Anti Bullying speakers are at the forefront of raising awareness of bullying.

Bullying has always been – and sadly, continues to be – present in our daily lives. Once confined to the immaturity of the school playground, bullying can often be seen in public places between adults, and also in the workplace.

Anti Bullying Week is themed around “Make a Noise About Bullying”, and promotes the idea of empowering children, teachers, and other adults to do something positive to counter the damage that bullying can do.

In order to stop bullying and support victims, it’s important that we all understand what “bullying”
actually means. The Anti Bullying Alliance define it 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.”

Whilst predominantly thought of as something that happens to children at school, bullying is becoming more prevalent in adult-only situations, such as the workplace. The difficulty with this is that it is more likely to be wrapped up as ‘banter’, and not taking seriously, but bullying as an adult can have just as much harm as it does on children.

In fact, almost a quarter of all employees have experienced some form of bullying in the workplace.

Although bullying is everywhere, not everyone is as up-to-speed with their anti-bullying training as we would like, especially in the workplace. So it’s imperative that this is rectified. And this is where Great British Speakers come in. All of our anti-bullying speakers have been through personal and/or professional situations that have ended in bullying. Bullying can happen to anyone, regardless of age, gender, sexuality, race, ability, or location, and it can happen in person and virtually.

We offer a range of anti-bullying speakers, covering topics such as LGBTQ+ bullying, bullying in the workplace, mental health and suicidal thoughts, and physical disabilities. Here are just a few of our chosen speakers.

BULLYING IN THE WORKPLACE

Bullying at school is often easy to spot – physical assault and name calling, for example – but it can be harder to spot in the workplace. Often masquerading as ‘banter’, bullying behaviour can be “malicious or insulting”, or an abuse of power that can “undermine, humiliate, or cause physical and emotional harm to someone”. Because bullying is so intrinsically linked to children, it can often be embarrassing to speak up as an adult if you believe you’re being bullied.

Bullying in the workplace is not always as obvious, it is very rarely something so visible as physical assault. Instead it can be a colleague spreading false rumours about you, your ideas or suggestions in meetings can be belittled, a manager may give more work to one person that they know cannot cope with it all but without offering support, or refusing you the development training available to others. It is very easy to feel it is your fault, that you’re clearly doing something wrong for people to be treating you this way, but remember, it’s not your fault!

In 2023, People Management found out that over 32% of UK workers have experienced workplace bullying masked as ‘banter’, with the most prevalent sectors being hospitality (39%), finance (38%), and retail (38%).
However, it isn’t just bullying physically in the workplace that can have an affect on your productivity and ability in your job. If you are experiencing bullying at home, for example, this can cause a negative effect on how well you perform whilst at work. Especially if the bullying is deemed as embarrassing. This is what anti-bullying speaker Andrew Pain found when he was experiencing domestic violence.

ANTI BULLYING AND DISABILITY

One cause of bullying is physical or mental disability, ailment, or ‘difference’. Usually picked up on at
school to make others feel ‘better’, it is something that those with disabilities have had to endure
throughout their entire lives, from school to relationships to the workplace.

• 36% of pupils with special educational needs experience bullying
• 90% of people with a learning difficulty have experienced bullying

One disability that has seen a massive amount of bullying is a stammer or a stutter. 82% of all young people who are disfluent have experienced bullying in one form or another. When dealing with bullying due to a speech problem, it’s important to support and encourage that these individuals can live a ‘normal’ life with a stammer, as Great British Speaker Alex Staniforth can testify.

Bullying can happen to people with all kinds of disabilities, and sadly it is those who have a more prevalent disability that bear the brunt of it. It was reported that between 52 and 75% of disabled people in the UK have experienced bullying. That’s between half and three-quarters of all individuals. Considering the UK has a population of roughly 16 million disabled people, that is a huge percentage of bullied individuals.

ANTI BULLYING AND LGBTQ+

The LGBTQ+ charity, Just Like Us, reported that people in the community are twice as likely to have been bullied, with an astonishing 91% having heard negative and derogatory language about being LGBTQ+.
We have come a long way since the 1969 Pride riots, but sadly LGBTQ+ injustice, inequality, and bullying remains. By hiring a keynote speaker to discuss how bullying can affect the LGBTQ+ community, audience members get to see just how shocking and prevalent it still is.

