Exploring the Utility of an Anonymous Harm Reporting Tool for Adolescents: Educators' Experiences of Stymie

Stephanie Price; Madeline Lee; Nadine McKillop; Andrew Allen; Susan Rayment-McHugh; Amanda Boyes; Rachel Downie

doi:10.1007/s42380-026-00369-x

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Exploring the Utility of an Anonymous Harm Reporting Tool for Adolescents: Educators' Experiences of Stymie

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Exploring the Utility of an Anonymous Harm Reporting Tool for Adolescents: Educators' Experiences of Stymie

Stephanie Price, Madeline Lee, Nadine McKillop, Andrew Allen, Susan Rayment-McHugh, Amanda Boyes and Rachel Downie

International Journal of Bullying Prevention, Vol.Advanced access

24-Jun-2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42380-026-00369-x

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Abstract

Crime prevention

Bullying

contextual prevention

safeguarding

bystander intervention

school-based support

Peer-to-peer bullying is a widespread, persistent form of harm among young people with profound and lasting impacts on their development and wellbeing. Anonymous harm reporting tools, like Stymie, offer a valuable response to known help-seeking barriers, enabling earlier identification and intervention to prevent or limit these harms. This paper reports on findings from a foundational study exploring educators' (n = 14) experiences of Stymie in Australian schools. Semantic thematic analysis identified five overarching themes, demonstrating the utility and positive impact of Stymie in creating safer school environments. Specifically, the results showed that Stymie addressed an identified need and pathway for reporting concerns within schools, with anonymity a core feature. Educators suggested Stymie had helped to facilitate early intervention and deterrence, while creating positive shifts in school safety culture. However, the results also suggested that scaffolded implementation and integration is essential to ensure active engagement with the tool and to maxi-mise outcomes.

Details

Title: Exploring the Utility of an Anonymous Harm Reporting Tool for Adolescents: Educators' Experiences of Stymie
Authors: Stephanie Price (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
Madeline Lee - University of the Sunshine Coast
Nadine McKillop - University of the Sunshine Coast
Andrew Allen - University of the Sunshine Coast
Susan Rayment-McHugh - University of the Sunshine Coast
Amanda Boyes - Deakin University
Rachel Downie - Stymie (Australia)
Publication details: International Journal of Bullying Prevention, Vol.Advanced access
Publisher: Springer
DOI: 10.1007/s42380-026-00369-x
ISSN: 2523-3661
Copyright note: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Grants: Investigating the utility of Stymie as a harm reduction tool in schools, 0980030030, University of the Sunshine Coast (Australia, Sunshine Coast) - UniSC
Organisation Unit: School of Law and Society; Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991238899002621
Output Type: Journal article

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