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| Our Guest Author & Citizen rep Sarah Dale raising awareness of Self Harm |
Self
Injury Awareness Day – Sarah Dale
My name is
Sarah and I am one of the mental health service user representatives (https://www.powysmentalhealth.org.uk/get-involved/meet-your-reps.html)
. On the 1st of March it is Self-Injury Awareness Day, and
mental health professionals and organisations from across Powys will be joining
me in raising awareness about this very difficult topic. I'm asking you to help
me in tackling the stigma, and making it easier for people to reach out for
help.
Self-Injury Vs Self Harm
Many people use the terms self-harm
and self-injury interchangeably.
That's fine, but to be technical, self-harm
is an umbrella term for behaviour that causes direct harm to oneself, for
example alcohol abuse or eating disorders. Self-injury falls under that
umbrella. Self-injury, according to LifeSIGNS is 'any deliberate, non-suicidal behaviour that inflicts
physical harm on the body with the aim to relieving emotional distress.' The
intention of Self-injury is to release tension and seek relief from distress.
This can quickly become a harmful coping mechanism.
My Story:
I am
comfortable talking about my mental health, my borderline personality disorder,
anxiety, depression and eating disorder. I still find self-injury a difficult
topic to talk about especially in a world where blame is put on the person who
self-injures. Those who know my story have said to me that I’m pretty
well-adjusted for what I have experienced in my life. They understand how
self-injury has become a coping mechanism, when I had nowhere else to turn. I
shouldn't have to dig up my past to justify my reaction to others. I shouldn’t
have to repeat the same things over and over.
Myth-busting:
First of all, it isn’t attention seeking. I do everything I can to hide it and I feel guilty when my close family and friends find out.
Secondly;
no, I don't enjoy it. That is like saying that people with tattoos enjoy the
pain. Self-injury is a means to an end. I need the intrusive thoughts and
feelings to stop. It is also not a suicide attempt.
It’s
not just a teen thing. Self-injury can affect anyone at any time in their
lives, regardless of gender, age, sexual orientation, race, religion
Finally,
I am not a danger to you or your family. I'm more of a danger to myself than
anyone else.
When
I hear these views regularly, it's easy to see why many people suffer in
silence and are too scared to reach out for help. So this year for Self-Injury
Awareness Day I am going to try to be brave and talk about self-injury open and
honestly. Will you join me?
My Experience:
For me as I began to recover from my anorexia I replaced it with self-injury. I did it in places on my body where people wouldn't see. I think I kept it hidden for a while, however I’m not sure when my family found out.
For me as I began to recover from my anorexia I replaced it with self-injury. I did it in places on my body where people wouldn't see. I think I kept it hidden for a while, however I’m not sure when my family found out.
The first time I asked for help regarding my self-injuring it
didn't go down well. The health
professional demanded to see my self-injury marks and when I refused I was
called a stupid child. Then they grabbed my arm to try to roll up my sleeve. I
snatched my arm back and ran out of the building to the car where my mum was
waiting. This experience made me too scared to reach out to anyone else, even
when I probably needed to got to Minor Injuries or A&E. It also meant when
I needed check-up or flu jabs I was too scared to go because of the reaction to
scars the people give you. It’s either a look of pity or disgust.
A lot of people turn to online support because there isn't any
specific Self Injury support in Powys. It is difficult to find these websites
but when I did, it was really helpful. Before that I used social media which as
you probably guess wasn't particularly positive and was very triggering.
It is this experience that led me to wanting to help combat
the stigma around self-injury. Over the years mental health awareness has
increased. But certain topics are still very taboo and are difficult for people
to talk about or understand. Self-injury I feel is one of those topics. People
brush it off and resort to the myths I discussed above.
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| Why do people self injure? |
Why do people
do self-injure?
Self-Injury is a way a person can express deep distress without others knowing. Turning emotional pain into physical pain, as physical pain is easier to deal with than emotional pain, as it seems more ‘real’, valid and easier to take care of. Self-injurious behaviour may calm, numb or awaken a person.
Self-Injury is a way a person can express deep distress without others knowing. Turning emotional pain into physical pain, as physical pain is easier to deal with than emotional pain, as it seems more ‘real’, valid and easier to take care of. Self-injurious behaviour may calm, numb or awaken a person.
