Nine To Noon The value in kids stepping up to stop peers being bullied
May 13, 2026
Kylie Ryan, Head of Workplace Wellbeing at the Mental Health Foundation and founder of Rangatahi Rise, brings social work and youth wellbeing expertise. She discusses Pink Shirt Day origins and fundraising. She explains how peers stepping in reduces bullying, how bullying has shifted to psychological harm, age differences in harm, designing youth-led upstander programmes, and signs a child may be targeted.
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How Pink Shirt Day Started And Why It Worked
- Pink Shirt Day began when two students intervened after a homophobic bullying incident and hundreds wore pink in solidarity the next day.
- Kylie Ryan says that visible peer support transformed the school community and sparked the international movement now in 180 countries.
Upstander Actions Scale Beyond Schools
- Peer intervention has wide-ranging effects beyond schools; over a million people report continuing upstander actions after Pink Shirt Day.
- Kylie connects this to workplace harm where bullying costs NZ businesses an estimated $1.34 billion annually from absenteeism and lost productivity.
Bullying Has Become More Psychological And Digital
- Bullying has shifted from overt physical threats to psychological tactics like exclusion, friendship manipulation and humiliating 'banter' amplified by screenshots.
- Kylie warns repetitive humiliation and digital sharing can seriously harm young people's mental health.