Bullying is insidious. It’s an elusive monster that is far too prevalent with a dreadful potential to be lethal. Axa and Publics Group Belgium have stepped up to the plate with a remarkable effort to solve it.    

With the support of the non-profit organisation, Kies Kleur tegen Pesten, (Color Against Bullying), AXA Insurance has launched Belgium’s first Escape Game entirely dedicated to raising awareness about bullying in schools. Escape Bullying is a physical and online game to combat school bullying, which affects 6 out of 10 young Belgians.

The escape game format brings the initiative into the world of teenagers. It has been trending among them for several years now. The team at Let Me Out, a well-known establishment in Brussels that houses the escape room, designed the game using the puzzles, riddles, and codes to decipher that are fuelling the escape room game’s popularity.

The escape room immerses participants in the daily life of Sacha, a 13-year-old boy. The experience begins in the school toilets, where the mission is to understand how and why Sacha’s belongings end up flushed down the toilet. Players will then have to decipher the mechanisms of bullying, the warning signs, and the behaviours that can make a difference.

The initiative was developed in collaboration with bullying experts – Sabine Coppens, coordinator at Kies Kleur tegen Pesten, educators, and immersive experience specialists and aims to reach young people, plus families and teachers.

“With Escape Bullying, we want to allow young people, parents, and teachers to experience, in a safe environment, the real impact of bullying on a young person. By immersing themselves in Sacha’s story, they learn to recognise the warning signs, develop their empathy, and discover how to react to such situations in real life. It’s a unique approach to breaking the taboo surrounding bullying and strengthening young people’s resilience,” explained Sabine Coppens in Axa’s Escape Bullying blog.

Because the game is a learning tool, it also works to break down taboos. Experiencing the situation “from the inside” allows for a deeper awareness than a lengthy theoretical discussion that teenagers are likely to ignore. Its experiential approach places participants at the heart of the action and helps them develop the right reflexes to recognise and respond to harassment.

Supporting the physical experience, is a digital escape game, accessible throughout Belgium via a dedicated website, https://www.escapebullying.be. The online game allows schools and families to access an interactive experience that can be easily integrated into educational activities or discussions in the classroom or at home. In the digital version, the player finds themselves in a teenager’s bedroom and, by clicking on different objects, can identify various ways to mitigate or stop bullying, notably by responding to messages or identifying potentially offensive behaviours.

At the end of both the physical and online  sessions, each participant receives a practical toolkit that contains resources and advice on how to respond effectively to harassment situations, whether you are a witness, a victim of harassment, or a family member or friend of a young person in difficulty. The toolkit offers concrete strategies, support resources, and suggestions for encouraging open communication.

“Harassment is a form of harm. Our role as an insurer is to provide compensation. That’s why we’ve put in place psychological support for young people who are being harassed. But prevention is just as crucial. And that’s precisely the goal of this escape game: to prevent young people from experiencing harassment and thus reduce the profound impact it can have on their development,” stated Pauline Kinet, head of communication, brand and corporate social Responsibility at AXA.