However, the effects of self-injury are only temporary and
does not deal with the underlying issues. It is a coping mechanism (albeit a
negative one), that can become an automatic response to daily stresses, and can
escalate in severity. There are factors that make a person more likely to turn
to self-injure such as, low self-esteem, perfectionism and high achievement,
poor body image, trauma and abuse. However, the bottom line is that self-injury
is a coping mechanism, and anyone who has anything distressing to cope with
might potentially turn to self-injury.
This is why we need to be able to talk about self-injury in
the open.
Raising Self
Injury awareness in Powys
In my role as a mental health service user representative, I was at the National Mental Health Forum, and we were looking at suicide and self-harm prevention. I found that the legislation did not have much on self-injury prevention which really surprised me as myself and people I have spoken to, self-injury has been used to prevent suicide and quieten suicidal thoughts and feelings. Despite the legislation pushing for education and awareness about the subject it is still a very taboo subject.
In my role as a mental health service user representative, I was at the National Mental Health Forum, and we were looking at suicide and self-harm prevention. I found that the legislation did not have much on self-injury prevention which really surprised me as myself and people I have spoken to, self-injury has been used to prevent suicide and quieten suicidal thoughts and feelings. Despite the legislation pushing for education and awareness about the subject it is still a very taboo subject.
Currently, Public Health Wales are looking at a document I
wrote called ‘Self-Harm Reduction.’ The
idea is that the document will be given to people who self-injure and contains
all they need to know, what is self-injury is, self-injury alternatives, Harm
Reduction, first-aid, went to go to Minor injuries/A&E, your rights when
seeking help, self-injury support websites.
Also over several months I have made hundreds of orange
ribbons and, with the support of Powys
Teaching Health Board, I visited Newtown
and Welshpool Community Mental Health Teams (CMHT) and gave all the staff a
ribbon. I spoke about my experience and the idea that when a person sees the
orange ribbon they can feel safe talking about self-injury without fear of
judgement. The reaction from a health professional can set the tone for whether
a person will seek help when needed. My own terrible experience has made me too
scared to go to the GP or Minor Injuries Unit when I probably need to. The support
for the project from the staff was amazing and many asked questions about how
to approach the subject from a service user perspective. They are all now proudly
wearing their orange ribbons as you can see in the pictures.
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| Welshpool Community Health Team |
By March 1st all CMHT staff elsewhere in Powys will have an
Orange Ribbon for Self-Injury Awareness Day. I also want to extend this to
CAHMS, Crisis teams, and other health board staff.
What Can You
Do?
I am encouraging everyone to get involved with ‘Self-injury Is..’ social media campaign, to educate and raise awareness for Self Injury Awareness Day on 1st March. The printable images can be found on the Black Cat Project Facebook page, where I keep people up to date with all my adventures as a mental health service user rep. If somebody is showing signs of self-injury, please use one of the resources below to find out how understand better what that person is going through, and how you can help.
I am encouraging everyone to get involved with ‘Self-injury Is..’ social media campaign, to educate and raise awareness for Self Injury Awareness Day on 1st March. The printable images can be found on the Black Cat Project Facebook page, where I keep people up to date with all my adventures as a mental health service user rep. If somebody is showing signs of self-injury, please use one of the resources below to find out how understand better what that person is going through, and how you can help.
I can recommend the LifeSIGNs website. LifeSIGN have long been supporters of Self-injury awareness day, raising awareness and providing a wealth of support and information about Self Injury.
LifeSIGNS is the user-led small charity creating understanding about self-injury. It’s our continuing mission to guide people who hurt themselves towards new ways of coping, when they’re ready for the journey.
Black Cat Project – My Facebook group which offers support
locally to Powys - https://www.facebook.com/blackcatproject/
Useful Links:
Self harm UK -www.selfharm.co.uk
Self harm UK is a project dedicated to supporting young people impacted by self-harm, providing a safe space to talk
Self harm UK -www.selfharm.co.uk
Self harm UK is a project dedicated to supporting young people impacted by self-harm, providing a safe space to talk
Recover your life -
www.recoveryourlife.com
One of the biggest worldwide Self-Harm Support Communities on the internet. They support people suffering with Self Harm and other issues such as Eating Disorders, Mental Health problems, those dealing with Abuse.
One of the biggest worldwide Self-Harm Support Communities on the internet. They support people suffering with Self Harm and other issues such as Eating Disorders, Mental Health problems, those dealing with Abuse.
Support individuals who self
harm to reduce emotional distress and improve their quality of life. Support
and provide information for family and carers of individuals who self harm.
Self injury Support is a national
organisation that supports girls and women in emotional distress. We
particularly help women who harm themselves