'Being bullied was horrific, but it won't stop me'

Bullying is something many people unfortunately suffer at some point in their lives, especially when attending school.

Anna Salisbury not only experienced bullying as a child but also as an adult, when parents from an antenatal class cruelly targeted her.

The bullying had a significant impact on the mother-of-two from Acton, Suffolk, but it did not stop her from achieving success.

She has since set up her own business, which has since been nominated for a Suffolk Small Business Award.

"Primary school was great, I loved learning and being in that environment. Things changed in high school for me," the 36-year-old explained.

"I had a traumatic event when I was 12 with living in a foreign country - I didn't really want to be there.

"That led to high anxiety and separation anxiety, which kicked off bullying in school.

"School just became a terrifying place and it was a horrific couple of years."

When she was in Year 10, Mrs Salisbury asked to move schools and was placed in a pupil referral unit - an alternative education provision for students who are not able to attend school.

She left the unit with four GCSEs and said she did not pursue anything for a few years while she recovered from the bullying.

After feeling she wanted "to make something" of her life she decided to undertake an access course at West Suffolk College.

Mrs Salisbury was awarded a first class degree in social work, which she said showed how a "different approach for different people can work".

"I never thought I'd get that," she added.

"School doesn't work for every child and isn't necessarily the right place for every child. I think I proved that by going back and getting a first class degree after having done barely any high school education."

Mrs Salisbury said being in the pupil referral unit with students who were dealing with tough situations at home helped motivate her to go into social care.

"It gave me that passion to want to work with those people and make a difference," she added.

Mrs Salisbury was delighted when she had her daughter in 2014, after struggling to become pregnant for six years.

She decided she "wanted to enjoy being a mum" and left social care work and joined an antenatal class to meet other parents.

"I thought I got on really well with one of them. Later on this friend who, I genuinely thought was a good friend, had this horrific messenger chat about me," she explained.

Mrs Salisbury said the messenger chat between a small number of the mothers in the group included photos of her.

They had even discussed her baby who they said would make their children ill, because Mrs Salisbury had not breastfed her.

"My child was born premature and was tube fed so ultimately my milk dried up and breastfeeding wasn't an option," Mrs Salisbury explained.

"I really wanted to give it a try but it was taken out of my hands, so the comments about that really got to me."

Mrs Salisbury only found out about the group when the mothers involved had a disagreement and one of them showed her the messages.

She described that moment as "horrific" and it led to depression and anxiety.

"Whatever confidence I had built by that point was shattered," she said.

"It destroyed me.

"I still hear the words I read in that chat when I look in the mirror."

Several years later after welcoming her second child, Mrs Salisbury decided she wanted to get back into work.

She decided that social care would not offer her family-friendly hours but she still had a desire to help people, so she launched Salisbury Virtual Assistance in November 2021.

Her work involves helping other people run their businesses and organise their daily lives, which she said involved a huge amount of trust.

Mrs Salisbury added that her experience of being bullied is the reason why she is so passionate about building up other women through her work.

"We don't need to compete with other women," she explained.

"We can all do our own thing and complement each other - we don't need to be criticising each other, it's absurd."

She has been nominated for a Suffolk Small Business Awards for professional services small business of the year, with the winner announced in May.

She has also made the finals of the Business Success Network Awards for business leader of the year. The winner will be revealed in June.

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