“My experience of bullying actually occurred when I was a teaching in a secondary school. I had been a teacher for twenty-two years. For the final five years a new headteacher was appointed. She brought a new approach with her which seemed to be to “divide and conquer”. She undermined the staff as whole, she failed to support us, even in the most difficult discipline situations. She did this in front of the pupils. Often, she would call staff into her office individually and intimidate them. I specifically remember her asking the head of the Welsh department to go to her office, where she shouted at her simply because she had spoken to the head when they were passing on the stairs.
This new headteacher tried to turn members if the department against one another, which fortunately failed in most cases as the majority of us had been working at the school for many years. Some of the younger members of staff, however, were taken in by her and this obviously led to bad feeling.
Originally, we used our staff room as a place to “draw strength” from one another. It was a place of laughter and support, but staff became so demoralised by the head that we now spent our time in the staff room sharing how unhappy we all were. This carried on for a long time and the morale of the staff continued to decrease. It got to the point where the pupils began to notice how different their teachers were becoming. This had once been a happy and homely school but it was quickly becoming sad place with exhausted, defeated staff.
We decided that we had had enough and organised an informal meeting, which I led, so that we could discuss all the troubles we were having. When the headteacher found out, she called me into her office and tried to intimidate me, like she had done with staff before. The governors and the borough council were then involved though they chose to support the headteacher, likely due to the fact that they had appointed her.
When we had a school inspection, the inspection went to special measures and it found that “The headteacher has no relationship with the senior leadership team, the staff as a whole, nor with the pupils.” Still nothing was done to help the situation.
Eventually, myself and two other members of staff left our jobs at the school due to stress related ill health. Several months before, a number of the staff had decided to leave and get other jobs, some of which involved taking a large cut in pay, simply because they could no longer tolerate working with the headteacher. Then another four members of staff left, taking a redundancy package. All of these were staff who had been at the school for many years and had great loyalty to each other and the school.
This horrific ordeal finally came to an end when the headteacher tried to sack nine member of staff. The pupils had finally endured enough and they chose to go on strike, picketing the school until the Council eventually realised there was something seriously wrong. This was even shown on the news.
The Comprehensive school was once a happy successful school but she had turned it into a place where nobody wanted to be. The staff were then and still are very close knit, and that was the only thing that kept us going as long as we did.
I accessed the information on the Mental Health Support website about adult bullying. I wish I had known about the workplace bullying information when it was happening as I feel it could have helped me. The information on this website is very informative and useful.” – B.H.
“My experience of bullying was in the workplace. I was made to feel alone and worthless. I had a manager who was unable to support me through my role and this eventually led to me being ill. I took a look at the information about adult bullying on the Mental Health Support Website and think that it is very good. The information is empathetic and could help to support those who have or are being bullied by helping them to realise that adults who are the victims of bullies do not suffer alone.” – Anonymous
“Personally, I feel I do have one person in my life that bullies me. With their tone of voice and facial expressions. They often say they are only teasing but I feel they’re using my illness against me, to undermine me using physical intimidation. Although they seem to be making some effort I am still support for myself in the form of Women’s Aid. I am hoping I can either increase the bully’s awareness or end the relationship.
This has been contributing towards my mental health issues in quite a big way. I suffer with low self esteem, anxiety and depression. This is a long term situation. It has been witnessed by a stranger and this led to action but I not been able to end the relationship. I do think the person is gradually beginning to realise that they have a problem.” – Anonymous
To read information on adult bullying on Mental Health Support click the link below
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