Do you feel a knot in your stomach before school, college, or work because of bullying or feeling excluded?

Do you find yourself overthinking what people say, worrying they’re judging you or talking about you?

Are nights difficult because your mind keeps replaying what happened, wondering what you could have done differently?

Has bullying made it harder to trust people, build friendships, or feel comfortable being yourself?

Bullying doesn’t disappear when the comments stop. The impact can stay with you—affecting your confidence, mood, relationships, and how you see yourself.

Whether it happened recently or years ago, the right support can help you heal, rebuild your confidence, and feel more in control of your life again.

You are not defined by what happened to you.

Understanding bullying and exclusion

The Anti-Bullying Alliance defines bullying as:

“The repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. Bullying can be physical, verbal or psychological. It can happen face-to-face or online.”

Bullying isn’t just one thing

Bullying can look different depending on the situation. It isn’t always obvious, and it doesn’t always leave visible marks.

• Physical – pushing, poking, kicking, hitting, biting, pinching, or other forms of physical harm.
• Verbal – name-calling, insults, sarcasm, spreading rumours, threats, teasing, or putting someone down.
• Emotional – excluding someone, intimidating them, humiliating them, manipulating them, making threatening gestures, or deliberately damaging their confidence.
• Sexual – unwanted physical contact, inappropriate touching, sexual comments, homophobic abuse, or exposing someone to inappropriate sexual content.
• Online (cyberbullying) – abusive messages, hurtful comments, sharing photos or videos without permission, posting on social media to embarrass someone, or deliberately excluding people from online groups.
• Indirect – using other people to bully someone, spreading gossip, or exploiting someone’s trust or vulnerability.

Who can be bullied?

The short answer: anyone.

Bullying can happen at school, college, university, work, in sports clubs, friendship groups, families, or online. No one is “the type” to be bullied.

People who bully often target someone they see as vulnerable or different in some way. That difference might be visible, like someone’s appearance, gender, race, disability or sexuality, or it could be something less obvious, such as their personality, confidence, interests, or circumstances.

Why does bullying often involve groups?

The goal is often to create or reinforce a power imbalance—the key part of the definition above. Someone who bullies may try to gain status, control, or influence by getting others to join in or stay on their side. For example, a group might target someone because they don’t fit in with the group’s expectations or because they have a different gender identity, background, or way of expressing themselves.

Being different is never a reason to be bullied.

The responsibility always lies with the person or people choosing to bully—not with the person being targeted.

What can you do if you, or someone you know, being bullied?

Being bullied makes you feel isolated and lonely and it can be difficult to do anything about it. Still, the most important thing is to report it through the proper channels.

If you are still in education, make your school aware of what’s happening. Every educational setting has a duty of care and they have to do everything they can to protect and prevent harm.

If it happens at work, there too, find the proper channel and person to report to. You may want to keep notes of all incidents of bullying, with details of dates, what happened and who was involved including any witnesses. 

Healing the scars no one else can see

Even after reporting the incidents, the impact of bullying is long lasting.

It can change how you see yourself, how you trust other people, and how you move through life. Even years later, you might still question yourself, hold back, or feel like you’re never quite enough. These are the scars no one else can see.

The damage was done in a relationship with someone else. Recovery happens in a relationship too.

Therapy can help you understanding how hurtful experiences shaped you so they no longer define you. Together, we can untangle what’s been holding you back, rebuild your confidence and reclaim your power. Therapy can help you to move forward and recover from the trauma of bullying.

Book your first free consultation

The first consultation is free and lasts 30 minutes for both therapy and parent consultation.

The 50 minutes therapy sessions are available online.

Session fees: £70

The 50 minutes consultations are available online.

Consultation fees for caregivers: £90