'No-one is born a bully': What I would say to my school bullies

The mother of a 17-year-old, who killed himself after severe bullying, is in the news after she wrote an emotional letter about her son's death.

Felix Alexander died on 27 April after walking in front of a train near where he lived in Worcester.

In the letter, Lucy Alexander urges young people to be kind as she describes the bullying he experienced.

The NSPCC estimates almost all young people have been affected by bullying in some way.

Around 16,000 young people are absent from school every year due to bullying.

Support service Childline held more than 25,700 counselling sessions with children in 2015.

Most victims of bullying will never get the opportunity to explain how they were affected by their tormentors.

But what would they say if they could?

'No-one deserves to be bullied'

Tamanna was bullied into adult life but is now a spokesperson for mental health and discrimination issues

Tamanna Miah is a 23-year-old communications and politics student from Kent.

She is from a Bangladeshi family and was subjected to years of racial abuse when she was younger. Tamanna was the victim of verbal and physical abuse, suffering beatings and being drenched in milk by classmates.

"Once you're bullied, you're bullied for life," she tells Newsbeat, urging the people who bullied her to think about the impact of their actions.

"Just please don't bully, don't bully someone else because of their race, their religion - anything," she says.

"No-one deserves to be bullied, no one is born a bully, no-one is born to be racist.

"How would you feel if you were being bullied and if you went through the daily torment of someone being really unkind to you and you wouldn't know why?"

She also believes bullies need as much help as the victims.

"To the bullies, if you're going through issues yourself, please do not take it out on someone else to make you feel better."

'Do they know how hurtful the things they did were?'

Charlotte says her experiences of being bullied made her determined to succeed in life

Charlotte Thomas is a 21-year-old trainee accountant and an ambassador for antibullying charity Bullies Out, an organisation that provides education, training, awareness and support around bullying across the UK and Ireland.

She refused to let bullying and cyberbullying stop her achieving her dreams.

"I would say to my bullies, that it hasn't affected my life outside of school," she tells Newsbeat. "I've been able to achieve all the things I've wanted and the way they wanted to bring me down - it hasn't done that.

"I'd also like to say to them, do they know how hurtful the things that they did were and can they look back at that and feel proud of themselves - because I don't think they'd be able to think that."

She also hopes that the people who bullied her can redeem themselves in adult life.

"Bullying doesn't just happen in schools, it happens in adult life," she says.

"So I'd say for them to look out and if they see it happening there then if they can help out, they can change how they've acted in the past."

'If they tried to apologise I'd laugh'

Michael says his experiences as a teenager have affected him in adult life

Michael Chapman, 34, is a successful photographer, but the bullying he experienced from the age of 12 still affects him in adult life.

He tells Newsbeat the bullying he suffered in school over his sexuality still causes him a lack of self esteem and feelings of worthlessness today, but adds that he has become a better person for his negative experiences and doesn't "tolerate" bullying when he sees it.

"If the bullies don't know why or how affecting that was I'm not going to teach them now," he tells Newsbeat.

"Their actions were probably really damaging to me as a kid, but I don't think they're worth my time now or in the future.

"I think if they tried to apologise I'd laugh. All the damage is done and the sorry won't do anything now.

"If they really want to say sorry I'd encourage them to get involved with an anti-bullying campaign to stop it from happening to someone else."

'He doesn't even remember bullying me'

Olivia was bullied for her weight when she was a teenager

Olivia Fryer, 22, was bullied over her weight when she was younger but had the rare opportunity to confront her childhood bullies and when she did says she took "the higher ground".

One of the people who bullied her as a teen and nicknamed her fatty fryer at school tried to date her online several years later.

"The guy who started fatty fryer tried to chat me up on Tinder," Olivia tells Newsbeat.

"He doesn't even remember bullying me and I wasn't going to bring it up.

"I'm under the view that you shouldn't let it chip away at you, if you don't let it go then you'll be bitter and assume everyone is horrible."

For support around bullying you can look at these BBC Advice pages.

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