A Cumbrian charity is working with young people to reduce the impact of bullying on themselves, their family, and the wider community.

Spiral, based in Carlisle, was set-up in 2016 as a small charity with one volunteer and three trustees - since then, it has grown to include four part-time staff members, and a team of volunteers and trustees.

Founder Maryann Liddle decided to establish Spiral after seeing the impact that work-place bullying had on her brother and subsequently the rest of her family.

"When one person is being bullied, it doesn't just affect them. It affects the family," she said.

"There was a lack of support back then and there are a lot of young people that can get missed through the gaps - it's either very early support or more severe support.

"We want to fill that gap and work with those before they get to maybe not quite at prevention, but in between prevention and more severe cases."

Spiral gets a lot of referrals and currently has a five to six month waiting list, highlighting the need for the service. 

They work with children and young people from the ages of eight to 25 and support those who are victims of bullying as well as people who are exhibiting bullying behaviour. 

Emotional coaching is offered to them which helps them to understand what's going on and why their body is reacting to specific places.

Maryann said: "If they're acting out in school, there could be something that's triggering them, either within school or outside school. So it's understanding that, and then it's finding strategies to manage the difficult emotions.

"It's the same for those that are experiencing the bullying. It's understanding the specific places that might trigger intense emotions and supporting them to manage them."

They also help parents and guardians by covering transactional analysis which teaches them how to manage their emotions so they can better support their children.

She added: "I understand when your child comes and tells you that they're being bullied, we get protective over them and we want to respond, we want to keep them safe.

"But, it's speaking to them about what they want as well and it's being able to stay calm and regulate yourself so you can support them to regulate themselves."

Spiral is looking for volunteers to support the charity in a variety of ways, if you would like to know more, email maryann@spiralcumbria.org.uk.

You can find out more about Spiral on their website.