Kim BriscoeYoung people are being offered the chance to learn how to cope and deal with bullying.Zap is a new service which offers assertiveness workshops for young people who live or go to school in the Broadland area.Kim Briscoe

Young people are being offered the chance to learn how to cope and deal with bullying.

Zap is a new service which offers assertiveness workshops for young people who live or go to school in the Broadland area.

The workshops are being provided by Victim Support on behalf of Broadland District Council and aim to give young people techniques and strategies to minimise and cope with bullying.

The one day workshops, for young people in school years 5 to 8, are broken into two parts.

The morning session will be solely with the young people and in the afternoon they will be accompanied by a parent or carer so the learning can be reinforced at home.

This workshop provides them with practical strategies to help them deal with the situation as well as activities to increase their self-esteem.

Staff from Victim Support have been trained and will be following the model tried and tested by Kidscape in London.

Young people attending the course in London have experienced a reduction in frequency and severity of bullying as well as increased confidence.

They also report successfully using the verbal assertiveness and body language techniques which they learn on the day.

Courses will be held on April 24, June 5, July 10, September 18 and October 16.

Information about referring a young person for a course is available by contacting the young victims project at Victim Support's base in Norwich on 01603 619376 or by email at norfolk@victimsupport.org.uk.