"Sometimes it's not bullying, it might be performance management, but sometimes it is bullying. You have to be able to define the issue first of all."
The trustees include Snape, who has worked in the not-for-profit social sector for more than a decade, Nick Wilkinson, Ton Stevens and Ianthe Baxter.
Wilkinson is a third-year law student who has a special interest in employment law and mediation, Stevens manages the Young Workers Resource Centre and has indepth knowledge about workers' rights and responsibilities and Baxter is an ACC advocate.
The trust has been working with a Wintec student to develop the website where the resources will be hosted along with a forum where people can tell their stories and seek support form others.
"One of the primary issues is how isolated people feel and how isolated they become when dealing with workplace bullying," said Snape.
"We think giving people that opportunity [to speak out] is quite empowering and to know they aren't alone in this."
Longer term, the trust is considering having a direct contact for people to phone and talk through what's going on.
Snape said she wasn't sure quite how the service would look down the track as the trust aimed to be responsive to the needs of those who need support.
"We would like to see resourcing for organisations as well ... for them to know how to manage a situation when it's occurring. We're not about being anti business. We want to provide information to organisations on things like how to develop a good policy to protect your workplace from workplace bullies, how to manage those situations if they occur, how to have those conversations. Bullying destroys people over time and we think we can make a real difference."
Bullybusters.co.nz is likely to go live mid-November.
