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Danny Lawson/PA Wire
UK News

Church has a "massive" role in preventing bullying, says youthworker

by Hannah Tooley

Liam Moore was speaking after a survey revealed more than one million young people have been bullied within the past year.

* 1.5 million young people bullied within the past year
* 145,800 of these bullied everyday
* Bullied people almost twice as likely to bully others
* Twice as many boys as girls bully

The Annual Bullying Survey 2016 has been published by Ditch the Label, a UK anti-bullying charity.

Liam Moore told Premier he's concerned children are being left increasingly vulnerable.

He said: "It's really, really frightening and something's got to be done, radically.

"We're living in the times where the government's cutting funding towards education and wanting to implement academies."

Ditch the Label investigated the effect of bullying on both perpetrators of bullying and those being bullied, and found that people bullied are more likely to go on and bully others.

Almost 9,000 young people aged 12 to 20 were asked.

Liam Moore said that churches also have a role to play in breaking the cycle: "We've got to highlight these things, in Sunday schools, in youth clubs... and the Church has got a massive, massive role to play - and not just within the Church but in the community, we're seeing a lot more of the church going out into the community."

He told Premier mental health problems are just one effect bullying can have.

"Who knows where that comes from, from bullying, school or within family break-up," he said.

"There's always a story to tell, isn't there?

"People just don't self-harm for no reason, or commit suicide, there's always a story behind a statistic."

The report showed that 44% of young people that were bullied have experienced depression, 41% social anxiety and 33% had suffered from suicidal thoughts.

The research found that young people who bully others were more likely to say that their family members encourage them to do things they do not want to, they felt less supported than average and feel that their family members do not love them as much.

It also suggested that people who bully are more likely than average to have experienced something stressful or traumatic in their lives, such as a family fall out, parents splitting up or an illness.

Listen to Premier's Hannah Tooley speak to Liam Moore here:

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