Young people and self harm

At Washington Mind’s Young People’s Project we believe that self-harm is essentially a coping mechanism that enables a person to deal with very difficult feelings, painful memories and overwhelming experiences. It is a way of dealing with the associated intense emotional distress. We also recognise that talking and thinking about self-harm can cause anxiety and even fear, and that for these reasons many people avoid talking about it.

In order to understand self-harm we feel it is necessary to talk about it in a safe way, to understand, but never to judge.

It can be unrealistic to expect a young person to ‘just stop’ their self-harming behaviours, particularly when it has helped them cope with difficult life situations for a long period of time. Whilst we manage all risks of significant harm to a young person, we work collaboratively with them, and their parents when appropriate, towards a reduction of this harm.

It is important to emphasise, that with the right support young people can find alternative, healthier ways of coping. We feel ultimately that it is essential to offer young people “an overall message of hope without disguising the pain” (James Withey, founder of The Recovery Letters)

For more information and further support please visit the selfharm.co.uk website.

If you are a teacher, tutor, or lecturer working with young people and would like more information on self-harm you can click here to download a self-harm factsheet.