assist in reliving some of those pressures. Once we finalise the details, we will advertise the group via Facebook – so like our headspace Dubbo page to keep up to date.”

Mr Steepe said young people present to headspace Dubbo for a range of different reasons, but that bullying had been a prominent theme.

“Bullying plays a massive part in developing issues such as depression, anxiety and low self-worth, and we have definitely seen this as a common theme for young people accessing our service,” he said.

“During 2016, over 500 young people have accessed clinical services at headspace Dubbo and additionally the team have been extremely active in community awareness events such as school presentations and workshops, and health expo events.”