Self-Harm/Injury

Self-harm/injury is something that impinges on the lives of a significant number of people. It has become an issue that now attracts a range of attitudes and assumptions, not all of which are positive.

Despite the vast amount of information that is now available through a range of different sources there is still a limited understanding of what self-harm/injury represents and how people who self-harm/injure should be most effectively supported.

Differences that exist in the acknowledgement of what self-harm/injury is, why people engage in it and how they should be supported include:

¿ A frequent link in 'professional' literature with other concepts such as mental illness, suicide

¿ Self-injury as different to self-harm or self-harm considered as an 'umbrella' term for a range of different activities including self-injury

¿ Why people self-harm/injure

¿ Interventions that support individuals including who might be best placed to offer these