Self-injury and cutting: Is your child at risk?

Signs of self-injury
• Frequent unexplained (or poorly explained) scars or bruises
• Secretive and unusual behaviour (for example, hiding out in the bathroom or a bedroom at odd times)
• Wearing long pants or sleeves in warm weather
• Carrying sharp items, such as a razor blade or pins, possibly along with a disinfectant (this could be a self-injury kit)
• Artwork or poetry that expresses extreme emotions (especially if your child doesn't express these emotions outwardly)

What to do
If you think your child is self-injuring, remember the following.
• Stay calm. Blame or hysteria could raise the stress level your child is already feeling.
• Gently raise the issue instead of waiting for your child to approach you. And keep raising it; self-injury is such a personal and secretive practice that your child may not tell you about it the first time.
• Make it clear that it's OK to talk to you about it.
• Listen to your child.
• Tell your child that you care and that you want to help.
• Don't ask why she cuts or burns herself. She doesn't know herself, and that's part of the problem.
• Show that you understand that self-injury is a way of coping.
• Know that self-injury doesn't change overnight. It takes time for the behaviour to stop -- and for your child to learn to replace it with something more constructive.
• Encourage your child to express her emotions and feelings.
• Regularly tell her that you love her, even if she's not going through a crisis.

Where to get help
• Adolescent centres at local hospitals.
• Psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and family doctors.
• Inside the Mind of a Cutter (Navpress, 2007) by Jerusha Clark with Dr. Earl Henslin.
• The peer-support organization Self Abuse Finally Ends (SAFE) in Canada (519-657-6570). This volunteer group, largely operated by people who have recovered from self-injury, provides resource, information, workshops and services.
• Online sources. Many websites provide information about self-injury and offer tips on how to help your child stop. A few that may be especially useful are:
• Self-Injury: You Are Not the Only One by Jan Sutton and Deb Martinson.
• Canadian Mental Health Association (416-484-7750).
• Canadian Health Network (search for "self-harm"); start with "Self-Harm: Pain from the Inside Out".
• Cool Nurse.

*Names have been changed.

Page 4 of 4