New Book Reveals the Nightmarish Story of a Victim of Bullying in Australian Schools

Out of the Well, a book by Lisa Eskinazi, a tragic victim of bullying in schools, reveals a nightmarish story.

A suicide attempt, prostitution and 10 years in and out of hospital, Eskinazi went through it all since she was bullied at Sandringham Secondary College in Australia.

She was one of the first people in Victoria to successfully sue the Education Department for negligence after she was bullied almost to a breaking point in 1995 and 1996.

She received $73,700 in her successful 2005 case in the County Court.

Now 26, Eskinazi has written a just-released book about her experience and wants the department to do more to stop repeating the mistakes of the past, write Stephen Drill and Paul Stewart in Herald Sun.

"I hear stories from people and it's still going on," she said.

"I get really angry that the Education Department still hasn't done anything about it."

She said her teachers failed to respond to her repeated pleas for help.

She says she received death threats, was knocked unconscious in front of a mob, had a dead spider thrown in her bag and was constantly called names such as a "slut", "hooker", "fat whore", "bitch" and "$2 hooker."

As a result, she suffered a serious mental illness and spent the past decade in and out of hospital.

She also worked as a prostitute for two months in a Melbourne brothel until she went to a church one day and decided to find a new life.

Eskinazi said she did not write the book to complain or receive sympathy, nor was it to help her recovery, adding she had nightmares when writing because she had to relieve her trauma.

Eskinazi said she wanted other people to understand how bullying could lead to devastating flow-on effects such as homelessness, mental illness and victimisation.

Source-Medindia
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