Partnering with Stymie, our project team brings together academics from the SVRPU and the Thompson Institute to explore the utility of an anonymous harm reporting platform for young people (school years 6-12). Stymie challenges the social norms of ‘staying silent’, as a form of early intervention – or more formally, secondary prevention. It is available in more than 250 schools nationally (as well as adoption in New Zealand and the UAE), with more 106,000 notifications of harm in 2023 alone, including cases of sexual assault, suicide ideation, psychological distress (e.g., depression and anxiety), and bullying and physical violence (peer-to-peer and domestic violence).

Impact

This project is exploring the utility and impact of Stymie through the perceptions and experiences of teachers across Australia. Research outputs will initially establish a preliminary empirical base for Stymie as a harm reduction tool, that can then be leveraged to design a larger collaborative project to evaluate Stymie’s reach and impact over time.

Chief Investigators: McKillop, N., Rayment-McHugh, S., Price, S., Allen, A., & Boyes, A.

Research Assistant: Prasser, J

Partners: Stymie 

Funding Body: UniSC

Funding year: 2025