School community officers, senior constables Ian Anderson, Mario Kake and Toni Bean are supporting Pink Shirt Day.
School community officers, senior constables Ian Anderson, Mario Kake and Toni Bean are supporting Pink Shirt Day.
Pink is the colour of the day today as schools, organisations and workplaces stand up to bullying.
Lead by the Mental Health Foundation, Pink Shirt Day encourages New Zealanders to celebrate, speak up, stand together and stop bullying.
Community police officer Toni Bean has been wearing a pink shirt since Wednesday to raise awareness of Pink Shirt Day.
She has been teaching the police anti-bullying programme, Kia Kaha, at Kamo Primary for the past three weeks. The students have been invited to wear pink today to mark the day.
"The school and I decided this would be a great finish to the programme to show our support for such an important issue, also given it is Bullying-Free NZ Week."
She said the increased focus on anti-bullying is encouraging students to support each other and celebrate diversity, to stand up to unsafe or bad behaviours of others and to be role models for younger students.
"Schools are safe environments where all students should feel safe, valued and respected no matter their beliefs, age, gender, ability or background, and Pink Shirt Day represents the strength of students working together to stop bullying."
School community officers, senior constables Ian Anderson, Mario Kake and Toni Bean are supporting Pink Shirt Day.
Around 25 workplaces, organisations and schools across Northland have registered their Pink Shirt Day events with the Foundation.
They include Whangarei Boys' High School which is holding a mufti day and sausage sizzle and having stalls from local anti-violence groups and Mangawhai Youth Club which has organised a stall at its local market with a bake sale, and a pink photo booth with pink props.
Plus-size model Hannah Gough knows what it's like to be bullied. The Whangarei Survivor NZ contestant was "bullied horrifically" during high school for the way she looked. "I remember crying myself to sleep at night."
Miss Gough says it has taken years to get over and even after undergoing counselling she still has moments of self-doubt.
She says Pink Shirt Day is an awesome idea because bullying needs to be talked about more. "So people who are isolated can feel they can speak up against the bullying."
She has a message for people who are being bullied.
"Find someone you can talk to about it. It's okay to go to someone and tell them what's going on, it's not embarrassing."
Miss Gough said the impacts of bullying have had a life-long impact on her.
"Sometimes emotional abuse is more detrimental to our health than physical abuse."