ANTI BULLYING AND MENTAL HEALTH & SUICIDE

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to know that if someone is bullied, their mental health decreases. And those with poor mental health, are more likely to be the target of bullying. And so the cycle repeats.
The main problem that stems from mental health is the increase in suicidal thoughts and risk to life.
Anti Bullying UK carried out a national survey and found out that 40% of young people who had been bullied, had experienced suicidal thoughts, and 39% had self-harmed.

Which is a shocking statistic.

What is even more shocking, is to hear that over 200 school-aged children die by suicide every year in the UK, as well as nearly 6,000 adults. And bullying is one of the top reasons.

HERE ARE SOME OF THE BEST ANTI BULLYING SPEAKERS IN THE UK

The purpose of Anti Bullying Week is to raise awareness of the different types of bullying – school, workplace, social media – and in turn, respond to it, prevent it, and stop it. Great British Speakers
have a range of speakers specialised in anti-bullying, and they are all more than happy to share their story in order to educate the young and the old.

Andrew Pain is a long-term survivor of domestic abuse courtesy of his former wife. He knows only too well how isolating personal trauma can be and how it can affect every aspect of your life. Not only did it start affecting his performance at work – from extraordinary levels of sick leave, to falling asleep in front of clients – it also distanced him from his friends and family, knocked his confidence, and led him to suffer from severe depression. He is keen to highlight that domestic violence isn’t gendered, and that men can also be victims of abusive partners, and that it is alright for a man to speak out against a female partner.

Find out more about anti bullying speaker Andrew Pain…

Alex Holmes is a champion for young people who has faced racial bullying and homophobia from an early age. At just 15, Alex founded the peer support programme ‘Anti Bullying Ambassadors’. Since the programme’s inception in 2003, Alex has helped to train over 40,000 young people in 4,000 schools across the UK, Ireland, Greece, and the United States. Alongside the success of the programme, Alex has received recognition for his work through the Diana Award, Forbes 30 Under 30, and the Muhammed Ali Humanitarian Award.

Find out more about anti bullying speaker Alex Holmes…

Alex Staniforth is no stranger to overcoming adversity. He formed his own mental health charity, ‘Mind Over Mountains’, after overcoming his own anxiety from bullying due to his stammer, which led to poor mental health and an eating disorder. He is now a mental health advocate, author, and adventurer. Over the years he has attempted to summit Mount Everest twice, survived two days trapped in the 2015 Nepal earthquake, and become the fastest person ever to climb all 100 UK county topics by bicycle, foot, and kayak, covering over 5,000 miles in just 72 days. He now helps others to “climb their Everest”.

Find out more about anti bullying speaker Alex Staniforth…

Amit Ghose is a disability keynote speaker who was born with a condition called Neurofibromatosis Type 1, which has caused him to look very different physically to his peers. Due to his condition, Amit has experienced years of bullying, throughout his childhood and early adulthood, with people making negative assumptions about him due to his appearance. He believes there is still a lot of stigma around people who don’t look like the norm, and he has taken to the media to share his story.

Find out more about anti bullying speaker Amit Ghose…

Ben Smith has delivered over 400 talks to over 100,000 people since completing his 401 Challenge to raise money for the LGBTQ+ anti bullying charity, Stonewall. His teaching includes healing through support, achieving goals, and providing with a strong foundation and positivity, anything is possible. His charity, The 401 Foundation, offers grants to help individuals and wider communities build their self-esteem, and positively contribute to LGBTQ+ individuals’ mental wellbeing.

Find out more about anti bullying speaker Ben Smith…

Charlie Hart is an HR professional, and keynote speaker on neurodiversity, focussing on autism, ADHD, and LGBTQ+ inclusion. With lived experience as a late-diagnosed neurodivergent working mum of a eurodivergent child, Charlie is well placed to talk about neurodiversity in the family unit and workplace.

Sadly, Charlie’s son Iggy took his own life in 2019, aged just 15, are struggling with the bullying he experienced for being on the “double spectrum” – on the autism spectrum, and the LGBTQ+ spectrum.

“We knew Iggy had been struggling to cope with being bullied for being “weird” at school. He had become more withdrawn and started trying to blend into the background to avoid being noticed…It is tragic and senseless that his life was cut short.”

Find out more about anti bullying speaker Charlie Hart…

If you’re looking for great anti bullying speakers, or just want to educate your staff, contact Great British Speakers at +44 1753 439 289, or email bookings@greatbritishtalent.com