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Thursday Jul 06, 2006
What does a self-harmer look like?
Black clothes? Tattoos? Dyed hair? Piercings?Think again.
I'm at a conference at the British Library on self harm, put on by the Camelot Foundation and the Mental Health Foundation. One of the speakers this morning was a young woman called Sian Davies who readily admitted she was a classic middle class girl: has a degree, father is a head teacher. She also isn't dressed in black. However, for the past seven years she has been self-harming. "You don't know what we look like" she told us.
The conference comes on the back of a report from the National Inquiry into Self-harm among Young People called Truth Hurts.
It's obviously a very detailed conference with practitioners, teachers and youth workers all here who work at the coalface, supporting young people who self-harm. But for us, who run a more generic, broader service on TheSite.org, many of the same messages are coming through when it comes to helping young people:
- Young people are often afraid to disclose their problems or behaviour because of fear of being ridiculed or told off
- Adults shouldn't focus on trying to stop young people from self-harming; success is subjective so for one young person, not self-harming for ten minutes might be a success
- Education is needed for all people, not just those working directly with young people; a better understanding in the wider world will help people feel less inhibited about talking through their issues
- Self harm needs to be treated holistically, alongside other issues
- Peer support is crucial and support mechanisms are needed for those young people who are helping their friends.
- Young men and boys are still reluctant to talk to anyone face-to-face or call helplines and may look to the internet instead
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