For over twenty years, March the first has been Self Injury Awareness Day, and it is marked by many mental health and support professionals, as well as individuals seeking to raise awareness of the prevalence of self harm.
” Awareness leads to understanding and empathy, banishing judgment and fear, and reducing the number of people who feel alone and suffer in silence. Raising awareness is about educating people who do not self-injure, and reaching out to people who do. “
Life Signs | Self Injury Awareness Day
What’s the difference between ‘self-harm and ‘self-injury?’
Self-injury refers to behaviours that are deliberately intended to inflict harm or damage to the body, and is often used as a coping mechanism to help deal with emotional pain. It often only provides temporary relief, but can be used to prove to a person that their pain is ‘real’, and often escalates in severity.
Self-harm is an umbrella term that can include self-injury, as well as other coping behaviours that cause harm to ourselves such as eating disorders, risk taking, drug or alcohol misuse.
At Mental Health Learning, we know all too well that the prevalence of self injury is getting worse. In 2024, the UK Government reported that the yearly rate of self-harm incidents in children and young people increased by 61% compared to the previous year (Gov.uk).
Despite this alarming increase, self-injury still carries a lot of stigma in our society, and stereotypes and judgements of those who self-injure are often preventing those who need help from reaching out for support. That’s why we think it is important to take this opportunity to address some of the myths around self-injury.
- Only women self-injure…
Studies show that both men and women turn to self-injury as a coping behaviour. - Self-injury is a ‘teenage white girl thing’…
Statistics show that young people are likely to turn to self-injury, but this includes young people of all genders and ethnic groups. - Young people self-injure and then grow out of it…
Self-injury is not a result of immaturity. People of any age can find themselves turning to self-injury after trauma, during stress or to copy with distress, and this is a result of coping with more than they know how to manage. - Self-injury is attention seeking…
Those who self-injure are likely to suffer from shame and guilt over their actions. They may have hidden it before reaching out for help. - Self-injury is manipulative behaviour…
When a person is desperate, and feels that their control has been taken away, they may turn to anything they can to cope. Self-injury is a plea for help in coping with the overwhelming feelings a person is experiencing, and should be responded to with support.
Life Signs | Self Injury Myths
This addresses just some of the myths around self-injury, but it is easy to see how these assumptions can be harmful to those who are using self-injury to cope with their distress.
These myths negate an understanding of the reasons behind self-injury, and will likely cause the person to feel shame, embarrassment and make them less likely to feel they can share their feelings or reach out for help. Without addressing the root cause of the distress, this cycle continues and is likely to lead to an escalation of the behaviour.
The best way to help a person who is self-injuring is to break this cycle and prevent future self-harming behaviours.
How You Can Help
It can be hard to know how to approach the subject of self-injury, or self-harm, especially if we notice behaviours in young people who may feel less able to share their feelings.
If you are a parent or caregiver, or an adult working with young people, here are a few things to remember that may be useful.
Ask clearly and directly.
The best way to start a conversation is to ask. This can be difficult to do, but it will likely enable the person who is suffering to talk openly and give them relief.
Let them know you are willing to listen to their feelings with compassion.
‘Sometimes when individuals are going through difficult things and feeling really distressed, they can hurt themselves on purpose to try and cope with that distress. I’ve noticed that you are going through some difficult things and seem really distressed. Do you ever hurt yourself on purpose?’
Acknowledge the persons response.
Validate their reasons why, listen to how self harm helps them, but discuss the possible dangers and talk about what they could try instead.
Mental Health Learning Courses
We know how hard it is to talk about self-harm and self-injury, as it brings up difficult feelings for everyone involved. We provide training courses that can enable constructive discussion about these difficult topics, and equip you with the skills and confidence to have these vital conversations; whether you work with people at risk of self-harm or want to be able to help those close to you.
An Introduction to Self-Harm
This session is designed to teach the facts and fundamentals of self-harm. You will learn how to sensitively respond to self-harm and find out what sources of support are available.
Participants will gain:
– An improved understanding of self-harm
– Knowledge of the facts around it
– Understanding of how to sensitively respond to self-harm
– Knowledge of what sources of support are available.
Recognising and Responding to Self-Harm
With an existing knowledge of the fundamentals of self-harm, this course goes on to teach a more thorough understanding of self-injury and the different underlying meanings it can have for each individual, including contributory factors.
Participants will have:
– A thorough understanding of self-harm and the different underlying meanings it can have for each individual
– A greater realisation of what can contribute to self harm
– What to look out for
– How to sensitively respond and react
– The support that can be provided
We hope that you will feel able to discuss mental health and self-harm with your communities, but if you do need some extra training and support, please do contact us to find out how we can help.
Alice and the Mental Health Learning Team 🧠