Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to your fourth lesson in this unit titled, Bullying.

We'll be looking at the impact operating in terms of our mental health and wellbeing.

Now, as we've mentioned previously, with the other lessons in this unit, we will be talking about sensitive topics.

We therefore recommend that you have a trusted adult nearby or that you let them know that you are taking part in these lessons.

I'm Mr. Clarke, and as always, I am super excited to be here talking to you about this really important topic, and I can't wait to carry on our learning with today's lesson.

So should we get on with it? Let's do it.

Let's start looking at the topic today of bullying.

To be able to fully participate in today's lesson, you're going to need an exercise book or a piece of paper and a pen.

If you haven't got that with you currently, then pause this video and go and find what you need.

When you've got it, return back and press Play, and we'll carry on.

By now, you've already started your learning by taking part in our introduction quiz.

Throughout the rest of today's unit, we'll be looking at the following topics.

We'll be looking at the victims and the impact that that can have with bullying in terms of their mental health.

We'll also be looking at the perpetrators, those who commit the bullying, and the reasons behind that, and the impact.

And finally, we'll look at how we can support both ourselves and those around us with mental health.

By which point, you'll then be ready to take part in the exit quiz, and of course, do amazingly well, I have no doubt.

Our key words for today's lesson are the following.

Mental health.

This refers to our emotional, psychological, and social wellbeing.

This means it affects how we think, how we might feel, and how we act.

We then have bullying.

Now bullying is defined as behaviour that is repetitive, intended to hurt someone emotionally or physically, and it can take many forms, and we'll explore what some of those forms are.

So already, to start the lesson, you can see the link between mental health and bullying, particularly when it comes to the emotions and that physical hurt.

I would now like you to do your first task of today's lesson, and you're going to need to pause this video in a moment and think about, what are the different ways in which someone might bully someone else? For example, as I've put there, someone might physically bully someone by pushing them.

I want you to see how many other examples you can come up with.

When you're ready to start again, just press Play.

How did you find that? Got some examples? Well, I'm now going to show you some examples that I've got.

And if you haven't got these written down, then my advice would be to make sure you've got them so you're aware of them the next time.

The first one is physical, and then it can include things such as hitting, tripping, or damaging property.

We then have the verbal, which refers to name-calling, insults, and verbal abuse.

Indirect.

And that is lying or spreading rumours to someone or encouraging social exclusion.

When you're telling other bad things about that person to others so that they think that they're not nice or they ignore them or they leave them, it's those kinds of things.

You're not directly talking to that person but you're impacting and bullying them by causing other things, such as the rumours and the social exclusion.

And I have cyber bullying.

I can include abusive texts or images, imitating others, pretending to be that person online.

All of these are different types of bullying to be aware of.

The victims impact.

That's where now we're going to look at.

We're now going to look at the impact of which bullying can have on the victims. This is Mohammed.

Mohammed is always being compared to his brothers, and people at school tell him that his brothers are better looking and much skinnier than him.

He's been called fat and ugly multiple times by others in his brother's year group.

How do you think Mohammed's going to feel in this moment? I would like you to ponder on that question and pause the video, and write down some thoughts, not just to that, but also how what's happening might impact on his mental health.

When you've got some ideas down, press Play and we'll explore them.

Now that we've looked at Mohammed and you've got some ideas there, we're going to carry on this idea of exploring different ways in which bullying can impact victims. And we're going to look at Chelsea.

This is Chelsea's story that you can see.

Each time Chelsea goes for lunch, other girls in her year push her out of line and take her place.

If she tries to speak up, the girls tell the teacher that they were there first and that Chelsea was the one who tried to push in.

The girls have also now started spreading rumours about Chelsea.

What I'd like you to do now is to think about those questions again.

How do you think Chelsea feels in this moment, and how this might impact on her mental health? So pause this video now and answer these questions for Chelsea, and when you're ready to move on, press Play.

The final example we're going to look at now is Joseph.

Joseph is often called racist names by others in his school but he tries to ignore it.

Although Joseph isn't open, he often hears others using the word gay as an insult.

So for the final time, think about how this person feels.

In this case, how does Joseph feel? And how might what's happening towards him directly and indirectly impact on his mental health? Pause this video to gather down your ideas, and when you're ready, just press Play.

We're now going to look at how they might be feeling and their mental health may have been impacted by what's happening around them directly or indirectly.

Let's see if you got any of the same kind of thoughts that I did.

The first one is this idea of the emotions bubbling up inside.

We can see this with someone like Joseph's situation, where he's hearing indirectly people around him using gay as an insult, and him as an individual who feels he's gay and wants to come out, won't feel able to because of these indirect comments that are happening around him, we might think.

And at which case, he's going to let this build up and up and up and up inside him and he's not going to have anywhere to go, that it's going to have a real negative impact on him.

Difficulty forming future relationships is a possibility that trust might be gone.

Unlikely to be open in the future with others about who they are or how they might define.

High levels of anxiety to ask for help.

They may feel that they're unable to reach out.

It may lead to self harm or eating disorders or using drugs and alcohol to cope.

We looked at this last lesson, with the idea that alcohol, it can be a depressant that depresses the mood to make people feel better but then they get caught in that cycle.

And it will lower their views of their self worth, what they think about themselves and what they think they are worth.

So here's a question for you then.

Name calling is fine, as long as it's banter.

Do you think that's true, or do you think that false? Is name calling fine, as long as it's just banter between friends or or a group? Point now to the answer that you think is the correct answer.

In three, two, one.

The answer is, false.

Any form of name-calling can lead to damaging psychological effects on young people, some of which can stay with them all the way into adulthood.

And that's really important to remember, just like we saw with some of the examples before this slide.

