Jessica's Story
Daniel's story
My name is Jessica, I'm 16 years old and I grew up in New Castle with my little sister; Lila and my dad. When I was 15, my dad got a job in Acton, West London, so that was it, the end of my social life and time to move. Once we settled into our new home, it was time for me to start my new school in the local borough. On the first day it was okay, the girls were nice and of course the boys were silly immature year tens but it wasn't so bad. I didn't have a lot of friends and usually had lunch on my own but what was I expecting? It was only my first week. Once I became friends with three of the girls in my class, issues started to occur, they would play mean pranks on me and film it; one time I walked into the school playground and one of the girls tripped me up, I landed flat on my face and they posted it all over Instagram and Snapchat, the girls said it was only a joke and I should just get over it, I reported it, it just kept getting reposted and people were taking the mick out of me. The girls got excluded and were told to remove the video unless they wanted the police to get involved. I still question if that was a mistake because things only got worse, I started getting anonymous phone calls, they called me a snitch and if I snitched again they would make sure they found me and beat me up so hard that I was unrecognisable. I couldn't tell my dad, he was under so much pressure at work so I just thought they will get bored, but the truth is, they didn't, I would walk in to school to abuse being howled at me; Slut, trash, snake, bitch, anything you name it, they called me. All their videos were reposted and I received nasty text messages everyday; "Why did you join the school, none even likes you", "I hope you don't wake up tomorrow", "Do us all a favour and just kill yourself" I honestly couldn't bare it anymore after 8 months of this non stop torture, so I attempted suicide, my dad found me and took me straight to a doctor who put me on anti depressants and referred me to TrueUsefulKind, i can not express to you how much everyone helped me. I moved school and I am in a much better environment. TrueUsefulKind made me realise that i am not alone and that I am not worthless. They are the reason I smile as much as I do today.
Hi, my name is Jonathan and I am 15. I live in a two bedroom flat on one of the estates in Camden with my mum, we don't talk about my dad. Despite all the crime I have been surrounded by from such a young age. I re framed from negative sub cultural peer groups. I was never apart of gang activity or smoking weed which is what any outsider of our estate thought everyone would turn into. I was much more the sporty type, taking care of my body, regular exercise; like football and Badminton, I'd be lying if I said that i spent all my time in the gym because that would be a lie, benefits just about covered our bills let alone luxuries as well. All the boys at school were big built, muscly and that, but me? Na, 5 foot 6 and lanky. Mum always said I had inherited her fast metabolism, she said that my dad was a very big guy but I wouldn't know to be honest, considering he walked out on us when I was 2. I was never the boy with no friends but I was the friend that you took the mick out of. "Someone bring Bag of Bones" "Chicken legs" "Skinny bitch" It was funny at first but it was hard being the one who stood out because I looked so different to the rest of us. I started going boxing at the community center, other lads from the estate were there too.. I changed my diet and tried to eat more carbs and proteins, my runs to the community center only burnt it off though. The boys started pushing me about in the changing rooms because I didn't look like them, I became the punching bag after classes, the lads told me there was "no point in coming" that I wasn't "masculine enough" and that is why girls didn't pay me any attention. I would come home with black eyes, mum would make a fuss but I told her it was from sparring and at the time I didn't even see it as a lie, it was sparring but it wasn't in the rink and I didn't bother defending myself. It only got worse, the boys would film me getting beaten up and post it on meme pages, I was a laughing stock around school, boxing club, the whole borough. I started to take steroids to just get a bit bigger but it wasn't helping, one day I just cracked, I looked in the bathroom cabinet and swallowed as many pills as possible, my mum found me lying on the bathroom floor and called the ambulance, they said I was a "fighter" and that most people wouldn't of survived. Mum started making me see CAMS, and for the first few weeks,I didn't say anything, and the reason i didn't say anything was because of the simple fact that I was ashamed, I was ashamed of the fact that I was a boy who lived on an estate with no ambition and had no body confidence. Once CAMS understood my situation and felt as though I was improving, they refered me to TrueUsefulKind and I have never been more grateful, the site put me in touch with a pediatrician who was helping me with my weight gain healthily and the police dealt with the boys. As for me, i am enjoying life with the support of my mum and my friends