Self-Injury Awareness Day is an international event recognised on 1st March every year around the world. The event aims to raise awareness of self-injury, increase empathy and understanding of those who do not self-injure and to reach out to those who do.
What is self-injury?
Self-injury or self-harm is when someone deliberately causes physical (and non-suicidal) harm to themselves as a way of dealing with emotional and/or psychological pain.
Self-injury can take many different forms, including (and not exclusively) cutting, hair-pulling, biting, over-eating, over-dosing, self-poisoning, dangerous behaviour, alcohol/drug abuse.
Who self-injures?
People from all different walks of life may turn to self-injury as a coping mechanism. This includes people of both sexes and all races.
Why do people self-injure?
People self-injure because they feel it is a way of relieving the psychological and/or emotional pain they are experiencing. The physical pain can be experienced as a way of breaking a feeling of ‘numbness’ that people who are in psychological and/or emotional pain may be experiencing. The emotional pain that people feel may be a result of one or more of a range of factors including low self-esteem, abuse and/or neglect, trauma, perfectionism or poor body image.
How can I get help for myself or someone I know who self-injures?
If you’re experiencing emotional pain that causes you to self-injure and you wish to seek support, it is important that you find someone you can trust, to talk to. You might wish to seek further information about the professional support available. If you’re supporting someone who self-injures, you can read more information following the links below, to help you understand and empathise in a non-judgemental way.
- Further information about self-injury and support available can be found on the Life Signs website.
- The NHS website provides information about self-injury and details sources of support and advice.
- Student Health at SHU is the health practice within the University
- Downloadable booklets on self-harming:-
http://www.barnardos.org.uk/about-selfharm/publication-view.jsp?pid=PUB-1301
http://www.barnardos.org.uk/selfharmreportenglish.pdf
- Student Wellbeing Service offer a variety of services including counselling, self-help resources and a drop-in service.
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If your studies are being affected as a result of a health condition or anything else there is free, confidential & impartial advice and support offered by the student advisers in the Advice & Information team here at Hallam. More information can be found here.