In my first job after I graduated – aged 22 – I was bullied.

In 2013, I moved 300 miles away from home to a city that I’d never been to. I didn’t know a single person, but I was young, ambitious and looking forward to new challenges. I’d always told myself that I was a chatty person and I’d always found it relatively easy to make friends, so I was looking forward to becoming close to my tight-knit team of two women. I was hoping to set up a new life for myself and I was so excited.

At the beginning, my colleagues were friendly. It was clear that we didn’t have as much in common as I’d hoped but the two women on my team were professional and kind. They included me in tea rounds and took me on lunchtime drives to the supermarket where we debated whether Beyonce’s Lemonade really was a masterpiece. They asked about my weekend, my long-term boyfriend, and my upcoming holidays.

How to deal with bullies at work: “I stood up to my office bullies and it change my life for the better”