DBDTB

A couple of years ago we met with a wonderful girl from Preston who'd had a terrible experience with bullies at her School.

Instead of letting it keep her down and make her sad, she decided she should do something about it and turn her experiences into something positive. She started a campaign called Don't Back Down to Bullying (DBDTB) and has since given support to so many who need it who are going through the same thing as she has. She has raised awareness of something that so many experience but never do anything about and we're extremely proud of how far she's come! Please read her story below and if it hits home with you and you've experienced or are experiencing anything similar, get in touch with DBDTB via Facebook or Twitter to seek help. ** https://twitter.com/DBDTB**

'Briefly, it all started in year seven when they first started to bully me. It was just name calling and silly jokes, and I could handle that, but then it turned physical – I was pushed down the stairs, had my knickers and pants pulled down twice, it was beyond humiliating. I also got bullied as I have no sense of smell. I was called a freak, a weirdo, anything you can think of – they had called it me.

There was an incident with two boys in the year above me when they came up to me when I was on my own, firing abuse at me. Then there was an anonymous message sent round saying how I was a ‘fat slag’ and deserved to die. They would write messages about me on Facebook saying things like “you can’t sit near her in school, you might catch a disease or something” it wasn’t just people in my year, it was year 11s to. The older girls threatened me a few times, some even said they would physically kill me. They would confront me in school, they threatened me on Facebook before I went to bed, again when I woke up, and then she came to find me in school before my exam too.

They would make up rumours about me, some almost getting me expelled – saying that I’m racist and anything else that I could get in trouble for. They picked at every single fault I have. My stomach, I’ve always been insecure and I’ve never taken my jumper off the whole time I’ve been there. They even had a name for my stomach, and the worst part was they used it to insult others, “the Amy Moloney belly”. I remember when they cornered me in school too, seven of them. Nobody stuck up for me, I had no friends – nobody wanted to be seen with me because they didn’t want to get bullied too, and I understood this, but it still hurt.

Teachers? They never believed me. There was always more bullies than there was of me, so they would make up a story making out that I was in the wrong. The teacher I was supposed to go to, the one who had the authority to end it, she paid no attention. I used to go to her telling her what was happening but she never believed me. She could have fixed things, but she didn’t give me the time of day. I gave up and stopped telling her things.

I got told to kill myself on a regular basis, I hated who I’d become. I wasn’t strong enough to keep fighting all of these people on my own. One night I came home, and they were abusing me on a Facebook post, I can’t even remember what they were saying now, but one guy put “haha, don’t hang yourself” I didn’t know the guy too well, and I just thought “you don’t even know me, so how can my existence hurt you so much that you’d make a joke about me killing myself?” I kept having horrible night mares about this, and I felt like it was the only way I could make it all stop. So when I went to school the next day, I was spat on.

By this point, I was weak, really, really weak and I just wanted to give up. My grades were slipping, I had no confidence, no friends, no smile, there was just no point. I don’t remember how it happened but I remember going home and just trying to hang myself. I didn’t really understand what I was doing, but I thought it was worth a try if it made all the pain stop. I just felt so worthless. Obviously, I didn’t go through with it. But the bullying didn’t stop there, people found out – one girl put some string around her neck and said “look at me Amy, I’m like you”.

I don’t know why but after what I did, I felt much stronger, I was getting help and I was on the road to recovery. I still wasn’t myself, but I was getting better. The bullying still happens every now and again, but I can cope with it. I am not the person I used to be, I’m so much stronger and braver now. It took me two years, but I gained back my confidence, my smile and my personality and that’s why I set up DBDTB. I couldn’t just stand by and let what happened to me happen to others.

I know I’m only little but I think I can make a difference, and I’m using my story and my past experiences to do that. I’ve stopped 10 people self harming and 7 people committing suicide. The funny thing is, there has been a few people who laughed at me for my campaign, and now? I have the strength to laugh back, because in a way I thank them for it. It’s bullies like them who give me the motivation to do what I’m doing, I believe I can stop bullying, I believe that everybody can make a difference if they try to, and I also believe in you – now you have to believe in yourself too.

Since starting DBDTB I have received so much support off so many different people, friends, family, celebrities, even people I don’t know – and its truly amazing, people have said I’m their idol, role model, inspiration, and that’s crazy to even try to process that people think of me that way! I’m used to being portrayed negatively. But I don’t do what I do for the nice comments, I do it for you. I want to show you that you’re special, you’re worth it and you’re amazing, and most of all? You can do it. I didn’t think there was a way out, I didn’t think there would be light at the end of the tunnel, but I found it and so will you.

Keep going, you’re doing amazing, and remember – don’t back down to bullying.

I hope you liked the first blog, I will post more soon.

Thank you for reading, Love Amy x

PS, if any of you are being bullied or are having suicidal/self harming issues, please remember that there is help out there and I’m only a message away, follow my campaign twitter @DBDTB and ask for a follow back and I promise you I will do everything in my power to help you. I can’t promise to solve all your problems, but I can promise that you won’t have to face them alone.'