Support for those who self harm, their friends and family members
Self-harm is when somebody intentionally damages or injures their body, the physical pain of hurting themselves can feel like a distraction from the emotional pain they’re struggling with. For many people, self-harm can feel like a way to cope with difficult feelings or to release tension.
Self-harm can include, for example:
- self-cutting
- taking an overdose
- hitting or bruising
- intentionally taking too little or too much medication
- burning
- hanging
- suffocation
- attempted suicide
Although some people who self-harm may be suicidal, self-harm is often used as a way of managing difficult emotions without being a suicide attempt. However, self-harming can result in accidental death.
Self-harm is different for everyone; the reasons can change over time. For some people, self-harm may be linked to specific experiences that are happening either now, or in the past. For some people, you may not know or understand why you self-harm, but remember that you are not alone.
Below are some free resources which you can access to understand more about self-harm and how to support someone who self-harms.
YoungMinds – Supporting your child who is self-harming
NSPCC – Why do children and young people self-harm?
Calm Harm – An app designed to help people resist or manage the urge to self-harm. It’s private and password protected.
Coping with self-harm – A guide for parents and carers
No Harm Done – A parent’s journey
YoungMinds – Support for children and young people
Kooth – An online mental wellbeing community here to support you through anything. Big or small. Visit their online platform now. Up to age 25.
Samaritans – 116 123 Whatever you’re going through, a Samaritan will face it with you. We’re here 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Papyrus: Hopeline – For thoughts of suicide. Hopeline advisors will work with you to understand why thoughts of suicide might be present. They will also provide you with a safe space to talk through anything happening in your life that could be impacting on your or anyone else’s ability to stay safe. You can also call 0800 068 4141
We are working to design a new self-harm support service. We would love your help.
Self-harm is a huge issue that affects a lot of people. We want to help design a service that works for as many people as possible. To do that we need your help.
If you have had help for self-harm, you might have opinions about the support you received. We would like to hear what they are.
If you’ve not had help, we’d love to know what has got in the way. If we can understand the barriers that stop people getting help, we can work to get rid of them.
How can you help?
Complete our survey! It takes 10 minutes.
We will use the results from the survey to write a report on what a non-clinical self-harm service could look like. Non-clinical just means they don’t do medical support. We’ve been asked to do this by the Humber Coast and Vale Health Care Partnership. They will use the report to design a service.
We’ve got two surveys. Please pick the one relevant for you. They take about 10 minutes to complete. The link will take you to the consent form before you get to the questions.
The main survey is for 16+ year olds who have a history of self-harm.
16+ : https://forms.office.com/r/t1PLv83iXR
The second one is for parents and carers who have a child who has self-harmed.
Parents and Carers: https://forms.office.com/r/eDmLhDu9uh
