Has anybody had to endure years of severe bullying at work to finally speak out but then to be?

completely trashed by high people trying to cover there backs in the public sector? They make you out to be completely insane becuase they allowed a very bad bully get-away with it for so long/

As a child, I experienced severe bullying. This was not at work, but the local catholic church, the parrish, and the school covered it up. My parents had a role in this too, though to my mother's credit, she did get me transferred out when she finaly woke up to what was going on.
Well now, I did have one harassment and discrimination case at work that was going on for some time.

I learned that it is very helpful to document each incident as you go, while not letting the abusers know you are doing this. Get incident time, place, who was involved, who witnessed the event. Record on tape if you can.

If you did not document the bullying, don't despair. Write down everything as best you know. Get a calendar to help you. You can state "On or around such and such a date, such and such occurred." This may be in itself painful, but by doing so, little by little as you can, you may be able to "get it off your chest," or get that "chip off your shoulder."

Don't back down, but be careful not to let your anger make you look, as they are trying to paint you, "completely insane."

I suggest you get a professional counselor, or maybe two-- a social worker and a psychologist. Find a support group, people who can understand what you've been through, who will listen to you without interrupting, without adding to your discomfort.

You should go to your trade union ASAP

yes, i eventually left the job and boy was i glad it was the best thing i ever did!
Good luck

It happens everywhere. Seek other employment and hope you don't get bullied there. Have to nip the problem in the bud at first signs of bullying.

I think that there is a great percentage that
may experience bullying on the job.

I experienced it, to a certain degree and
decided no amount of money was worth it
since my manager sided with the bully

John 17:3

Oh YA! I was luck that I didn't care about the job and there were 3 of us that were singled out. The rest of the crew were on Meth including the supervisor. The supervisor and the boss' sister and their little group decided to try and make our life hell. Threatening us, flashing knives at us, vandalizing our work areas. Each step of the way we let the owner know what was happening. He ignored and underestimated us. We kept a journal everyday. I started seeing a shrink. We really weren't scared of them because there was always the 3 of us, and together we aren't scared of anything. We were girls who can take care of ourselves, but shouldn't have to watch your back like that at work. In the end they moved the work place to Oregon,(just across the river)dumped all the good workers and took the mean ones and then hire thru temp agencies. In the end we sued them, got about 7-9K each and took a trip to Mexico that kicked butt. I sent the company a thank you card from Mexico with a monkey on it saying "Thinking of You" ... But really I try not to. Document everything. Try to get allies. You will find a way someday to put the screws to them, revenge is a dish best served cool. You have time.

http://www.apa.org/topics/topicbully.htm...

Yes, this sort of bullying is especially common in the public sector.
Bullies get attracted to the public sector like flies to a honeypot, basically because public sector work doesn't require them actually to be good enough at anything to earn money and it gives them a feeling of power & authority (sorry for my cynicism, I once worked for a local authority run by bullies & it was abysmal).
Not all public sector workers are this bad, it also attracts really great people, but public sector, personnel work & caring professions are renowned for having a higher % of bullies than average.