East Yorkshire Anti-Bullying Campaigner Praised by HRH
Teenager Devan Witter from Market Weighton has been recognised by Prince Wales for his work supporting victims of bullying.
An anti-bullying campaigner from Market Weighton's received Royal recognition for the work he's done helping others.
17-year-old Devan Witter, who attends East Riding College, runs a website which gives teachers information about how they can further support victims of bullying by spotting the signs of it in schools.
He's now been praised by Prince Charles for his achievements. It's after he met the Prince of Wales during a recent, national awareness campaign.
Devan was bullied throughout school and says he wanted to turn his bad experience into a positive. He told Viking FM:
"My bullying got really bad where I just didn't want to go to school, I didn't want to speak to anybody about it and I just kept it in. I was bullied throughout school and this was both verbally and physically. There was one time where I was on the playground floor just being kicked and that's all I can remember from that experience. It really impacted my confidence and I didn't want to involve myself in any groups.
"It was when I was speaking to the teachers, I realised I didn't think that there was much support there for it which is one of the main reasons I decided to launch the anti-bullying website for teachers. I think it's important that teachers are able to spot the signs of bullying and understand the signs early on so that they can catch it early on before it gets to a point where the victim could be contemplating suicide.
"I felt that the teachers couldn't see that it was taking place in some circumstances and obviously not every young victim wants to come forward and speak about it so it's good if the teachers can understand without having to be told that it's happening."
Devan recently took part in a video conference with Prince Charles to discuss his campaign. He told us about the feedback he received from HRH:
"He was really impressed and interested in how my website was a valuable resource to teachers and he liked the idea that it was supporting teachers. He was also quite interested in all the young people I spoke to about how social action had affected them, which I think is always a benefit."
Devan's work can be found at: www.devanwitter.strikingly.com