The Foundation was set up by Brett Murray who is a resident of Stanhope Gardens. His foundation’s new Deductable Gift Recipient status means it can now partner together with individuals, businesses and corporations to make an impact when it comes to the insidious social epidemic that is bullying.
Bullying is the number one contributing factor in over 80% of all suicides in both youth and adult nationally. Bullying is a major contributing factor to PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and it costs the Australian economy more than $36B in lost productivity annually.
Bullying is something that affects every person on the planet - you have either been bullied, been a bully yourself, seen bullying taking place, or a combination of all three.
Bullying is not confined to the classroom. It finds its way into the boardrooms across our nation and across the globe.
“Firstly, let me dispel a few rumours about bullying. Bullying behaviour is long term and ongoing violence, threats of violence or antagonising. Note: long term and ongoing. If negative behaviour is once off, or only a few noticeable incidents have happened, they have been addressed, and they cease, it is not bullying,” says Brett Murray.
Workplace bullying affects morale, absenteeism, sick leave and sick pay, workplace atmosphere, staff turnover and ultimately productivity. That's just the financial cost.
The social cost is far more significant. In 2012 the Federal Government released statistics that were horrifying.
On average, each year in Australia, 2500 people take their own lives - 1900 of these people are male, 450 are under the age of 18 and for every one suicide, there are nine recorded attempted suicides. In 80% of all cases bullying is the number one contributing factor.
The Make Bullying History Foundation was established to deal with this crisis. They have been educating, empowering and resourcing schools and businesses with real life skills and tools to defuse, disarm and disassemble bullying culture.
In the last two months Make Bullying History Foundation has delivered presentations to more than 5000 young people, parents and teachers in NSW and Victoria.
They are now entering a new era. Together with the support of regular donating partners, they will expand their reach and impact by training more presenters, creating more teaching tools and delivering seminars to a wider range of schools than ever before.
The Foundation’s initial target is to raise $7,000 in their first month. Their foundational partners will be the first 14 people or companies who partner with one-off donations of $500 each.
Their goal is to raise $170,000 by June 1, 2016. This will grow considerably as the need to train more presenters grows.
Companies and individuals can get behind Brett Murray and sponsor him in each event, with gifts and random prizes for those who support.
People can donate by visiting http://www.justgiving.com/makebullyinghistoryfoundation or by contacting them if they want to join the team as a regular monthly contributor.
