Hello. Welcome to the Spiral blog. My name is Adam Kyles, and I'm a volunteer at Spiral. I'm going to be giving you useful information over the coming weeks about what Spiral does, how to deal with bullying, and other helpful topics. For this first blog entry, I thought I would introduce myself.

I joined Spiral because I wanted to help young people who were going through the same experiences I had to go through in school. I was fiercely bullied every day from age 7 to 15. I wasn't bullied physically, although that can happen, but whoever said that words can never hurt you is a liar. Words, and being publicly humiliated, both of which I experienced, are hideous. Bullying is a massive issue in our schools, which is also largely ignored by society. It made me scared every day, because I didn't know how the bullies were going to make me feeling horrible each day, but I knew they would. Bullying makes you feel lonely because there's often nobody at your side supporting you when it happens. It makes you feel like the bullying is your fault. Why would they hurt you unless there's something wrong with you? It makes you feel worthless, and sad, and angry.

I dealt with all of these feelings growing up. I volunteered for Spiral because I thought that, while I couldn't stop bullying, I could help to make the young people who experienced it feel better. I thought that I could help them to deal with it. If you're a young person reading this, and you witness someone being bullied, one way in which you can help is by telling a trusted adult, teacher, youth worker or family member what you saw. If you're a young person who is experiencing bullying at the moment, know that you're not alone. I've been there. The other young people who use Spiral's services have been there. If you're the parent of a young person who is experiencing this things, know that you're child is not alone, and you're not alone either. Many parents have had to go through what you're going through, and Spiral helps parents too.