Anti-bullying campaigner warns of dangers of cyber bullying
Anonymous bullies subjected 21-year-old Anita Dennison to a yearlong hate campaign when she was just 16.
Five years on, the Newry woman still does not know who was behind the abuse and why she was targeted.
The Queens University student said the experience sparked mental health issues such as depression, anxiety and fleeting suicidal thoughts.
Anita has shared her experience as part of our ‘Invest in Life’ campaign to warn of the dangers of cyber bullying among young people in Northern Ireland:
“People were making up fake profiles telling me to take my own life,” she said.
She added: “I had people threatening me that I’d be beaten up in school.
“For me what was most difficult was the cyber bullying because if you’re being verbally bullied it’s in the classroom and that’s it, it’s kind of over with, you can get away from it when you’re at home.
“But with social media it’s there 24-7.
“You can go to sleep but you wake up with all these messages, you know you can just get alerts constantly.
“You can turn your phone off but realistically when you turn your phone on again it’s still going to be there.”
She told us how her ordeal affected all aspects of her life and warned that bullying can prompt a downward spiral of depression among young people.
“I was also studying for GCSEs so I had a lot of stress with that but I did have really, really low days where I didn’t want to go to bed.
“I just didn’t want to go to school because I knew I was going to be subjected to hate, despite having incredible support networks.
“If you have to question whether or not you deserve to basically live I think… it’s tough because you can be in a room of 100 people but you can still feel so alone because your head can make you feel isolated constantly it can make you feel things you never thought you’d feel.
“At the time when you’re going through them messages and reading them every day you kind of feel well do I deserve to be here because if these are people that you’re hanging about with every day they obviously don’t want to see you about the place, they obviously don’t want you at school,” she said.
“So I did have a few moments where I did question, did I deserve to be here but I was lucky enough to have a fantastic support network of friends,” she said.
The Bessbrook woman who studies International studies with Irish, now runs her own anti-bullying website and twitter campaign.
In 2015, the teenager awarded a prestigious accolade for her work to tackle bullying.
She was named the Diana Anti Bullying Champion in the annual Roll of Honour and continues to campaign to raise awareness of the issue and encourage others to seek help.
Anita issued this emotional message to anyone going through the same ordeal:
“Know that you’re not alone, I’m here telling my story and there’s so many out there telling their stories as well.
“Despite feeling that you may be on your own, there’s Childline, there’s people at school, there’s guidance counsellors, there’s so many people that are willing to help you.
“People can be really ashamed to speak out.
“They feel that if they do it’s kind of…it’s something that’s weak but it’s always just about taking that step forward and realising that you know what if you just speak out it is the first step.
“It may be a long road but it’s the first step to getting the help you need and deserve,” she said.