Bullyproof kids: How to protect your child against school bullies

Helen O’Callaghan speaks to psychotherapist and author Stella O’Malley on how best to tackle bullying at school and the misery it can bring

IT’S a devastating picture: children eating their lunch in toilet cubicles or spending entire mornings in class silently agonising about who’ll hang out with them at lunchtime or panicking when they hear their mobile phone ping, announcing another ‘friend’ has posted spiteful words about them on social media.

Psychotherapist and author Stella O’Malley opens her new book – Bully-Proof Kids — with this portrait of child misery caused by bullying, which she says is “a huge social dynamic that has erupted”. And it requires a thoughtful, organised holistic approach to be solved. “A parent charging into a school, shouting ‘my child’s being bullied — sort it’, won’t work.”