To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

Educators are concerned about the damage schoolyard bullies can inflict in the age of the internet. As the issue’s become a new crisis, students can now turn to a new crisis hotline.

Starting this week, young New Yorkers can confidentially call mental health specialists who have been trained on issues associated with bullying.

“I think it's important for kids to have a place to reach out to someone confidentially that's not a parent or an authority at school, because it can be very shaming to be targeted and to have it pointed out what your vulnerabilities and weaknesses are,” said Gloria Jetter, a crisis counselor.

The phone number will be promoted in every school, and lines are open Monday through Friday, from 2:30 to 9:30 p.m.

It's all being paid for by the teachers union. Michael Mulgrew, the union president, announced the initiative Wednesday morning in City Hall with elected officials and the schools chancellor.

“Every child and every parent, you now have a place to go,” said Mulgrew.

The Mental Health Association of New York is running the hotline. It already handles the city's mental health hotline, which receives more than 10,000 calls a month, many of them forwarded by 311.

About 12 percent of callers to the existing hotline are under 18. They hope the new line will help many more.

“We can really address their mental health needs and access to make sure they aren't at risk of harming themselves or someone else,” said Jetter.

This is the second hotline started in recent years that’s focused on public school students. The first, a tip line for reporting violent threats, has gotten 278 calls since March 2010.

Advocates expect many more students to call the bullying hotline.

“When you have children who see no other option, who have no sense that this too shall pass, who have no sense that people care about them, the only option is to end their life. We need to keep doing more,” said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Several elected officials said they were picked on at school, but today's bullies have a much further reach. They hope the hotline will give students one more place to turn.