Bullying was happening sometimes indirectly around that individual, but it's still really impacts them.

And they don't feel able to step forward and say, actually, I feel like this, because they don't feel comfortable.

And they start to believe what people are saying either to them or around them.

We have to be really aware that our words can be extremely powerful and damaging but they can also make a world of difference and be really positive when we get it right.

We're now going to look at the perpetrators.

And this section is going to look at, why someone might bully and the impact that bullying might have on their own mental health.

So I would like to pause this video and draw a mind map which tells us some of the reasons why you believe someone might end up bullying someone else.

Seeing how many different reasons and ideas you can get down on this mind map.

As always, when you are ready to carry on with your lesson, just press Play again.

Got some ideas? Amazing.

Here we go, here are some ideas that I had.

They might be trying to impress others around them.

They may have been a victim of bullying themselves.

They may have problems elsewhere in their life but they need to let out.

Again, let's go back to that analogy of things building up and not having a way to positively let out your emotions that don't negatively impact on yourself or others around you.

They might be copying the behaviours that they see around them.

We know that little children and babies do this when they growing up and they're seeing the world around them.

They can copy behaviours that they see in the adults and the people around them and in front of them.

It makes them feel good.

It's the idea of reward.

Remember we talked about the brain and how that frontal lobe of your brain is the last part to develop.

And that's the part that looks at our judgments and our ideas of what is right or wrong and risky behaviours, and that hasn't really developed.

And actually, if something's making you feel good, then you think, well, maybe that's a good thing to do.

We don't always understand the process.

Sometimes a big factor can be because of their own mental health as well and their value of self-worth, which has been impacted by these other reasons combined.

So someone may have been called names or bullied themself, so they feel that's an acceptable thing to do.

Or they feel hurt, so they want others to feel the same way that they do.

So how do we stop someone becoming a bully or stop ourselves from rejoining that situation of bullying someone else? What can we do? So write down as many ideas as you possibly can think of about what can be done to support someone, so they don't end up becoming a bully and in that vicious cycle that we've talked about.

When you're ready and you've got your ideas, just press Play.

Here are some of the answers that you could have wrote down.

You may have written about speaking to a teacher or a trusted adult for guidance and support.

This is a key answer we always come back to and it's really important to find somebody that you trust around you, that you can go to speak to about how you might be feeling.

Removing themselves from negative influences, whether they be friends, TV shows, things that they're being exposed to.

If they're being exposed to fighting or name calling or these kinds of negative behaviours, then they're going to pick them up.

And sometimes it's about thinking, as we said before, linking our actions and what's around us with our own behaviours and our own way of thinking.

You may have had looking for positive role models that inspire them.

You can take on a new hobby, ideally one that physical that might get you out, that might give you an opportunity to learn discipline and how to control your emotions and behaviours when they become unbearable perhaps in times.

It's about going outside, getting that fresh air.

Those endorphins in your brain we've spoken about every lesson.

It's really important to make sure you are taking advantage of what is out there and that nature and walking and experiencing all of the amazing things that are around us.

Explore letting emotions out through writing, perhaps talking.

Isn't for you, or perhaps in the winter, it's not the right time to go for a run or a walk, and you want to find other ways.

Writing is an amazing way to do that, and so is drawing.

We're going to look at supporting mental health now.

So this section will explore further practical ideas.

When you feel like you are bullied, it's always best to tell someone, true or false? Is it sometimes just better to go and, "No, it's fine, I'll keep it in, it's all right." Or is it better to tell someone? If you feel it's better to tell someone when you're being bullied, point towards true.

if you don't, point towards false.

May I see your answers in three, two, one.

Okay.

Of course, it's true.

It's always better to tell someone about how you are feeling rather than letting it sit inside, play on your mind and build up and up and up.

And you might think it's nothing.

Well, if it's nothing, then tell someone about that because that's going to be a lot better than letting that nothing build up with all the other nothings that will eventually become something.

So we've talked a lot about the brain in the last lesson, and I've mentioned it a few times today.

So how do you think bullying and brain development and mental health, all link? What's linking them all together? Have a think or write down your response.

Write me a sentence as to how all of these link together and why.

Got your response Cool, so we know that our brain is developing at different rates, some faster than others.

We know that the parts of our brain that look at judgement and our risky behaviours and our pleasures and all of those kinds of things are slower at developing.

So therefore, if someone's getting bullied and they get a rush and adrenaline, a joy from it, the way that our brain process it may think that that's a positive thing.

And we know that our brains are at a really moldable point when you're going through puberty and adolescents, which means things like bullying can really impact you for the long term because your brain is still understanding the world.

And if the understanding of the world around you is that being called this and this, or being this is negative and being this is bad, then you're going to go through, potentially the rest of your life, believing that.

So it's really important that we are making sure that we are aware of what is acceptable and what is the right thing to do to look after ourselves and our mental health.

There are lots of places that you can go for support.

You may want to speak to a teacher or that trusted adult.

Speak to your friends and those around you, or use external resources such as Childline, NSPCC, or YoungMinds.

All of them offer a fantastic service for you to be able to speak to, text, write an email, or even write a letter.

However you feel you want to communicate, there is always somebody there ready to listen.

You are never alone.

Even when it might feel like sometimes you are and you're not sure where to go or who to speak to, just speak to someone because there will always be someone who's ready to listen.

We've explored once again, an array of topics looking at what impacts our health in relation to bullying and why it's important always to find someone to speak to, to find a way to let out your emotions positively, and to remember that you are never alone.

I really look forward to carrying on our learning together as we move on to our next lesson.

Don't forget, of course, to completely exit quiz and make sure you've gathered all your notes and your learning together.

And remember, you can always come back and revisit this lesson at any time.

Until then, I'll see you next time.