'''Looking at the happy photograph, there isn't anything abnormal or "uncool" about teenager Alex Wildman.'''

But Alex was a victim of a cruel and relentless bullying campaign - it made his life such hell that last Thursday he hanged himself. A gruesome ending to a promising life, his schoolmates and family left stunned.

Psychologist Grant Brecht describes the fragile mindset of victims like Alex: "To take your own life, you'd have to be pushed to the edge."

"You'd probably be feeling very depressed at the time, a sense of hopelessness, not knowing what you can do about the situation."

Sadly, Alex Wildman is not the only promising teenager to go to this extreme.

Last year, two 16-year-old school girls hanged themselves in a Victorian national park - bullying was said to be partly to blame.

"The damage from ongoing bullying can be quite catastrophic - people can develop all sorts of anxiety disorders they can last a lifetime," says Grant.

It was just such a lifetime of anxiety and depression that earned an 18-year-old Ben Cox a million dollar payout. Compensation for the constant torment he suffered at school when he was just a child. His mum Angela was determined to make Ben's school accountable.

"The school did nothing - nothing to help Ben" says Angela.

"Often bullies are let off and that's why it keeps happening the behaviour can be condoned" says Grant.

Editor of Vogue magazine Kirstie Clements wasn't going to stand for this sort of victimisation either. Kirstie banned top model winner Demelza Revley from the cover of her magazine.

"I took very seriously her behaviour," Kirstie said.

"If bullying leads to violence, if the bullying leads to severe harassment, then obviously schools would want to put in place strong disciplined responses to that."

According to Christine Cawsey, Deputy President of the NSW secondary principals' council, many schools have bullying programs in place but before teachers can intervene they need to know about it.

"We have to make it OK for students to think it OK to come forward and tell us when another student is being bullied," Christine said.

"Parents need to look out for any change in attitude or behaviour. If you had a child who was fairly happy go lucky but suddenly there is a change in behaviour they are starting to withdraw, they are getting more irritable, not communicating as well, refusing to go to school all those could be telltale signs something is wrong," says Christine.

"As a school, you would always want to provide support to parents whose children were at risk and the lesson for schools is to set up positive relationships where you can identify those kids who need help," adds Christine.

It's clear more communication is required to stop the practice of bullying.

"Absolutely, I think parents and teachers need to take responsibility for being aware and not just flippantly say oh that's that child or that child doesn't cope very well any way but intervene in a contractive manner," adds Grant.

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