Websites Promoting Self Harm Are Making My Job Harder!
Websites promoting self harm are making my job harder! There are young people out there who are genuinely using the internet to get help for their self harming behaviour and more than likely would not have told friends or family members about it or sought medical help because of the stigma and lack of awareness and understanding still attached to self harming. The internet is one of the few options available to them for support, though some have self harm awareness bracelets.
Sadly the websites promoting self harm are masking the seriousness behind self harming and the underlying emotional pain that people self harming endure. These websites only serve to perpetuate the myths surrounding self harm, one of which is that self harm is just attention seeking. There is more to cutting and self harm. Self harm is generally a very private act, and hence we will never know the extent of young people and adults struggling by themselves with self harming behaviour and ultimately the emotional or psychological challenges that are pushing them to resort to such measures.
My job is hard enough already to get professionals and practitioners that I work with to look beyond the myths of self harm. These websites are simply making my job even harder and I would also welcome their removal from the internet.
That said, given that the 2007 Unicef report highlighted Britain as one of the bottom five countries in Europe where children’s well-being are concerned, Britain will need to do a lot more than just remove websites from promoting self harming! Self harming is just a symptom of what people from all walks of life, and not just young people, are experiencing. The fact that there is an increase amongst young people, for me, is a reflection of the lack of importance that the UK has attached to children and young people’s health and well-being. These are the very people that Britain is depending on for its future existence!
It is no coincidence that we have also seen an increase in requests for self harm training from all sectors of the community. People self harming don’t want to be seen as a nuisance to society, so it is important that professionals working with them have self harm awareness training and understanding of what drives them to self harm. They are not just programs for troubled teens self harm.
We also know that the numbers of people attending A&E is not a true picture of the extent of people self harming in the UK.
With Inspirational Blessings
Jennifer McLeod
Creator Of Easy Tiger Parents System™
Creator of Born To Win! Programme For Young People™
Tel: +44 (0)121 551 1668
www.jennifermcleod.co.uk
